da dobrowin： West Indies took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series with an impressive four-wicket victory at Basseterre.
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran23-May-2006
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
A magnificent century from Ramnaresh Sarwan secured a convincing West Indies win © AFP
It was a Made-in-Guyana triumph, but given West Indian cricket’s recenttravails, it might as well have been made in heaven. A magnificentunbeaten 115 from Ramnaresh Sarwan, incidentally playing his 100th ODI, provided the momentum for the pursuit of 246, and a classy half-century from ahamstrung Shivnarine Chanderpaul proved as decisive as West Indies took a2-1 lead in the five-match series with an impressive four-wicket victoryat Basseterre.As in the two games at Sabina Park, the inaugural international at StKitts too went down to the final over, bowled by S Sreesanth with six runsstill needed. Dwayne Bravo’s run out gave India a glimmer of hope, butcrucially, Rahul Dravid misfielded the fourth ball, allowing Sarwan acouple where there might not even have been one. The next ball wassummarily dismissed to the cover fence, setting the seal on anothermatchwinning innings from Sarwan, whose 106-run partnership withChanderpaul made all the difference.India, though, have no one to blame but themselves, after a battingimplosion that saw a paltry 77 runs scored in the final 22 overs. WhenBrian Lara asked for the final Powerplay, they were cruising at 168 for 2,with Virender Sehwag in sight of three figures, and Mohammad Kaifproviding solid support. A total of 300 was plausible, but once Bravothudded a reverse-swinging yorker into Sehwag’s boot, the game started todrift out of India’s reach.Mahendra Singh Dhoni biffed and missed his way to 15 before hesitancebetween the wickets, and a smart bit of fielding from Gayle, sent himpacking. Thereafter, with the ebullience and skill of Yuvraj Singh – ruledout with back spasms – badly missed and with Kaif unable to break out ofaccumulation mode, it was an eminently forgettable procession. MarlonSamuels and Gayle put the ball on a spot, batsmen were unable to work itinto the gaps, and as the field closed in, they compounded their woes withsome suicidal dashes between the stumps.
Virender Sehwag led the way with a quickfire 96, but India lost their way badly after he left © Getty Images
It could all have been so different. Having lost Dravid in Ian Bradshaw’sopening over, India made all the early running thanks to Sehwagrediscovering his effervescence and Suresh Raina’s accomplished cameo.With the bowlers either offering too much width or pitching too full,Sehwag crashed strokes through the offside with impunity, while Raina’soff-drives were struck with a panache that recalled a certain SouravGanguly in his prime.Sehwag slashed one six over point of Bradshaw, and followed that with animmense shot over mid-on off Bravo, even as Kaif chipped and ran to turnover the strike. It seemed pretty effortless till the slow bowlers cameon, when the gentle tourniquet soon became a choke.Needing just under five an over, Sarwan walked in with the innings in somedisarray after two marginal lbw decisions had taken the sheen off a steadystart from Gayle and Samuels, opening for the first time. Samuels wasgiven out to Sreesanth’s bowling, and when Agarkar sent back RunakoMorton without scoring, 246 looked a long way away.But Sarwan started with a crashing off-drive off Agarkar and a crisp cutoff Sreesanth, and after good fortune directed an inner edge wide of thestumps and down to the fence, he laced a gorgeous cover-drive off astrangely off-colour Irfan Pathan. Desperate to stem the tide, Dravidturned to spin, but while Harbhajan Singh was accurate and economical,Ramesh Powar was targetted from the start. Sarwan twice thumped him overlong-on for six, and Gayle then revealed how powerful he could be with animmense stroke that struck the roof.With options dwindling, Dravid turned back to Agarkar, easily the pick ofIndia’s bowlers. When he got Gayle to edge one, and Harbhajan outfoxedLara, it was certainly game on, but Chanderpaul made light of a musclestrain to caress some lovely shots, including a sensational straight six offAgarkar, en route to a 58-ball 50.At the other end, Sarwan was just imperious. Having romped to 50 in just41 balls, he was much more circumspect as the game neared its denouement.Dravid’s decision to try Sehwag tilted the match, and also gave Sarwan hiscentury – his third in the one-day game and his first against India – with a precise late cut and two runs scampered to midwicket sparking considerable celebration in the stands. And though Chanderpaul departed soon after, the other Guyanese hero remained to the end. If lastSaturday was all about Bravo holding his nerve, this was very much theSarwan show. Whisper it softly, but the Calypso Kings might just be on theroad to recovery. As for India – red-hot favourites to take the series -they find themselves with no margin for error heading into the final twogames.
India
Rahul Dravid lbw b Bradshaw 0 (1 for 1)
Suresh Raina b Bradshaw 26 (62 for 2)
Virender Sehwag lbw Bravo 96 (174 for 3)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni run out (Gayle) 15 (211 for 4)
Mohammad Kaif run out (Chanderpaul) 63 (216 for 5)
Irfan Pathan c and b Samuels 1 (219 for 6)
Ramesh Powar b Sarwan 1 (224 for 7)
Venugopal Rao run out (Edwards) 12 (233 for 8)
Ajit Agarkar c Lara b Bravo 8 (243 for 9)
West Indies
Marlon Samuels lbw Sreesanth 11 (30 for 1)
Runako Morton lbw Agarkar 0 (31 for 2)
Chris Gayle c Dhoni b Agarkar 40 (116 for 3)
Brian Lara c Dravid b Harbhajan 5 (131 for 4)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul lbw Pathan 58 (237 for 5)
Dwayne Bravo run out (Pathan) 1 (241 for 6)