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India beat Windies to level series
Dravid top-scored with 58 as India pulled off a tense three-wicket win over WI in the 6th one-dayer.
There is this incredible buzz to whenever Virender Sehwag plays, and it is not merely adulatory. It comes from a definite idea and expectation of being provided by a dose of the unexpected. Immediate and unmistakable, it is a buzz only a lucky few can earn. And it can be combustible, short-lived.
Rahul Dravid, for all his talent, skill and apparent longevity, is still to see and feel that kind of a dizzy high. The wave, when he steps out to bat, is of the adulatory kind. People cheer for him out of sheer hope and relief. It can never be a hoarse, hoary cry to see someone self-destruct in a blaze. They applaud Dravid's milestones longer than they do Sehwag's.
On Thursday, for a while, it appeared that Rahul Dravid attempted to change that equation. And for a while, it worked. Like Sehwag today, he did not self-destruct after blazing away. He simply kept at it.
Dravid, the one who is supposed to wear you and the opposition down with remarkable patience for a man his age, turned the aggressor as he led the West Indian bowling -- defending a paltry 201, the lowest total this series has witnessed -- on a merry dance.
The three-wicket Indian win came not without some initial, and then a late bout, of hiccups. In the end, when the Barkatullaha Khan wicket threatened to play the defining role in this low-scoring game -- given the scoring standards of this series -- Sanjay Bangar and Ajit Agarkar saw the hosts through with 22 balls to spare.
It was wonderful to see a reversal of roles -- and it was put is proper perspective as both Dravid and Yuvraj Singh salvaged the Indian innings with a rollicking 99-run fourth wicket stand. Yuvraj may have reached his fifty in fewer balls (60 to 66 by Dravid), but the youngster had to be content watching from the non-striker's position for long periods of time, as his stand-in skipper set the pace with some powerful, no-nonsense hitting -- something unusual for him.
Yuvraj, better known for his pyrotechnics with the bat, had to slip into the purist's role. Dravid had simply discarded that mantle today. His innings of 58 contained five hits to the boundary.
Yuvraj could not take it any longer and he cut loose, smashing the West Indians all over the park with some astonishingly clean and effective hitting. But it was okay. He and Dravid had brought India to safety with a show of batting that never gave away the predicament India were in.
Dravid was content to see Yuvraj don his natural role again. Yuvraj eventually fell to Collymore, caught by Ricardo Powell at square leg. He had had seven boundaries in his 54. With the score at 147, it looked a pretty comfortable situation.
But Dravid was to follow soon, without troubling the scorers further. Then, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, trying hard to find a place in the side, skied a ball off Collymore to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs after having made only one addition to the score. Another collapse, this time a result-threatening one, loomed.
However, Mohd. Kaif, Sanjay Bangar and some level-headed running between the wickets erased doubts. The duo put on 39 runs for the sixth wicket to take India to the brink of victory.
Then Kaif fell - succumbing to the same trap that got Yuvraj --- as Powell took his third catch of the match at square leg. What Dravid and Yuvraj attempted and almost pulled off - until the onus fell on Bangar and Kaif -- was due to what Murali Kartik had conjured up during the West Indian innings.
The Indian bowlers, who had seemingly forgotten what it felt like taking wickets and bowling out sides, finally had something to write home about on Thursday.
Kartik proved the catalyst pushing the visiting batsmen into a corner, after their tentative start. The Railways left arm spinner accounted for the West Indian top order - Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan.
The West Indies, for the first time in this seven-match series, were bowled out, managing only 201. In fact, led by Kartik, Sanjay Bangar - who was on a hat-trick --- and Ajit Agarkar, the bowlers took more than six West Indies wickets for the first time this series.
Statistics apart, it was the wicket that was proving to be the bogey, after promising to be full of runs the day before. The usually belligerent West Indies openers were unusually subdued and they almost appeared uncertain at the crease, after being put in by Rahul Dravid. And it showed.
Wavell Hinds took 24 balls to get off the mark, and then took four more to depart, caught by Kartik off Agarkar in the deep.
At one time, Gayle appeared to have rediscovered his groove, having lost it initially. But it was not to be. He departed soon, a doubtful leg before decision that gave Kartik his first wicket.
Kartik was to prove a wily customer from then on.
The West Indians on the whole failed to read him. Marlon Samuels was bowled misreading the line, while Sarwan was beaten by a classical left-arm spinner's delivery that went through the gate.
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