West Indies tri-series 2013: Match 2 - India vs WI - The Quick Flicks

Trust the West Indies to commit hara-kiri after reaching a commanding position while chasing India’s below par score. What could have been a stroll in the park for the hosts turned into a virtual battle for survival as the world champions bounced back to claim wickets at regular intervals.

In the end, it came down to a tussle of nerves, which the West Indies held well enough to secure their second win in the Celkon Mobile Cup tri-series. Here are some of the snapshots from the game:

Pollard debuts as captain

Keiron Pollard

It was a good start for the Trinidadian power-hitter Kieron Pollard as captain of the WI side after all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was sidelined with a groin injury. He captained much in the same way that he plays – hard, aggressive and with a single-minded purpose to win.

Pollard’s youthful exuberance somehow managed to overcome MS Dhoni‘s experience (the Indian skipper couldn’t take the field for the second part of the game due to an injury) as he marshalled his resources well and his bowlers managed to restrict the strong Indian batting line-up to less than 250. A fine captaincy debut for the T20 specialist!

Bhuvneshwar Kumar – India’s new “all-rounder”:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Move over Sir Ravindra Jadeja, for here comes Indian cricket‘s latest “all-rounder” – Bhuvneshwar Kumar. How many No.9 batsmen would have the nerve to step out to Sunil Narine’s Carrom ball and wallop it for a six?

Clearly, Bhuvi figures he could be useful down the order, much like Ajit Agarkar in the late 1990s. And this is with good reason – he does have a couple of centuries to his credit in first-class cricket. However, he’s got to realize that his primary role is that of a strike bowler, and the blade-swinging is best left to more experienced batsmen higher in the order.

Rohit’s newfound consistency:

Rohit Sharma

He seems to have taken to the opening slot like a duck to water. MI captain Rohit Sharma‘s knock of 60 was the glue that held the Indian innings together after early strikes from Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy.

Along with the plucky Dinesh Karthik, Rohit added 59 invaluable runs for the third wicket as he went about laying the foundation for the rest of the batsmen to build upon, which unfortunately didn’t happen. But I will admit this: he’s finally learned what consistency means, and not just the spelling of the word!

The woes of Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine

The ‘mystery’ bowler really needs to control the amount of gel he puts on his mohawk. Or, at the very least, he shouldn’t put on the greasy stuff right before a game. Conceding 56 runs in 10 overs – 17 of which came off the last over of India’s innings – is not at all a good sign for the West Indian bowling attack.

Adding insult to injury, a tailender smashed him for a six and a four from the last two deliveries of his spell. Narine needs to go back and work on his basics a bit more if he has any hope of replicating his heroics against Sri Lanka in the first game. Otherwise, it’ll be yet another ‘greasy’ series for the talented young man.

India will now face Sri Lanka (for yet another encounter between the subcontinental neighbours) before yet another showdown with the hosts in Trinidad on Friday. They need to pull up their socks quickly and come back harder – even if they know their opposition inside out. Till then, I, like most others, will await news on MSD’s fitness – hope he recovers soon. It’s game on!