- Reuters
Chris Gayle of West Indies sweeps a delivery during the second one-day international match between India and West Indies in Nagpur yesterday.
NAGPUR, India, CMC:
CHRIS GAYLE led another impressive run chase as the West Indies defeated India by seven wickets with four balls to spare at the Vidharba C.A. Ground to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series yeaterday.
The powerfully-built Jamaican left-hander smashed 103 - his second one-day international century - to provide the solid platform for a successful assault on India's formidable total of 279 for nine.
Gayle, the predictable choice as Man of the Match, and compatriot Marlon Samuels put on 134 for the second wicket to tilt the balance decisively the West Indies' way. When both departed, it was left to the Guyanese tandem of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul with contrasting unbeaten knocks of 39 to see the Caribbean side to their target.
Heavy early-morning dew delayed the start by half-an-hour, reducing the match to 48 overs per side. It became a 47-over affair during the course of the Indian innings as spectators in one section of the capacity 42,000 crowd threw objects on to the field, forcing Sarwan to scamper to the middle for safety. Though the situation did not deteriorate to the level of the first match in Jamshedpur on Wednesday, play was held up for ten minutes as match referee Mike Proctor held discussions with the two captains out in the middle and local officials deployed additional security personnel in the troublesome spots to defuse the threat of a major disruption.
By then, India's third-wicket pair of Saurav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman were well on their way to repairing the early damage in a 128-run partnership.
Virender Sehwag departed to in the second over, helping Vasbert Drakes' first delivery into the lap of Mervyn Dillon at long leg.
Dillon then prodded Ajit Agarkar into offering a low catch to Sarwan at mid-on and the home team were 20 for two in the fifth over. Ganguly was the more aggressive of the two, driving and pulling with gusto, while Laxman offered serene support.
A total closer to 300 seemed on the cards when Ganguly perished to legspinner Mahendra Nagamootoo. The experiment of promoting the hard-hitting Harbhajan Singh failed miserably but Rahul Dravid joined Laxman in adding 105 for the fifth wicket. The pair were poised to lead the assault in the final ten overs, but there was no charge, only a crash of wickets triggered by the sarificial run out of Dravid for 51 as he sought to force the second run that would have taken Laxman to a deserved hundred.
His concentration broken by that dismissal, Laxman charged at the next delivery from Gayle to be neatly stumped by Ridley Jacobs for 99. Five wickets tumbled for 12 runs with Drakes adding two more scalps to finish with three for 55. Nagamootoo had two for 49 though Carl Hooper was the most economical as the West Indies captain conceded 42 runs from nine wicketless overs.
Needing to score at six runs per over from the outset, Gayle and Wavell Hinds were off to their trademark flying start before Hinds drove once too often at Javagal Srinath and was caught at mid-off for 27. Samuels, growing in stature since his maiden Test century in Kolkata, played with poise and fluency, piercing the field with well-placed drives on both sides of the wicket.
At the other end, Gayle took full toll on anything even remotely off line, smashing three huge sixes and eight fours on the way to the hundred off 111 deliveries.
Before he reached the landmark, however, Samuels was gone. After pulling Virender Sehwag to the midwicket boundary to reach a second consecutive half-century, he attempted to repeat the shot off the next ball and Mohammad Kaif held on to the firm chance 30 metres from the bat.
Sarwan joined Gayle at 176 for two in the 30th over, easing any fears of an imminent collapse and draining the enthusiasm of Ganguly's men. Preoccupied with achieving the hundred, Gayle slowed appreciably in the 90s and could not rediscover his momentum, being bowled for 103 by the persevering Srinath.
Chanderpaul swung the first delivery he faced to the square-leg boundary to signal his intentions, and with Sarwan sensibly feeding his senior partner the strike, the anxieties of a run-a-ball chase dissipated in a flurry of boundaries that highlighted their unbroken 59-run stand.
Of the Indian bowlers, only the wily Srinath emerged with any credit as spinners Harbhajan and Kumble, so lethal in the first two matches of the Test series, were never allowed to settle on the batsman-friendly pitch.
India's optimism ahead of next year's World Cup has receded over the past four days, while the resurgent West Indies believe they are well on the way to regaining a measure of respectability even if the long-awaited turnaround remains a considerable distance away.
SCOREBOARD
India innings
S. Ganguly c Drakes b Nagamootoo 78
V. Sehwag c Dillon b Drakes 1
A. Agarkar c Sarwan b Dillon 6
V.V.S. Laxman st Jacobs b Gayle 99
H. Singh c (sub) Powell b Nagamootoo 2
R. Dravid run out 51
Y. Singh c Chanderpaul b Drakes 1
M. Kaif not out 12
J. Srinath run out 2
A. Kumble b Drakes 2
A. Nehra not out 2
Extras (lb5, w8, nb10) 23
Total (for nine wkts, 47 overs) 279
Fall: 1-3, 2-20, 3-148, 4-155, 5-260, 6-260, 7-262, 8-267, 9-272.
Bowling: M. Dillon 10-0-59-1, V. Drakes 9-0-55-3, C. Collymore 4-0-35-0, M. Nagamootoo 10-0-49-2, C. Hooper 9-1-42-0, C. Gayle 5-0-34-1.
West Indies innings
W. Hinds c Agarkar b Srinath 27
C. Gayle b Srinath 103
M. Samuels c Kaif b Sehwag 52
R. Sarwan not out 39
S. Chanderpaul not out 39
Extras (b6, lb6, w7, nb1) 20
Total (for three wkts, 46.2 overs) 280
Fall: 1-42, 2-176, 3-221.
Bowling: J. Srinath 9.2-1-35-2, A. Nehra 10-0-67-0, A. Agarkar 7-0-47-0, V. Sehwag 8-0-51-1, H. Singh 6-0-35-0, A. Kumble 6-0-33-0.
Result: West Indies won by 7 wickets.
Man of the Match: Chris Gayle.
