By Jamie Alter
Five wickets from Ravi Rampaul, spread out between a chalky Indian batting display, led the way for West Indies in the final league match of the World Cup. Rampaul set the tone for a fiery performance by hustling out Sachin Tendulkar with a peach of a delivery, and snuffed out India’s lower order with vicious reverse-swing.
Published: Mar 20, 2011, 06:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 20, 2011, 06:30 PM (IST)
Yuvraj Singh celebrating his century at Chennai.
By Jamie Alter
Chennai: Mar 20, 2011
Five wickets from Ravi Rampaul, spread out between a chalky Indian batting display, led the way for West Indies in the final league match of the World Cup. Rampaul set the tone for a fiery performance by hustling out Sachin Tendulkar with a peach of a delivery, and snuffed out India’s lower order with vicious reverse-swing. Yuvraj Singh stood out among the wreckage with his 13th ODI century, a fine 113, but once his century alliance with Virat Kohli was snapped by Rampaul, India lost their way. Only 56 runs were collected from the final ten overs, with India losing six wickets, and that could yet prove to be decisive.
A charged-up Rampaul, in his first World Cup game, began by undoing Tendulkar with a steep delivery, and then had Gautam Gambhir slashing to third man. India were 51 for two and Yuvraj and Kohli had a task on their hands.
Yuvraj was welcomed, unsurprisingly, by a testing spell of short deliveries from Rampaul and Andre Russell. The initial passage suggested the pacers would come out on top, as Yuvraj swayed and swerved and poked and should have been caught at gully when he fended at a lifter from Russell. However, Darren Sammy failed to grab the chance and Yuvraj duly clutched his.
After that initial phase of playing and missing, Yuvraj settled down beautifully to play an innings that formed the backbone of India’s effort. Bit by bit, he and Kohli pulled it India’s way with pinched runs and angled bats that frustrated West Indies. Only when Yuvraj had picked the length really early did he reach for the ball outside the off stump, and even then he fetched it and placed it rather than trying to give it a thump.
The slower bowlers were nudged and pushed for singles and once the time for acceleration came, Yuvraj managed it with little fuss. Sammy was pulled for a monstrous six and Devendra Bishoo hammered for consecutive fours as Yuvraj ambled past the fifty mark. Kohli’s uncomplicated approach worked well, and a partnership of 122 for the third wicket set things up nicely before Kohli (59) dragged Rampaul back onto his stumps.
By the 40th over, India had crossed 200 and Yuvraj was on 99. His century, the third against West Indies, came up with a push into the off side. Yet again, however, the start of the death overs proved to be India’s bane, with MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj falling in the space of 22 runs. Dhoni was stumped going for a massive heave, Raina paddled Sammy to short fine leg, and Yuvraj popped a catch back to an ecstatic Kieron Pollard.
The batting Powerplay consumed Yusuf Pathan almost immediately, bowled by Rampaul who achieved appreciable swing in a pacy burst. Unlike his first spell when he hurried the batsmen into their shots with bounce, Rampaul kept it full and straight at the end and finished with career-best figures.
Brief Scores: India 268 all out in 49.1 overs (Yuvraj Singh 113, Virat Kohli 59; Ravi Rampaul 5 for 51, Andre Russell 2 for 49, Devendra Bishoo 1 for 48, Kieron Pollard 1 for 49) vs West Indies.
(Jamie Alter is a freelance cricket writer, having worked at ESPNcricinfo and All Sports Magazine. His first book, The History of World Cup Cricket, is out now. His twitter feed is @jamie_alter)
Pictures © Getty Images
