The
idea behind starting this blog was to analyse India’s performances in the ICC
World Cup 2015. With a pool that has Pakistan and West Indies, I knew it would
be hard to not talk about them. Against Pakistan, India gave me a chance to
talk about its spectacular performance. Pakistan too was not at its erratic
best in that match. West Indies over the years have given us so much to talk
about. The yester years were all about the menacing fast bowling and of Sir Viv
Richards. Presently, it’s all about unpredictability and a strange team
combination. From the great tales of fast bowling to Samuel’s farcical run out
in the last match, West Indies cricket never fails to amuse you.
So, let’s
do the headcount. West Indies gives us this giant who regardless of his form
intimidates you. Often, he consumes 10 to 15 deliveries to get going and when
he gets going, even the big Australian grounds start looking like your
backyards. But the thing with him now-a-days is you never know which Gayle
would turn up; the one who shreds bowling attacks to bits or the one who is apprehensive
about short pitched balls and opts for a hurriedly chosen pull shot to end his
misery. Furthermore, if an official from
the West Indies Cricket Board celebrates your failure publicly on twitter, one
can guess how difficult life currently is for the man.
When
one of your openers is struggling for runs, the other one has to step up. That
holds true for every team, except the West Indies. Only West Indies would dare
to open with a guy who averages 18. Dwayne Smith might be a handy opener in IPL
but West Indies just does not seem to be able to tell between IPL &
International Cricket. Even stranger is the reason why it does not select Sunil
Narine. He is a good T20 bowler, they say. The fallacy in these two selections
is obvious unless of course you have followed West Indies Cricket for a while. The
One-Down position is a revered position in cricket. Greats like Rahul Dravid,
Rickey Ponting, and Jack Kallis have held this position. West Indies goes with
Marlon Samuels. He is inconsistency personified and to put him at number three is
being a bit too optimistic. When a batsman who averages 28 in the domestic
cricket is playing for you in the middle order in a World Cup held in Australia,
ahead of Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, you cannot help but ask yourself -
has the quality of this great cricketing nation deteriorated so much or has
politics completely taken over?
It’s
the West Indies after all and you never know what it would come up with. So
after a mediocre batting performance, only West Indies could have made this
match close. For the better part of the Indian innings, West Indies bowlers had
a hold on the in-form Indian batting. Jarome Taylor, Jason Holder and Kemar
Roach bowled with pace and purpose. It was Ashwin’s sensible and calm presence
which made Dhoni’s task much easy. West Indies’ only chance to win this match was
to pick 10 Indian wickets. Hence the decision to give Marlon Samuels those last
few overs was baffling to say the least. Every frontline West Indian bowler had
overs up his sleeve when the match finished. Then again, it’s the West Indies
and such a move should not come as a surprise.
Anyway
now, enough about West Indies! India gained 2 more precious points and is
almost certain to top Pool B, but some uncomfortable questions still haunt it.
When is Rohit Sharma going to come out of his talent cocoon and start
delivering consistently? Will Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina be able to handle
serious fast bowling come the business end of the tournament? At the present
moment when West Indies seemed to be riddled with some grave problems, India
cannot shy away from the fact that it has got one or two of its own.
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