Tuesday, March 10, 2015

World Cup 2015 - India beats West Indies

I have some catching up to do with the World Cup matches. India beat the West Indies last week but not too convincingly. MSD kept his head and guided India home else The West Indies bowled well enough to cause an upset. India needed a bit of a jolt and they got it.

The wicket was bouncy. It was evident from the first over when Dwayne Smith tried to pull and miscued twice. Now on a wicket like this you back off, get the singles and look to punish loose balls. But no, Smith had to keep trying to hit the ball and got out. Gayle refused to take singles and finally perished to a pull shot - after a catch was put down. I mean, it looked so amateurish, so bull headed. Its our way or none at all! Come on guys, you have been playing at the top level for so long. Anyway the innings folded up poorly mainly due to many bad shots and it was only due to young Jason Holder's fifty that they reached a half decent total.

Now when they bowled, India struggled too. Once again one has to take into account the way the batsmen tried to handle the bounce of the wicket. We slipped into a precarious position and it was only thanks to Dhoni and Ashwin keeping their wits about that India got home.

Overall India showed more signs of wanting to win, more intent. West Indies showed less purpose, less intent and paid the price. They make so many basic errors when things are not going their way, so little application, that you wonder how they will win at all. Anyway that's a problem they have to sort out.

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