Subramaniam Badrinath

The cricket overkill continued as the “Men in Blue” took to the field at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad on Saturday, for their lone T20 International. It made perfect sense to open with T20 International as most of the Indians came on this tour on the back of the seemingly never ending IPL.

Also Read: India Tour Of West Indies 2011 – Complete Schedule

West Indies won the toss and elected to field as it was a 10 a.m local time start and they hoped to make full use of the moisture. They went into this game with a few unknown faces and with the batting heavily dependent on Darren Bravo. The bowlers started well as the Indian top order struggled to get going on a sluggish pitch. Captain Darren Sammy was the main wrecker in chief as he picked up four quick wickets to leave the visitors reeling at 56-4 in the ninth over. The consolidation came from Rohit Sharma and Subramaniam Badrinath as the visitors found it difficult to force the pace. With just five overs to go, and the scoring rate below six an over, both Sharma and Badrinath decided to press the accelerator. After some big sixes Sharma departed in the 18th over after adding 71 runs for the fifth wicket with Badrinath who fell for a well crafted 43. Yusuf Pathan and Harbhajan Singh used the long handle to good effect as India finished with 159-6.

The West Indian openers started off well but lost Simmons to a poor decision and Fletcher to a Yorker. Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels then started building a platform but the Indians took the pace off the ball and made it difficult to score. They fell way behind the run rate and around the fifteenth over the run rate hovered close to 15 runs an over. Samuels and Bravo both fell in quick succession to Harbhajan Singh and Praveen picked up Sammy for a blob. Chris Barnwell and Danza Hyatt struck some lusty blows to keep Windies in the hunt but the acceleration came a touch too late. India ran out comfortable winners by 16 runs as Raina lifted the trophy.

The performance in both camps left a lot to be desired. West Indies lacked the urgency during their chase while India’s top order crumbled. However, the shortest format of the game done with, it is time to focus on the ODI series and the first test for the World Champions has arrived.

Tags: Caribbean, Cricket, India, Queen’s Park Oval, Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath, T20 International, West Indies