Marlon Samuels, playing only his third ODI this year, led a strong West Indies batting effort in the series opener in Kochi, scoring his sixth century - his second against India - to pose a tough challenge for the hosts in the first game of their home season. With Denesh Ramdin, who scored 61, Samuels added 165 in 23.1 overs for the fourth wicket - a West Indies record against India - to convert a solid start into an imposing total. Both Samuels and Ramdin had scored runs in the two practice games, but what they did not have in those fixtures was a strong start. Today, when the two got together, the scoreboard read 120 for 3. The Indian spinners had neither any purchase nor did they exert any control, and the batsmen built slowly, finding the odd boundary and rotating the strike to keep the run rate above five at the 30- over mark. It only got better from there. Samuels welcomed Amit Mishra, who struggled with his lines throughout the innings, with a couple of straight sixes in the 31st over, then reached his half- century in the 34th with another straight six, off Suresh Raina. Power was never an issue; Samuels found the distance when he wanted. What was noticeable was the number of singles he took to keep his strike-rate around 100 through his innings. Ramdin took over from Samuels during the batting Powerplay, smashing a Mohammed Shami full-toss over the cover boundary and helping West Indies swell their score by 16 in that over. He also lofted Jadeja over cover for another smart boundary. At the other end, fielders watched as Samuels powerful cuts pinged the boundary. That Indias bowlers were losing control became apparent in the 40th over as Ravindra Jadeja gave away 10 extra runs through leg-side wides. Fifty-two runs came in the Powerplay and by the end of it, West Indies run rate had moved to six an over. Samuels reached his century with a calm dab down the ground and although West Indies lost a bit of momentum due to quick wickets, Samuels carried on with precision violence to finish unbeaten on 126. The total had looked unlikely given West Indies top-order woes in the practice games. On the eve of the match, Dwayne Bravos letter to WICB had mentioned the West Indies team morale was at an all-time low. At the toss, Bravo said the mood in the camp was very good. The turnaround may have seemed a bit too quick, but the manner in which West Indies batted exhibited one thing - the preceding events had had a galvanising effect on the team. There had been uncertainty around the West Indies camp before the start of the play. There were more problems when they decided to go ahead with the game. With Lendl Simmons injured, and neither Leon Johnson nor Jermaine Blackwood - the two batsmen who opened during the practice games - in the XI, it was not clear who was going to open with Dwayne Smith. The surprise was palpable when Dwayne Bravo walked out to open the innings, for only the third time in his career. The move appeared to work for the first seven overs as despite playing and missing a few times, the batsmen managed to find the boundaries. Dwayne Bravo stroked a couple of boundaries off the back foot in the second over, showing he was prepared to keep the ball down, but his stay ended as he tried to slap a swinging delivery from Shami over cover only to edge it to second slip. Smith soldiered on, slicing and toe- ending boundaries to start with but getting them off the middle with time. By the time Dhoni introduced Jadeja in the 11th over, Smith was stroking the ball freely. He greeted his Chennai Super Kings team-mate with a six over long-on, but just when he looked set for a half-century, he missed a quicker one from Jadeja to be bowled. The score was 98 for 2 and it was still West Indies best start of the tour. With a maximum of 10 ODIs remaining to test the team composition before the World Cup, MS Dhoni said the team was clear on their spin options for the World Cup, but wanted to see a settled pace attack. Although Bhuvneshwar Kumar was difficult to hit, Mohit and Shami, despite his four wickets, highlighted Dhonis concerns. However, it was the spinners who failed to apply the pressure today and ended up with a combined tally of 22-0-144-2. The fielding did not help either, frequently allowing extra runs.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 15:12:58 +0000