http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 v India ODI Series – The Caribbean team not learning from mistakes
The five match One Day International (ODI) series between the West Indies and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 finished on Thursday with the visitors winning the series 3-2.
However, there were some positives for the Caribbean team as they bounced back to win the last two matches after being thrashed in the initial three encounters.
Ironically, same was the case in the recently concluded ODI series against Pakistan, as the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Darren-Julius-Garvey-Sammy-c52468 and company raised their game in the last two to reduce the deficit, despite losing the series.
Both the ODI series were very http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gordon-Muchall-c1499 similar to each other as the West Indian players were evidently relaxed in the initial matches but they woke up and showed their skills only when the horses had bolted.
Another similarity was the internal problem of West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) with its senior players. Star opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Arthur-Percival-Day-c45927 with the statements he gave against the West
Indian Coach Otis Gibson. Same has been the case with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Chanderpaul-c2390, and both the veterans were sidelined.
In the presence of the senior players and especially Gayle, the result of the series against India could have been much different.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Darren-Michael-Bravo-c52477, impressed once again and proved that they can serve the Caribbean cricket in future if the selectors show enough faith in them. The two youngsters are amazingly talented and have a wide range of strokes under
their belts, which augurs well for the future of West Indies cricket.
However, just like the series against Pakistan, the Caribbean batsmen showed their weakness against spin. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sahibzada-Mohammad-Shahid-Khan-Afridi-c87933 troubled the West Indies in the ODI series and at times, Ajmal looked unplayable with his ‘Doosra’.
Right-arm leg spinner, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Mishra-c871, was the star for India in the recently concluded series as he did confuse the West Indian batsmen throughout the five matches with his classic variations.
The biggest mistake West Indian batsmen made against Ajmal and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Varun-Mishra-c94922 was that they were trying to pick them from the pitch rather than judging their hand, at the time of delivery.
Quite clearly, the Caribbean batsmen are much more comfortable against fast bowlers than the spinners and they like the ball coming on to the bat.
During the post-match interview after the fifth match, Sammy admitted that West Indies did not play good cricket at the start of both the series’. He claimed that his team will look to remove this flaw and will not be complacent in future.
Overall, West Indies can take more positives from the series against India as compared to the one against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ramnaresh-Ronnie-Sarwan-c83880 and Darren Bravo found back their
form with the bat and started getting some runs.
However, the biggest positive for the West Indies was the emergence of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andre-Dwayne-Russell-c44235 as a world-class all-rounder. He performed exceptionally well with both bat and ball and promises to be one of the better cricketers for West Indies in the future.
The need of the hour for WICB is to solve the problems with the senior players, so that the best possible playing XI represents the Caribbean.
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