1st ODI Preview: India Vs West Indies
The young Indian team have got off to a terrific start in the West Indies tour by snapping an easy victory against the West Indies in the lonely T20 match on Sunday. But the real test for dominance begins as India encounters the host for the first ODI on Monday.
Also Read: YuppTV To Stream India-West Indies Cricket Series Online
India can take plenty of positives from the T20 game as most of players were able to quickly adapt to the new conditions in the Caribbean. Both the openers cannot be blamed as they were put back with some unexpected bounce. One delivery of Ravi Rampaul nearly skidded off and took segments of pitch away. As history speaks for itself, West Indies have been producing some death bed pitches not assisting good cricket. England toured West Indies for a test series some time back and were left in disarray as they knew pitch was going to be dead and played for the sake of it. The curators must take these factors into consideration and ensure history is not repeated.
It was unlikely the way Raina and Kholi picked their shot selection. Usually known for good timing both failed miserably and when the need for a captain’s knock came calling Raina threw his wicket away. It was a good sign when the middle order had pulled the team out of trouble and both Badri and Rohit are talented assets. Both batted sensibly and took their time to analyze the pitch. They rotated the strike even though the ball had spun out of nowhere. They plotted the assault at the right time and left for Yusuf and Harbhajan to finish things off. It’s a typical trademark of ODI’s where you control things based on the team’s start for a par score and count on the depth overs heavily for a challenging total for the opposition.
The bowling department looked little shaky but had the potential to keep mounting the required run rate scaling up over after over. Newspapers claim the isolation of Praveen Kumar has dipped and clearly so as he would definitely felt bad to miss out of the World Cup winning squad. But he has to take this as a part of cricket and move ahead for the next milestone and as quickly he does it, his rewards will keep coming. Raina kept rotating his bowlers too much in succession. This might click in the shortest version of the game but ODI’s need more skill and perfection in executing the plans. Duncan should assist Raina in this matter because you might have players ticking form but a captain’s decision sits atop which can change the tides from one side to the other.
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