Indian Juggernaut rolls on, makes it 2-0

Ramnaresh Sarwan acknowledges the crowd upon reaching his fifty.

History did not repeat this time. The last time India played their first series as World Champions (in 1983), the Windies had given them a hiding of a lifetime which had raised serious doubts about who the world power still was. But 28 years on, the compass seemed to have completed a full circle.

The first ODI, played largely under the Chris Gayle shadow and billed as a battle between two largely brittle and inexperienced batting line ups, lived up to its notion and the end result didn’t throw up any surprises.

This match proved no different, if anything, it only went on to prove that the West Indies are getting no better and only flatter to deceive. After a unspectacular but solid start from the openers, the Windies have only themselves to blame for their plight. At 192 for 3 with 10 overs still to go and two genuine batsmen at the crease with one them well settled, it looked like they were making a match of it against an inexperienced Indian battling line up on a turner.

Now, when two of your well set batsmen get stumped to part time off spin and another half centurion holes out to a high full toss, something’s just not right in the mind of the team. Lightning had not struck them once but twice, with the back to back dismissals of Sarwan and Pollard all seemed lost for them.The Windies reeled under immediate pressure and Mishra assisted in triggering a collapse so familiar of the modern West Indies team. The last legacy of the West Indies was lost after the previous World Cup at the sub-continent in 1996 with the retirement of Richie Richardson though they still had the Ambrose, Walsh and Lara for company, this time though 15 years and 4 World Cups on it only has a bare cupboard to look at. History had indeed been cruel to the West Indies.

Only after some consolidation by the lower order and the under pressure captain did West Indies manage to reach, 240, a score which was never likely to trouble even the young Indians especially when you consider their mastery over spin which runs in their blood.The fact that 240 was the highest score of the season for the West Indies only highlight how below par the season has been for them.

Virat Kohli became the 2nd fastest Indian to reach 2000

The Indian chase was par for course save for the minor hiccup of Dhawan’s early wicket and a rain interruption. The rain interruption can be thanked for bringing some element of uncertainty into the match (that’s only as far as D/L system revised score goes, and nothing to do with the result of the match), and also for setting the Indians a relatively stiffer target to get, though with the two well set batsmen at the crease and not being a patient of the” Collapse disease” (Pakistan, West Indies and an under pressure South Africa being the serious patients) the result was never in doubt. An assured innings from Kohli, also in the process making him the 2^nd fastest Indian to reach 2000 ODI runs (53 innings), further laid his cause as one of the batting mainstays and a key find for India in the future.

With important contributions from Amit Mishra, Parthiv Patel and Munaf Patel, India ensured it never made a match of the score even with what is effectively a second string line up.

For the West Indies though, the troubles seem to be never ending. Some poor shot making conflated with some baffling tactics by the skipper is not doing the team any favors and taking them no where. Consider this, the two best bowlers (leg spinners) who almost daunted the Indians in the previous match were not made to bowl until the 17^th over on a decent turner by when the match was almost out of hand.

In the victory mood a point not to be missed remains the concern over the form of Harbhajan Singh, going at over 5 an over with just a solitary wicket to show against an unconvincing opposition leaves a lot to be desired. Otherwise, for a young team with almost no senior to look upon in batting and facing the opposition away, it was a fine performance indeed.

INDIA are the World Champions, can Fletcher and his young men for the future build a dynasty?