Chris Gayle was at his destructive best as he dismantled the Indian attack in the 2nd match of the super 8 stage of the t20 world cup, while ending painfully close to an unprecedented 2nd 100 in t20 internationals. India who had already lost their first match of the second round to the Mighty Australians needed to win this match to have any chance of making it through to the last 4 of the big event, though it may still come down to net run rate should Australia win all their games and India manage to beat the Lankans, well that is a whole other discussion for another day, for now let's just focus on the match at hand, where West Indies once again proved that their flair and passion for the game when on song are a match for any side in the world.
Dhoni who had won the toss and asked Australia to bat in the earlier match, a decision which evidently backfired, but he took the gamble of once again putting the opposition in hoping that his new ball bowlers will make good use of a bouncy track, but it was not to be as Chris Gayle who was bound to hit form sooner or later, was on his game in a very crucial match, alongside Shivnariane Chanderpaul put on 80 runs for the first wicket, as both left hander’s smashed the Indian bowling attack to all corners of the Kensington oval ground.
Chanderpaul was dismissed for 23 by Ashish Nehra as he was caught by Dhoni behind the stumps in the 12th over, which brought in Darren Sammy who has been in good touch with the bat in the tournament, and carried on the momentum scoring 19 quick runs, courtesy 2 boundaries and a towering 6, while Gayle continued to dominate the Indian attack from the other end, hitting sixes for fun, the big left hander hardly missed a trick as he had the measure of all the Indian bowlers , which may be credited to his time spent in the Indian Premier league prior to the t20 world cup. He was later joined by another fearsome hitter one of the most feared in world cricket right now the giant Kieren Pollard who barely flicked his wrists to send the ball over the rope for his first six and later smashed Nehra for his 2nd as he made only 17, Indian bowlers did manage to pull the score back to a degree in the final over’s, and Gayle was unfortunate while trying to get the strike back in the final over as he was run out on 98. But none the less West Indies piled up a more then decent total of 169 for 6.
India were up against it right from the start in their chase, as Murali Vijay the man filling huge shoes of Virender Sehwag continued his disappointing run and was dismissed for just 7, Gambhiur who has not been in great touch either followed soon with score only at 27, Last matches top scorer Rohit Shrma was not able to make any impression either as he was Dismissed for just 5 runs, which left India in totters. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj trued to get India back on track but both left in quick succession after putting on 42 together, India’s fate was all but sealed with the required rate climbing up to almost 10, and eventually fell short by 14 runs.
West Indies have now won 1 out of their 2 super 8 stage matches while India is yet to win their first.
Tags: