India v West Indies 2011: India successful on the Caribbean soil, but not dominant
India managed to win the series against West Indies on the Caribbean soil, but failed to be completely dominant. The Men in Blue started their campaign with a triumph in the lone Twenty20 of the series followed by victories in the One Day International (ODI) and Test series.
The hosts were expected to be completely dominant against a weakened West Indian line-up. However, this was not the case, as they won the five-match ODI series by 3-2 and the three-match Test series by 1-0.
After winning the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup 2011, India would have been full of confidence. They had to face West Indies in their first assignment after the Mega Event, but some of the senior players decided to take rest rather than taking part in the series.
This would have affected the performance of the team, as they had http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Sehwag-c2739 missing.
However, India were still considered to be the favourites, as the hosts were also without some of their front line players like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 Cricket Board (WICB).
Gayle’s absence seemed to hurt the Caribbean Kings to a great extent, as the team was unable to win the first few games of the series.
The visitors won the first game of the tour, which was a Twenty20. Although the Windies put up a solid fight, India emerged victorious by 16 runs in the end.
The World Champions went onto to win the first three ODIs and were eying a whitewash in the series. They didn’t have many problems in crushing the opposition and the fans started losing interest in the one-sided tour.
However, there was a twist in the tale, as the hosts bounced back strongly, winning the final two ODIs convincingly. Although they had lost the series, the fans were given some hope of a solid show in the Test matches.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-George-Burrows-c93472he overall result didn’t change at all for India, as they won the Test series as well, but they had to work hard to achieve success.
The Men in Blue were strengthened by the comeback of their regular skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820, in the longest version of the game. The veteran wicketkeeper batsman didn’t take part in the limited-over games, as he opted to give some time to his family and friends.
With India being the number one Test team of the world, it was a tough task for the hosts to survive in this format of the game.
However, the Windies didn’t allow the visitors to win the series comfortably. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 were not able to score bulk of runs in the series and only managed to reach 300 once in their six outings.
This would have been disappointing for the number one Test team, as they had plenty of depth in their batting. Only one batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229, managed to reach three figures in the entire Test series, which should be a huge concern for the World Champions.
On the other hand, the West Indian fans would have been pleased with the fighting spirit of their available players. There were two centuries scored in the Test series by the home team’s players, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kirk-Anton-Edwards-c71510.
Although many questions will be asked to the Indian side after their tour of the Caribbean, the team still managed to keep the upper hand despite some key figures missing.
However, the real challenge for the Men in Blue will be their next tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013. They will be back to their full strength and will be looking forward to justify their number one spot.
Tags: