Trinidad, May 29 (IANS) India's dream run towards the 2007 World Cup
was shattered in a humiliating fashion when the West Indies swept the
One Day series 4-1 after winning the final match here Sunday.
The 19-run defeat in the Caribbean has put the
recent Indian winning streak in perspective, with a much-hyped Indian
side coming cropper against a side that till the other day seemed to
have forgotten how to win.
Greg Chappell's boys, belying their reputation of being one of the best
One-Day teams, have lots to ponder over before the Test series in June
- an arena where they have thankfully not gained any false confidence.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the day was the pathetic Indian display on field.
Despite winning the toss and electing to field, the Indians could not
penetrate the West Indian batting line even as poor fielding and
dropped catches were galore.
This was evident from the fact that the best bowling figures belonged
to Ajit Agarkar with two for 44. In fact Virendra Sehwag did better
than most full time bowlers with figures of just 29 in 10 overs.
Even while Ramnaresh Sarwan's upbeat form continued into the final
match here, it was man of the match D.J. Bravo, who lived up to his
surname with an unbeaten 62 - with 10 twos and four 4s from 44 balls.
Bravo's innings helped his team put on a decent total in the final
stages of the West Indian innings while Sarwan (52), Chris Gayle (51),
Captain Brian Lara (36) and Wavell Hinds (32) played important roles.
Except for the valiant innings of opener Sehwag, something unusual
nowadays, there was nothing much to talk about the Indian chase of the
West Indian score of 256.
Newcomer Robin Uthappa (2) failed to get started while veterans Rahul
Dravid (18), Yuvraj Singh (26) and Mohammed Kaif (12) seemed to be
sleepwalking through their innings.
Credit of course goes to the duo of Jerome Taylor and Dave Mohammed who bound the Indians by plucking three wickets each.
With the Indian middle order collapsing again, there was very little the tail could do but try - in vain.
The match, on the lines of the series, was lost when Sehwag left the
ground on 95 after trying hard to make some meat out of the middle and
lower order batsmen.
The happiest man of the day was perhaps West Indian captain Brian Lara,
who proved what could be done with a team as representative of
underdogs as his even when the world number three is the opponent.
The southpaw could not have asked for a better parting gift from his
team after playing what could be his last match at his home town,
moreover at his favourite Queen's Park Oval ground.
SCOREBOARD
India in West Indies ODI Series - 5th ODI
West Indies
C.H. Gayle b Sehwag 51
S. Chattergoon b Agarkar 0
R.R. Sarwan b Sreesanth 52
B.C. Lara run out (Agarkar/Dhoni) 36
D.J. Bravo not out 62
W.W. Hinds c Sehwag b Agarkar 32
D.R. Smith b Patel 1
D. Ramdin not out 1
Did not bat D. Mohammed, J.E. Taylor, C.D. Collymore
Extras 20
Total (6 wickets; 50 overs) 255
Fall of wickets1-8 (Chattergoon, 1.1 ov), 2-90 (Gayle, 19.4 ov), 3-137
(Sarwan, 34.1 ov), 4-165 (Lara, 38.1 ov), 5-243 (Hinds, 48.3 ov), 6-251
(Smith, 49.3 ov)
Bowling
S. Sreesanth 10 0 62 1 (2w)
A.B. Agarkar 10 1 44 2 (4w)
M.M. Patel 10 0 64 1 (3nb, 2w)
Harbhajan S. 10 0 52 0 (1w)
V. Sehwag 10 0 29 1 (4w)
India
AR Uthappa c Ramdin b Hinds 0
V Sehwag c Gayle b Taylor 95
MS Dhoni b Hinds 14
R Dravid run out (Mohammed) 18
Yuvraj Singh b Mohammed 26
M Kaif c Gayle b Taylor 12
SK Raina c Ramdin b Taylor 2
AB Agarkar c Smith b Gayle 21
Harbhajan Singh c sub b Mohammed 26
MM Patel c Chattergoon b Mohammed 0
S Sreesanth not out 1
Extras (lb 4, w 14, nb 2) 20
Total (10 wickets; 48 overs) 236
Fall of wickets1-0 (Uthappa, 0.3 ov), 2-26 (Dhoni, 6.1 ov), 3-73
(Dravid, 12.5 ov), 4-130 (Yuvraj Singh, 22.6 ov), 5-170 (Kaif, 31.2
ov), 6-180 (Raina, 35.3 ov), 7-189 (Sehwag, 37.2 ov), 8-230 (Harbhajan
Singh, 46.3 ov), 9-231 (Patel, 46.5 ov), 10-236 (Agarkar, 47.6 ov)
Bowling
W.W. Hinds 5 0 28 2 (2w)
J.E. Taylor 10 0 48 3 (2nb, 4w)
D. Mohammed 9 1 39 3 (1w)
D.R. Smith 5 0 28 0
D.J. Bravo 9 0 45 0 (3w)
C.H. Gayle 10 0 44 1 (2w)
Toss: India, chose to field first
Result: West Indies won by 19 runs
Player of the match: D.J. Bravo (West Indies)
Player of the series: R.R. Sarwan (West Indies)
Umpires: S.A. Bucknor and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: B.R. Doctrove
Match referee: B.C. Broad (England)
Reserve umpire: T. Birbal
© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service | 
