Related Links : ICC Champions Trophy 2006 : Scorecard
West Indies have got into the Semis of the Champions Trophy but not before they almost committed hara-kiri in chasing 224 at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Motera. Fortunately for the defending champs, the hara-kiri had come when they needed just 12 runs to win from 13 balls with 7 wickets in hand. They lost four wickets with the addition of just 7 runs to keep India’s hopes of pulling a miraculous win intact. Realistically West Indies had the match well in control as India could strike back very late in the match. The Indians had to take wickets with the new ball to give Harbhajan Singh the platform to create the pressure and the seamers just failed to do that and the match was West Indies’.
It was a disappointing spell of bowling upfront from Irfan Pathan that gave West Indies the start they were looking for. Chris Gayle was off to a flier and Chanderpaul, his partner started to play the lovely timed stokes for boundaries. It was a usual rush of blood that saw Gayle throw away his wicket miscuing a lofted shot off Munaf to mid off. Gayle had done considerable damage by then smashing 34 runs out of the target. Bravo was promoted at no.3 unexpectedly, yet India couldn’t get the inroads. The all rounder put on 57 runs for the 2nd wicket with Chanderpaul before he was trapped in front of the middle stump by a sharp turning off break from Harbhajan. Bravo’s contribution for the 57 run-partnership was just 16! Virender Sehwag who was bowling in tandem with Harbhajan provided the big breakthrough by forcing Chanderpaul to edge him to Dravid at slip. Chanderpaul had got to his 41st ODI fifty in this innings which had come to an end at a personal score of 51 (in 72 balls, 8x4s).
Dravid’s men were optimistic of winning the match at the fall of Chanderpaul’s wicket as the ball was turning sharply and Windies still had to get a little over 100 to get. However the middle overs were well controlled by Sarwan and Morton who ensured that India did not take wickets in a heap. The batting was a bit slow from the pair, in particular from Morton which had allowed the otherwise small target look like a difficult one as the pair approached the last 10 overs of the match. The crowd who were extremely disappointed not to see any wickets go down was all of a sudden excited about the dot balls that were played that slowly got the equation in favour of India. But it would really had to be absolutely bad batting if one had to lose a match from the position the Windies were at.
There was a new twist in the drama when Runako Morton had been dismissed in the 48th over with just 12 to get. Morton who made 45 from 64 made a mistake of going for a pull to a ball that skidded off and did not bounce as expected from Ajit Agarkar. Lara who was the next batsman played a crashing square drive off Pathan for a boundary but was bowled in the next ball bottom edging his slog onto his stumps. Samuels who came in at 218 for 5 after 48.4 overs played a nervous pull that just eluded Dravid at mid wicket, it was technically a catch put down by the Indian Captain. But with Sarwan (53 in 81 balls, 2x4s) backing up for a run and being sent back by Samuels, it was a run opportunity seized by Dravid at the non striker’s end. West Indies needed 5 runs from the final over and it was Dwayne Smith, the fancy hitter up against Agarkar. The pressure got the better of Dwayne Smith who was beaten by a reverse swinging inswinger from Agarkar to be clean bowled. Carlton Baugh then played a couple of deliveries to get off the strike leaving 4 to get from 3 deliveries. This time it was Agarkar who took the pressure on his head as he bowled a long hop outside off to be smacked square of the wicket by Samuels for the winning boundary. For India, Harbhajan Singh conceded just 27 runs in his 10 overs, but that doesn’t matter much and what matters was that he could just pick up only one wicket when his side required a bunch of wickets after having put about 30 runs short on the board having been put into bat.
As mentioned, it was Brian Lara who had won the toss and had put India to bat first. Lara was a doubtful starter for this match as he was having some serious back spasms. But he sacrificed his back for this one game that could get them into the Semis. Dravid made once change to his side excluding Ramesh Powar to include RP Singh – a move that turned out as a gift for the opposition. Powar was dropped because of the fear of the dew more than anything else. Just when it seemed that India were heading off to a promising start, Jerome Taylor got Sehwag lbw with a quick inswinger that skidded and kept low. Sehwag contributed 17 in the opening partnership of 22 which was broken in the 5th over. Greg Chappell, the non-acting Indian Captain continued to send in Irfan Pathan at no.3 and this time the move backfired as Pathan dragged a Bradshaw delivery onto his stumps leaving India in a bad shape at 27 for 2.
Few repair works were carried out by Tendulkar and Dravid but they didn’t last long as a good looking Tendulkar also dragged a Bradshaw delivery onto his stumps. It was another attempt to play a booming drive on the up and the pace wasn’t just there from Bradshaw. Tendulkar made 29 from 45 which had 4 boundaries. All wasn’t lost for India as they started to get the runs coming from the blades of Dravid and Yuvraj and at a consistent rate. A series of boundaries from both batsmen got the crowd back to their vociferous best and the batting team looked good to post a 250 plus score. However a double blow from West Indies in the 31st over saw the turn around with the dismissals of Yuvraj (27 in 43 balls, 4x4s) and Dravid (49 in 67 balls, 6x4s). While Yuvraj had paid penalty for driving Bradshaw early to gift a catch at covers, Dravid was a victim of a misjudgment of a single. Dhoni had called his partner Dravid for a run after tapping Bradshaw just a couple of yards before Dwayne Smith at square leg. All Smith had to do was run forward, collect the ball and throw a direct one with Dravid struggling to get to the crease.
With the big guns back in the hut, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni took the safety first approach to take their team into the slog overs with the 5 wickets down. It was in the 42nd over that Suresh Raina’s sedate innings of 19 from 37 balls had come to an end courtesy of Carlton Baugh’s first ODI stumping off a quicker delivery from Samuels. Mahendra Singh Dhoni with the help of Harbhajan and then Agarkar got the score to 223 in the end. Dhoni couldn’t break free except for a couple of deliveries against Chris Gayle which he smacked out of mid wicket for two sixes. He had to run for his life almost every ball in the final overs as the West Indian bowlers gave no hit me deliveries. Dhoni’s contributions were great towards the end, getting 51 from 65 balls. Ian Bradshaw with 10-0-30-3 and Jerome Taylor with 10-2-33-2 shared the bowling honours.
With this defeat in the hands of West Indies, India face an uphill task of having to beat the Aussies on the 29th at Mohali. It is also a do-or-die game for the World Champs as they have to win this match to enter the Semis to they have to see India qualify along with West Indies.