Saturday, July 4, 2009

DHONI GUIDED INDIA TO VICTORY

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India registered six-wicket victory over West Indies in the rain-hit third One-day International on Friday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground.
India take an unbeatable 2-1 lead the four-match series with the final match to be contested on Sunday at the same venue.
Chasing a revised target of 159 from 22 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis Method following a near hour-long stoppage for rain during their chase, India hit the jackpot with one ball to spare. 
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose unbeaten 46 from 34 balls steared his side over the threshold.

India were put on the path to glory, when their openers Dinesh Karthik and Gautam Gambhir shared 95 in 12.1 overs for the first wicket.
Karthik hit the top score of 47 from 43 balls, and Gambhir made 44 from 38 balls before they were dismissed within three overs of each other to leave India 108 for two in the 16th over.
India also lost Yuvraj Singh for two and Rohit Sharma for 11, but India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni held his nerve, and helped his side navigate the closing overs to take them over the threshold.
India required 11 from the final over, and Dhoni hit a six off the second ball from Jerome Taylor over mid-wicket, before Yusuf Pathan hit the winning run, when he stabbed a short, rising ball into square cover, and scampered a single.
Earlier, Ramnaresh Sarwan stroked 62 to lead West Indies to 185 for seven.
Sarwan struck five fours and a six from 58 balls, after India sent West Indies in to bat, and the home team tried to maintain the intensity, after the weather failed to cooperate, and reduced their innings to a maximum of 27 overs.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle supported with 27, Runako Morton scored 22, and Darren Bravo made 21 to keep the momentum going.
Ashish Nehra led India's bowling with three for 21 from five overs, and Harbhajan Singh captured two for 25 from five overs.

Play started two hours and five minutes late because of the weather, but then a couple more stoppages for rain forced the final reduction in the number of overs.
India were put on their heels by Gayle with typically robust batting before rain forced the players of the field.
Nehra made the breakthrough for India, when Gayle was caught behind in the fourth over, but then another shower sent the players scampering.
On resumption, India tried to keep a lid on the West Indies' scoring, but Sarwan added 51 with Morton, and 47 with Chanderpaul to keep the home team going.
When Gautam Gambhir's throw from square leg to keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, ran Sarwan out in the 21st over, West Indies were 135 for four.
India were then put under further pressure, when the Bravo brothers - Darren and Dwayne - added 44 for the fifth wicket before West Indies lost three wickets for 16 runs in the last two overs.
There were two changes for India with Ishant Sharma and Abhishek Nayar replacing Praveen Kumar and Ravindra Jadeja, but West Indies were - predictably - unchanged.
India won the high-scoring opening ODI by 20 runs last Friday at Sabina Park in Jamaica, and two days later, West Indies rebounded to secure an eight-wicket victory in a low-scoring second ODI at the same venue.
Friday's victory means that India are now in pole position to register a rare ODI series victory in the Caribbean before embarking on a much-anticipated two-month break from the game.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

WEST INDIES LEVELS THE SERIES BY BEATING INDIA IN 2ND ODI

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The West Indies thrashed India by eight wickets in Kingston to level their one-day series at 1-1 with two matches to play.

The tourists were bowled out for just 188 at Sabina Park - the venue where both teams exceeded 300 two days ago - as Ravi Rampaul claimed four for 37.

India were thankful for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's lion-hearted 95 as he and RP Singh (23) shared a 101-run stand which rescued their team from a position of 82 for eight.

West Indies set about their task and brought up 50 in the eighth over, with openers Runako Morton and, in particular, Chris Gayle looking utterly dominant.

Gayle's half-century came in 37 balls, and he took his team to 100 with a huge six off Harbhajan Singh in the 15th over.

The big hitter was out for a 46-ball 64 soon afterwards, though, when he got out on a  Rohit Sharma delivery to Gautam Gambhir on the long-off boundary.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (15) was stumped off Sharma but Morton (85 not out from 102 balls) continued to anchor the innings brilliantly and the target was reached with more than 15 overs remaining - Shivnarine Chanderpaul also still there on 18.

Earlier, Rampaul, Jerome Taylor (three for 35) and Dwayne Bravo (three for 26) ripped India to shreds.

After Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat, the tourists made a nightmare start, losing three wickets for seven runs in the first two overs.

Dinesh Karthik (four) was first to go when he edged Taylor's late outswinger behind, while Gambhir and Sharma both departed for two-ball ducks when they were caught off Rampaul.

Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni steadied the innings and the former had blasted 35 from 33 balls when he became the fourth man out with the score on 54.

Yuvraj's wicket created a collapse of the indian innings and Yusuf Pathan (duck) and Ravindra Jadeja (seven) were back in the pavilion before the end of the 18th over.

Harbhajan (seven) was out in the 21st over when he was tempted into an airy drive by Bravo and edged behind, and Praveen Kumar (one) followed in the next as his attempted cut off Rampaul found Gayle in the slips.

Dhoni stayed at the crease with RP Singh and reached his half-century off 87 balls, while the pair added a vital 101 before the seamer was out to Bravo for a slow and steady 23.

The heroic India skipper was last man out in the penultimate over when he was bowled by Taylor's slower ball.

The series will resume on Friday with the first of two ODIs in St Lucia.