LIVE India vs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760: Men in Blue start well against the Windies
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 are in a good position at the end of 25 overs in their final group match of the ICC World Cup 2011 being played at Chennai.
The hosts are 123 for the loss of just 2 wickets half way through their innings.
The wicket was good for batting, but it did not have too many runs in it. The early group matches suggested that batting second was not easy at this venue. This forced the Indian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 to bat first after winning the toss.
However, the start to the innings was not an ideal one for the home team, as they lost a couple of quick wickets. The Men in Blue did not start the innings with their regular opening pair, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 was unfit to play the match.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 was promoted at the top of the order to open the innings alongside Sachin Tendulkar. There was a lot of buzz in the crowd when Tendulkar came on strike, but the veteran batsman failed to get going, as he was dismissed in the very first over
of the match. He managed only 2 runs off 4 balls.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424 was promoted as the first-drop batsman. The promising youngster joined Gambhir in the middle and both batsmen put together 43 runs for the second wicket. However, Gambhir failed to carry onto the start he got to his innings and was dismissed
after scoring 22 runs from 26 balls.
The Indian team decided to continue the left-right combination and sent their star batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364 at number four. He batted sensibly alongside Kohli and the pair constructed an unbeaten 72 runs for the third wicket. Both batsmen rotated the strike
nicely and struck boundaries whenever they had the opportunity.
After 25 overs, Singh was unbeaten on 43 runs from 58 balls whereas Kohli was also nearing his half century with 46 runs off 62 balls. The pair will look to bat like this for at least 10 more overs and then use the long handle.
On the other hand, the Windies will be looking forward to get a few quick wickets in order to stop the hosts from getting away easily in the match. Ravi Rampaul, who replaced Kemar Roach in the match, was the pick of the bowlers as he took both the wickets
to fall in the Indian innings.
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