Remember the technicolour intensity of the last match in Chennai
: the frenzied assault from Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy, the snarling of Graeme Swann, the never-say die tenacity of the English fielders; the thrill of a match that would guarantee qualification for the victors. Well, there was none of that here.
Instead there was a lukewarm contest, albeit with a few ramifications, but both sides knew they would be playing in the quarter-finals and that coloured the progress of a match which was eventually won by India by 80 runs. However, it was a game that had us pining for the sudden- death part of the tournament.
For the Anglocentric the consequences of India's victory are that England travel to Colombo, where they play Sri Lanka on Saturday, probably not the outcome preferred by Andrew Strauss and his team. Meanwhile India will meet Australia in Ahmedabad on Thursday, for the neutral the most appetising of the matches.
For a while India were so lacklustre in defence of their total that the impression was that Mahendra Dhoni and his team were none too bothered who their next opponents would be. In pursuit of 269 West Indies cruised to 154 for two with Devon Smith leading the chase in the absence of Gayle, who was not risked in this fixture (nor was Kemar Roach, West Indies' leading wicket-taker in the tournament).
There had been an odd start to the run chase. Kirk Edwards, making his debut, should have been given run-out on seven after a direct hit from Virat Kohli but the umpire, Simon Taufel, declined to ask for a review. Instead he gave the batsman not out, which the TV replays revealed to be a mistake, but it was not a costly one since Edwards was soon lbw to Ravi Ashwin's doosra.
Next we witnessed Suresh Raina's creaky off-breaks being brought into play, hardly an obvious threat. Yet Darren Bravo contrived to hit a long-hop to long-on. But thereafter there were few problems for Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan. In the 31st over West Indies were on target for a surprising victory, whereupon they lost their last eight wickets for 34 runs.
Dhoni was indebted to Zaheer Khan, who broke the Smith‑Sarwan partnership.
Then suddenly the Indians, who had looked so uninterested, were galvanised. Harbhajan Singh found some zip, Yuvraj Singh, the inevitable man of the match, began to spin the ball and Ashwin may well have bowled himself into India's best XI.
West Indies were hapless after Smith's departure. Kieron Pollard holed out on the leg-side boundary, Darren Sammy was run out and Sarwan, stranded with the tail for the second match in succession, was caught during the powerplay. Shivnarine Chanderpaul really must be in dreadful form if he does not get into this side.
India's innings suffered from its usual deceleration, even if their collapse was not quite so spectacular as West Indies'. First, though, there was the silent shock of Sachin Tendulkar's first‑over dismissal. On the best batting surface we have seen in Chennai he edged a lifting delivery from Ravi Rampaul to the wicketkeeper. While the umpire, Steve Davis, was shaking his head at the appeal Tendulkar was already heading off to the pavilion.
Gautam Gambhir, promoted in the order because Virender Sehwag's knee has been misbehaving, was caught at third man flailing away but now Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh settled in. Together they added 122, Kohli with an elegance reminiscent of Rahul Dravid while Yuvraj was just Yuvraj: a haughty presence at the crease cracking the ball with imperious power despite suffering from a stomach ailment, which had him on his haunches and in some distress throughout his innings. Even so Yuvraj went on to hit his 13th ODI century, scoring 113 off 123 balls.
After 40 overs India were 212 for three. They were bowled out for 268 with five balls of their allotted 50 overs unused. They may as well take their batting powerplay in the 16th over just to get it over and done with. For West Indies Rampaul took five wickets, Devendra Bishoo bowled with promise again but Pakistan will be delighted that they will be playing against such a raw, inconsistent team next Wednesday.
: the frenzied assault from Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy, the snarling of Graeme Swann, the never-say die tenacity of the English fielders; the thrill of a match that would guarantee qualification for the victors. Well, there was none of that here.
Instead there was a lukewarm contest, albeit with a few ramifications, but both sides knew they would be playing in the quarter-finals and that coloured the progress of a match which was eventually won by India by 80 runs. However, it was a game that had us pining for the sudden- death part of the tournament.
For the Anglocentric the consequences of India's victory are that England travel to Colombo, where they play Sri Lanka on Saturday, probably not the outcome preferred by Andrew Strauss and his team. Meanwhile India will meet Australia in Ahmedabad on Thursday, for the neutral the most appetising of the matches.
For a while India were so lacklustre in defence of their total that the impression was that Mahendra Dhoni and his team were none too bothered who their next opponents would be. In pursuit of 269 West Indies cruised to 154 for two with Devon Smith leading the chase in the absence of Gayle, who was not risked in this fixture (nor was Kemar Roach, West Indies' leading wicket-taker in the tournament).
There had been an odd start to the run chase. Kirk Edwards, making his debut, should have been given run-out on seven after a direct hit from Virat Kohli but the umpire, Simon Taufel, declined to ask for a review. Instead he gave the batsman not out, which the TV replays revealed to be a mistake, but it was not a costly one since Edwards was soon lbw to Ravi Ashwin's doosra.
Next we witnessed Suresh Raina's creaky off-breaks being brought into play, hardly an obvious threat. Yet Darren Bravo contrived to hit a long-hop to long-on. But thereafter there were few problems for Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan. In the 31st over West Indies were on target for a surprising victory, whereupon they lost their last eight wickets for 34 runs.
Dhoni was indebted to Zaheer Khan, who broke the Smith‑Sarwan partnership.
Then suddenly the Indians, who had looked so uninterested, were galvanised. Harbhajan Singh found some zip, Yuvraj Singh, the inevitable man of the match, began to spin the ball and Ashwin may well have bowled himself into India's best XI.
West Indies were hapless after Smith's departure. Kieron Pollard holed out on the leg-side boundary, Darren Sammy was run out and Sarwan, stranded with the tail for the second match in succession, was caught during the powerplay. Shivnarine Chanderpaul really must be in dreadful form if he does not get into this side.
India's innings suffered from its usual deceleration, even if their collapse was not quite so spectacular as West Indies'. First, though, there was the silent shock of Sachin Tendulkar's first‑over dismissal. On the best batting surface we have seen in Chennai he edged a lifting delivery from Ravi Rampaul to the wicketkeeper. While the umpire, Steve Davis, was shaking his head at the appeal Tendulkar was already heading off to the pavilion.
Gautam Gambhir, promoted in the order because Virender Sehwag's knee has been misbehaving, was caught at third man flailing away but now Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh settled in. Together they added 122, Kohli with an elegance reminiscent of Rahul Dravid while Yuvraj was just Yuvraj: a haughty presence at the crease cracking the ball with imperious power despite suffering from a stomach ailment, which had him on his haunches and in some distress throughout his innings. Even so Yuvraj went on to hit his 13th ODI century, scoring 113 off 123 balls.
After 40 overs India were 212 for three. They were bowled out for 268 with five balls of their allotted 50 overs unused. They may as well take their batting powerplay in the 16th over just to get it over and done with. For West Indies Rampaul took five wickets, Devendra Bishoo bowled with promise again but Pakistan will be delighted that they will be playing against such a raw, inconsistent team next Wednesday.
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