MS Dhoni continued his purple patch as captain by winning yet another test series, more importantly away from home as they have been doing consistently for the last couple of years now. Series wins against Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand catapulted India to the top of the world rankings but does a 1-0 win against an already depleted West Indian squad minus Chris Gayle count as a series victory?
Test series win – Really?
India went into the series without the services of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh and the series provided an opportunity to India’s next generation stars to prove their mettle. It was Murali Vijay’s chance to cement a permanent place as the third opener in the squad. But with 72 runs in 6 innings, he lost his chance to tour England and play at Lords in the absence of Sehwag. Abhinav Mukund didn’t have runs to compare with the ones he made in the Ranji Trophy last season but he made the bowlers work for their wicket and this grittiness earned him a chance to tour England.
Apart from Raina in the first test, the rest of the young brigade was disappointing. Kohli was expected to make this his series but he flattered to deceive. Badrinath didn’t get another opportunity after his forgettable ODI series and it all came down to the old warhorses Laxman and Dravid to do the task for the country. Against a bowling attack comprising of Edwards, Rampaul, Sammy and Bishoo one would have expected the world champions to do better.
The bowling was fairly better! Ishant Sharma takes all the accolades after picking up 22 wickets in the series. It is rare that you see an Indian quickie top the bowling charts in a series but Ishant did everything right to deserve the Man of the Series award. Praveen Kumar surprised everyone with his nippy bowling and showed how you can be successful without pace even in the longer version of the game. Harbhajan had a mixed series. After disappointing in the first two tests, he came back well in the third and also celebrated his 400th wicket. His knock of 69 in the first innings of the first test when India were down in the dumps was crucial when you take a look at the final scoreline. Munaf Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun and Amit Mishra didn’t too badly in the limited opportunities that they got.
Deciding not to chase 86 with 90 balls to spare in the final test aptly describes the series. India were on top almost all throughout the series but they failed to stamp authority and in the end it was West Indies that would go back as the happier team. The victory lap with thousands cheering for them despite the series loss signaled that!
Tags: Cricket, India, Ishant Sharma, MS Dhoni, Test Series, West Indies
