THE rationale for Brian Lara’s decision to bowl first on winning the toss in warm, sultry weather on a flat, hard pitch in the Pepsi Cup match against India here yesterday was not immediately evident.
If it was to test the resilience of his players in such adverse conditions, they passed with flying colours.
They were severely challenged, first while India sped along to 205 for three after 30 overs and then again when they lost Chris Gayle first ball, lbw to Ajit Agarkar in identical fashion to the previous match, and Runako Morton to his eighth. But they never lost focus, winning by three wickets with 6.2 overs in hand.
There was, inevitably, a few hiccups at the end when the job was all by complete. But they amounted to nothing more than a little closing excitement for those who remained out of a crowd of 45,000, almost half of whom had given up the match as lost and prematurely headed for home.
The West Indies’ star was Marlon Samuels who put the brakes on India’s runaway train with his controlled off-spin that cost only 41 from 10 overs and followed it up with a typically elegant 98 off 95 balls, with two sixes and 12 fours.
A low, athletic catch by the keeper, Robin Uthappa, off Agarkar, denied him his third ODI hundred and his second in the last five matches.
It ended his fourth wicket partnership of 124 off 21.1 overs with captain Lara, who stroked two sixes and 10 fours in 83 off 88 balls, that all but settled the issue.
They were both out with the tape in sight and Dwayne Bravo and Lendl Simmons followed before Denesh Ramdin’s square-cut boundary relieved the tension of West Indians who have learned to take nothing for granted.
While Samuels was clearly Man of the Match, the team effort in the field was the key to the outcome.
While Uthappa, the new opener, was compiling 70 off 41 balls in the first 10 overs with a succession of breathtaking strokes that brought him two sixes and 11 fours and again when Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were engaged in a partnership of 106 off 17.1 overs, the ground fielding was sharp and all but flawless.
India’s last seven wickets tumbled for 36 off 15.2 overs. Four were to Bravo who, after conceding 19 to the rampant Uthappa in his opening over, gave up only 20 in his next eight.
The effort was aided by several fine catches, counter-balanced by Ramdin’s muffed stumping and Gayle’s sitter at deep mid-wicket that let off the dangerous, but out of touch, Tendulkar at 34 and 51.
Morton held three, the first to remove Tendulkar for 60 (66 balls, only two fours) a stunning, leaping effort at mid-on off Bravo.
Rayad Emrit, impressive on debut with his work in the deep and with his strong, accurate arm, settled nervelessly to catch Dravid off Gayle inches off the long-on boundary for 57 (67 balls, six fours).
Whether the match had much significance as overall team preparation for the World Cup in six weeks time is open to question. India changed five players from the previous match in Cuttack, the West Indies four.
Yet it was a showcase for some of the peripheral players. For the West Indies, Devon Smith once again batted with authority in the opening position vacated by the resting Shivnarine Chanderpaul before he was spectacularly taken at slip by Dravid off Anil Kumble’s googly. But 33 is not a kind of score likely to earn him a place in the World Cup 15.
Uthappa, a slim right-hander with a front-foot method ideally suited to such an amiable pitch, made a strong statement to India’s search for an opener now that Virender Sewag has all but drifted out of contention.
His driving through the off-side was especially commanding. He put Jerome Taylor out of the attack with 24 off his opening three overs, took three successive fours off Daren Powell, hoisted Emrit for six over mid-wicket and then paid attention to Bravo with three fours and a six in his initial, solitary over.
At that stage, 49 had been scored from three overs but Uthappa’s merciless attack was ended with a high catch to mid-off from Gayle’s second ball and while Dravid and Tendulkar scored their runs in comfort, the rate never touched such giddy heights again as the off-spin of Gayle and Samuels checked the boundaries.
On the debit side, Morton and Ramdin did nothing to enhance their chances and Sreesanth, the lively Indian new ball bowler, just about ended his with a spell littered with wides and boundaries, going for 67 off 8.4 overs.
Morton offered a nervous stab at Agarkar’s wide outswinger for a catch at the wicket, his third single-figure score of the series.
Apart from his stumping, Ramdin was sluggishness overall.
What should concern the captains and coaches most with the World Cup so near at hand is the high count of extras.
The West Indies had 29 against them, including 13 wides, India 30, with 25 wides.
The victory gives the West Indies an opportunity to square the series in the last match at Varodara on Wednesday and to sort out their final 15. Lara said last night that they would play their strongest team.
That should be a clue to the selectors’ thinking.
