India vs West Indies 2nd Test : Post Match Review

It’s India, no it’s WI, no it’s India.. Oh! Its a DRAW! This is something which went throughout the second test match. A low scoring match again, Barbados continues the legacy. As was expected, the rains did mark their presence and a special guest appearance by bad lights, though none of these was desired by any of the sides . Overall, it can be termed as somewhat thrilling match and the credits go to some miraculous performances in due course of the match. Let us take a quick glance at how things worked to bring the match to a draw.

1st Innings

The coin dropped in favour of the Windies. Deciding to field first, WI seemed pretty successful by bowling India out on the first day itself with a score as low as 202 in 68 overs. Once again the Indian top order failed and experience made itself count in the form of Laxman’s 85 and Raina’s 53. But the rest of the team collapsed without troubling the scorers. The Windies seemed content with their efforts, with their bowlers performing as per expectations. Edwards, Rampaul and Bishoo grabbed 3 each to keep their country’s hope alive of levelling the series. But what was next! The West Indies repeated the same story as the Indians. Experienced Samuel’s 78 and Chanderpaul’s 37 kept the host’s hopes alive by making them reach a competitive total of 190. Fabulous bowling by Ishant Sharma kept India fighting despite of a low total. By the end of first innings, WI trailed only by 11 runs. Despite of a low scoring innings, the hopes were still high for both the teams. First inning clearly seemed a bowler dominated innings. The only areas of concern among the players and fans were the rains and inadequate time to play.

2nd Innings

Not much action could be seen in the second innings till the end of 3rd day. So what was the situation like? It was 2 days, 1 innings and rains and bad Lights obviously posed a threat. The only thing which players demanded was a result. It would not be incorrect to say that Windies were more desperate for a result as they had the pressure of levelling the series wheras Indians enjoyed a comparitively sound position. But the second innings was not much different than the first one.

Finally, the Indian top order showed some hope. Mithun, after a long struggle, managed to score 48, Laxman continuing his splendid form got 85 and Dravid who proved no good in the first innings managed 55. Edwards showed his dominance by grabbing 5 out of 6 wickets that fell in 2nd innings. But as mentioned earlier, both the teams were desperate for a result which could be easily guessed as India declared the innings at 269 and posed a 281 run target. Dhoni’s boys seemed confident of bowling out Windies and win the series in the second match itself. This seemed to be coming true when Samuels and Chanderpaul fell, leaving the hosts 5 down for only 132. India seemed to enjoy their position just until keeper Baugh played a saviour innings and help ending the match in a draw. Ishant Sharma again bowled beautifully and took 4 wickets. The second Innings was much quicker but more scoring and more interesting one.

SLOW OVER-RATE

One of the interesting incidents that took place in the match was the Slow Over Rate by the Indians. As per the ICC rules, the captain of the team performing slow over rate is to be heavily fined/penalized. M.S. Dhoni was the first victim of the latest rule set up. India was found guilty of being 3 overs behind by the end of the last day’s play. M.S Dhoni was fined 60% of his match fees whereas the rest of the players were fined 30%.

OVERALL

The match was again a feast for fast bowlers, being typically Caribbean. Ishant Sharma taking 10 & Edwards taking 8 makes the picture clear: one more low scoring match in the Caribbean land. Rains and Bad Light kept hindering the play, spoiling the fun. But this match, though ending in a draw, keeps the hopes of levelling the series alive for the Windies and also a Draw/Win in the next match for India would get them the series. So, the next match is a MUST WIN match for the West Indies.