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May 18, 2006 (Click to see the Scorecard)

The 1st ODI at the Sabina Park in Kingston went down the wire with India just managing to scrape through for a five wicket win with just 1 ball to spare. Mohammad Kaif hit the winning runs in style by hitting a cover drive in the gaps for a boundary, but that was not before he had given many anxious moments by playing plenty of dot balls at a crucial juncture of the game. India should have won this game smoothly but West Indies had crawled back by bowling a couple of good overs and taking a few wickets as India chased 252 in 45 overs. India’s chase revolved around Rahul Dravid, who went onto score his 12th ODI hundred after opening the batting with Sehwag. Mohammad Kaif joined Dravid at a difficult period and he kept one end intact but couldn’t really get the runs coming at a good pace and had made sure that the pressure always remained on the Indians. However he remained unbeaten to see India through to a victory along with Suresh Raina.
 

India’s chase was promising with Dravid and Sehwag putting on a fifty runs partnership for the opening wicket. Sehwag did struggle to get going but did well to give Dravid the company as the latter started off playing some sweet shots. West Indies fought back strongly after removing Sehwag, Pathan and Yuvraj to reduce India to 86 for 3 in less than 18 overs. Kaif had then joined Dravid and the two steadied the ship for the Indians. Dravid went after the inexperienced West Indian bowling and Kaif after getting off the mark after facing 12 balls knocked the ball in the gaps and ran like a hair. Rahul Dravid was always in control of his batting under pressure and he completed a superb century which was well paced and this one was his 3rd against West Indies. Both the batsmen put on 123 runs for the 4th wicket to almost shut the door on the West Indies but Dravid fell lofting Bravo straight to the throat of Taylor at long on. Dhoni then came in and took some pressure off India by smashing a six and a four, but he fell like his captain looking to clear the ground. Kaif (66*) and Raina (7*) kept their cool and eventually saw India through as West Indies’ fielding let them down by missing some crucial run outs. Ian Bradshaw was the pick of the bowlers and he bowled on a tight leash to give away just 42 in his 10 overs and picking up the key wickets of Pathan and Yuvraj. The other bowlers sprayed the ball on both the sides of the wickets and often released the pressure off the Indians by gifting some loose deliveries.

The match may not have started but for the excellent drainage facilities at the stadium that made sure that the outfield and the pitch were absolutely dry despite the heavy showers that hit the Sabina Park yesterday night and early this morning. The match started an hour late and was curtailed to a 45 Overs-a-side. Dravid had put in the homeside in after winning the toss and a lot was expected off the wicket to aid the pace bowlers. But Chris Gayle took the attack to the Indians and his intimidating strokes were enough to put the Indian pace attack in disarray. Normalcy was restored by the experienced Ajit Agarkar and Harbhajan Singh who pulled the West Indies run rate down. Gayle got good support from his skipper Lara to put on 82 runs for the 3rd wicket and that laid the platform for the West Indies to launch into a big score. Munaf Patel had broken this partnership by deceiving Lara with a slower delivery and foxing the batsman to play an expansive drive on the up. The Indians had fought back well at this stage by making sure that the Windies did not end up with a huge total. Agarkar bowled well most of the time and had given away just 38 runs and also picking up Morton and Gayle. Gayle had gone after scoring 123 as he flicked Agarkar into the hands of short mid wicket. This was Gayle’s 12th ODI hundred and this happens to be his 4th against India! Harbhajan Singh was the other bowler who did well for India and the Turbanator got good turn off the surface and he did keep Lara quiet in his spell. Harbhajan gave away just 33 and he had taken the wicket of Ramnaresh Sarwan. The other Indian bowlers got plenty of stick from Chris Gayle who went through the line in most of his shots.

Well the 1st ODI is over and it has shown that the West Indies’ fielding and bowling aren’t that great and they need to do lot of catching up in these two departments. A lot of opportunities have gone down begging in the form of run outs and catches from the homeside. India have once again showed how to chase a big total and their only worry would be their bowlers who had been hammered by Chris Gayle. Rahul Dravid has led from the front today with his match winning century that also gave him the Man of the Match award and now its upto the other batsmen to score the big ones in the coming matches. The two teams stay where they are and after a day’s break they clash again at this same venue.

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