Science of MS Dhoni Rescued Home

GROS ISLET: Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a captain's knock as India battled inclement weather to defeat the West Indies by six wickets via the
Duckworth-Lewis method and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match ODI series at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia on Friday. ( Watch ) Scorecard In Pics Needing 11 runs off the last over after the target was revised to 159 from 22 overs, Dhoni (46 not out) sent Jerome Taylor's second delivery for a six over mid-wicket as India won with a ball to spare. Blogs: All morons, please stand up 1983: Anniversary of India's 2nd tryst with destiny The One-dayer was almost reduced to a Twenty20 fixture as it witnessed as many as four stoppages due to rain during the West Indies innings -- including a two hour and five minutes delay at the start of the match. The interruptions forced the overs to be brought down to 27 per side. The West Indies, put into bat after Dhoni won the toss, rode on Ramnaresh Sarwan's 62 to post a competitive 185 for seven and India were set a revised target of 195 following the D/L method. The visitors needed a strong start and Dinesh Karthik (47 off 43 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (44 off 38) did just that. The duo put on 84 runs before a direct throw from Ravi Rampaul ended Karthik's innings. Gambhir and Dhoni took the score to 95 for one off 13.3 overs when rain intervened for the fifth time and following a 22-minute delay, the target was revised to 159 in 22 overs. Needing another 64 runs from 51 deliveries, India lost Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh (2) in quick succession. With 11 runs required off the last seven deliveries, Rohit Sharma too departed leaving Dhoni to see the team through. The skipper's 34-ball unbeaten knock included a couple of boundaries besides the six in the last over. While Dhoni sparkled, opening partnership too did the job. Karthik and Gambhir not only complemented each other but also gave the visitors perfect launchpad to go for victory after Sarwan's 58-ball 62 guided the West Indies to 185 for seven. Sarwan was involved in two crucial partnerships, 51 runs with Runako Morton (22) and another 48 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (15) before he was run out going for a non-existent second. Gambhir's strong throw found Sarwan short of the mark. His innings included five fours and a six. He carried on the momentum provided by captain Chris Gayle (27), who gave the hosts a rollicking start after the match started two hours and five minutes late following a rain delay that first reduced the match to 41 overs a side. Gayle hit Ishant Sharma for a couple of boundaries in each of his first two overs. Left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra (3/21) received similar treatment in his second over, another couple of boundaries, before rain intervened with the West Indies at 27 for no loss from 3.3 overs. Play resumed after a 15-minute delay but the distraction was enough to unsettle the West Indies captain, who departed chasing a widish delivery from Nehra. Gayle slashed the first ball after resumption and Dhoni did the rest behind stumps. His 14-ball stay at the crease had six hits to the fence. Morton (22 off 34 balls), who was a silent spectator till then was joined by Sarwan and the duo took the score to 56 for one from 9.1 overs before rain intervened for a third time. Following another 15-minute delay, the overs were reduced to 36 per side. However, rain forced play to be suspended again just two deliveries on re-start with the hosts on 57 for one. This time play remained suspended for an hour and 20 minutes before it resumed with the overs reduced to 27 a side. Morton greeted RP Singh with a four but fell soon after. Sarwan though didn't let the stoppages affect his rhythm as he took 16 runs off one Yuvraj over to help the hosts go past the 100-run mark in 16 overs. Along with the vastly experienced Chanderpaul, the duo put on 48 runs before the left-hander departed trying to hoist Yusuf Pathan over mid-on and Nehra doing the rest

India Backing Up

Leaving behind their pathetic show in the Twenty20 World Cup, Indian batsmen came firing on all cylinders as they trampled the West Indies attack to reach an intimidating 339 for six after opting to bat at Sabina Park. Blogs: 1983: Memories of India's World Cup win To Pak, with love However, defending even such a massive total proved quite a task for the Indians as they just about managed to bowl the hosts out for 319 in 48.1 overs. It was a spirited chase by the hosts, for whom Shivnaraine Chanderpaul top scored with 63 and Denesh Ramdin played a sparkling 29-run knock down the order. Earlier, Yuvraj treated the host bowlers with utter disdain and clobbered them for seven huge sixes and 10 boundaries apart from sharing a crucial 135-run stand with Dinesh Karthik (67) to shape the Indian innings. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (41), Yusuf Pathan (40 unbeaten) and Harbhajan Singh (21 not out) also chipped in with useful contributions. With the wicket of Chanderpaul in the 36th over it looked all over for the hosts but their lower order batted with steely resolve and made it an edge-of-the-seat contest. West Indies required 21 off the last two overs with one wicket in hand but Ashish Nehra removed Ramdin in the first ball of the 49th over to bring a huge relief for his side. Ramnaresh Sarwan (45) and Runako Morton (42) did well and got the starts for the West Indies but could not convert those into big knocks. Jerome Taylor (21) and David Bernard (19), batting at number seven and nine respectively did their best but their effort went in vain in the end. For India, Nehra (3/49) and Yusuf Pathan (3/56) took three wickets each. It was raining sixes as 23 of them were hit in the match. Only thrice a One-dayer has witnessed more sixes. The West Indies chase began in the right earnest with Chris Gayle (37) and Morton quickly putting up 65 for the first wicket before comeback man Asish Nehra got rid of the skipper. Gayle miscued a pull off the left-armer and Harbhajan took a smart running catch at mid-on. Morton's entrainig knock in which he hit for fours and a six ended when Yousuf had him caught behind. The hosts maintained a good run-rate to keep their hopes alive but continued losing their settled batsmen. The big-hitting Dwayne Bravo (8) though was extremely unlucky as he got out on a high full toss of Ishant Sharma but umpires did not call that a no-ball. Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo, making his debut, added 36 quick runs wicket but just when the partnership had started looking threatening Yusuf separated the pair by dismissing the former, ending all hopes of the hosts. Chanderpaul had just hit Yusuf for a massive six but failed to do an encore hitting straight to Ravinder Jadeja at deep mid-wicket but not before hitting three fours and three sixes in his 59-ball knock. Earlier, Yuvraj hit a blazing century and Karthik smashed a brilliant 67 to resurrect the India's innings, which was rocked by short-pitched bowling, led by Jerome Taylor. Early dismissals of Gautam Gambhir (13) and Rohit Sharma (4) had left India reeling at 32 for two but Yuvraj and Karthik batted with patience to not only save India from more jolts but also laid a solid platform for a good finish. After guiding his side to a safe position, Yuvraj opened his arms to good effects and punished the host bowlers all over the park en route to his 12th ODI century. He hit both Taylor and Chris Gayle for two sixes each and also added 86 runs for the fourth wicket with Dhoni. Yuvraj batted fearlessly as he hit Lionel Baker for two fours and a six to reach 98 and then stole a single off Taylor to complete his magnificent century. The Punjab southpaw was looking unstoppable but Dwayne then dealt the visitors twin-blow by dismissing Yuvraj and Ravinder Jadeja (0) off successive balls in the 39th over. Yuvraj's brilliant innings ended while trying to work one on the leg side but just managed a nick and stumper Denesh Ramdin took a splendid diving catch on his right. Yusuf Pathan (40 off 38) hit the first ball of the last over for a six and Harbhajan Singh (21 off 13) smashed the last one into the crowd to provide perfect finish to India. Earlier, Gambhir and Karthik, who switched to the opener's role in the absence of injured Virender Sehwag, gave a steady start to India, adding 25 for the first wicket. However Gambhir's lean patch continued as he could not build on and fell to a short-pitched delivery from Taylor. Surprised by the bounce, the left-hander mistimed an attempted pull shot only to find Dwayne Bravo. Rohit Sharma (4) became the second victim of the short-pitched stuff as he tried to pull one off Baker but just managed a top-edge to Dwayne in the square-leg region. Yuvraj and Karthik relied more on ones and twos initially and steadied the rocking ship but once they got their eye in, and spinners were launched into the attack runs started flowing from their blades. Yuvraj first hoicked rival skipper Chris Gayle for a huge six over the mid-wicket then meted out the same treatment to spinner Suleiman Benn to bring up the 100-run partnership. Karthik hit six boundaries in his 77-ball effort before being done in by a paddle scoop.

Money drives

Much have been told about India's debacle in the ICC World Twenty20. Be it media, former players, Indian cricket board or the team management, all have their own set of stories regarding the blame game.
Barely three days later, India will fly to West Indies to play four One-day Internationals. But all seem to have forgotten if Dhoni's men will be able to regain the glory in the Caribbean.
While coach Gary Kirsten blames IPL for the players' fatigue and niggles, captain Dhoni says it's not fatigue but 'lack of playing as a unit for long' is responsible for the Twenty20 debacle. Dhoni admits India failed to perform as a unit and were "not up to international standards" in England and confessed the fall in India's standard in the game.
Fatigue, injury or lack of playing as a unit, the tiring six-week Indian Premier League schedule before the World Cup is to blame only. And, the Indian cricket board is supposed to protect the national team from any activity that spoils India's chances. But the huge money involved with the IPL2 silenced everybody.
While Mr Pawar and his men were busy with the general elections to protect their political fiefdom, Modi & Co went ahead with organising the IPL in South Africa. And the only gain of the BCCI was it got richer by close to US $ 1.75 billion, solely from the sale of TV rights.
Dhoni, after the defeat to South Africa, made clear even the 10 days in the Caribbean might also be hard to stay in the present and not think about what you would be doing afterwards. However, the long break after the series till the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September will come good for the side.
Let's hope for the same and pray "good sense prevails in the wise men of the BCCI" who seem to have one point agenda of making money, come what may. Or else, I won't be surprised to see the Board forcing the players to go for ad shoots and or, generate revenue in some other way than using the break to regain form.