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India defeat West Indies by six wickets
Chasing a humble 178, India finished the match with 14 overs to go. Scoreboard | Replay
The great Indian experimentation has begun. The players, long been seen sitting on the margins, have now been asked to share the responsibility of building the future Indian team by coach Greg Chappell, though he has been in office for only two days.
Beating a depleted West Indies team may not be a great achievement, that, too, when the man who was responsible for the win was its mainstay -- Rahul Dravid -- but what surprised everyone was the batting order reshuffle and an unchanged team despite the loss to Sri Lanka on the opening day.
Dravid's unbeaten 52 made him the man-of-the-match but no change in the team meant that some of the players were given another chance to come good. And the experiment was successful.
There could be a debate over the kind of opposition India were facing but don't forget the victory came against an attack consisting of some genuine quick bowlers. And that must have given a boost to India's future plans.
But there were some grey areas as well. Like the second consecutive failure of Virender Sehwag. Though nothing much can be read in these failures, watching him struggle on the field did make one wonder if he is really fit.
That experiments in the team will continue was proved when Mohd Kaif walked along with Sehwag to open the innings though one was told that the competition for this slot was between MS Dhoni and VVS Laxman. Obviously, Dhoni's struggle in his first outing and Laxman's back spasm must have forced the team management to look for other options. And Kaif must have been asked to raise his hand.
India were chasing a score of only 178 but Daren Powell and Jermaine Lawson started firing right from the word go. The high-velocity wind helped them in making Indians jump initially. Kaif spent some uncomfortable time in the beginning, especially adjusting to Lawson's 90mph speed.
His senior partner Sehwag, however, deserted him in only the second over.
Sehwag, like most of his teammates, except for Dravid, was again found wanting in his footwork.
Suresh Raina, promoted in the batting order after his first-ball nought against Lanka, was lucky not to have repeated his feat as Ricardo Powell dropped a sitter off Lawson. Tino Best's entry into the attack complicated matters for both Kaif and Raina.
The duo targeted Powell in between to get some runs. But otherwise, most of the Indian runs came from some wayward bowling by the West Indian speedsters. They could have extended the match till the very end, had they struck to their line and length.
Dravid showed that responsibility of leading the side has not put his batting under pressure, as he shared a 61-run partnership with Yuvraj Singh to ensure a smooth passage for India. Even a struggling Dhoni must have made his skipper happy with a match-winning six.
However, the best news from the Indian point of view was the fine opening spell by Irfan Pathan. Back from injury, Pathan has shown in the two matches so far that he is rediscovering his magic delivery. He made the opposition struggle to find an answer for his late incoming ball. He was well complimented by his senior partner Zaheer Khan.
The sour note was Sehwag and Raina failing to fill the fifth bowler's gap effectively.
Fall Of Wickets
India:
1-3(V Sehwag c Joseph b Best), 2-68(M Kaif c Ramdin b Lawson), 3-82(Suresh Raina c Marshall b Smith), 4-143(Yuvraj Singh b Jermaine Lawson), Dravid and Dhoni Not Out.
West Indies:
1-1(Runako Morton lbw IK Pathan), 2-22(SC Joseph run out Raina), 3-32(XM Marshall c R Dravid b Harbhajan Singh), 4-84(S Chanderpaul lbw Suresh Raina), 5-85(RL Powell b Sehwag), 6-109(DR Smith c Dhoni b Harbhajan), 7-141(N Deonarine lbw Sehwag), 8-172(D Ramdin b Nehra), 9-172(D Powell b Nehra), 10-178(TL Best c Raina b Zaheer), Jermaine Lawson Not Out .
Teams:
West Indies
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Denesh Ramdin, Kerry Jeremy, Daren Powell, Omari Banks, Deighton Butler, Sylvester Joseph, Dwayne Smith, Narsingh Deonarine, Tino Best, Jermaine Lawson, Xavier Marshall, Runako Morton, Ryan Ramdass and Ricardo Powell.
India:
Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.
