WI Tri-Series Cricket: Virat Ton Helps India Beat West Indies With A Bonus Point!

Virat In Full Flow

Team India kept its chances alive for a place in the final of the West Indies Tri-Nation ODI Cricket Series-2013 by crushing West Indies by 102 runs in the last league match between the two in Port of Spain, Trinidad yesterday. West Indies won the toss again and following the Kingston ‘trend’ elected to field first. But this time Team India was ready and did not bother about the ‘trend’ already demolished by Sri Lanka at their cost only the other day, though there were the usual scares and hiccups before stand-in captain Virat Kohli unleashed a breathtaking batting display. The opening duo Shikhar Dhawan (69) and Rohit Sharma (46) staged a rollicking partnership of 123 runs and after Dhawan was the first out wickets fell in regular intervals letting WI come back into the game with Indiaat 168/4. This was a crucial juncture as India had to win the game possibly with a bonus point to stay afloat.

Virat Kohli proved to be the inspiration behind a regrouped India as he led from the front. Starting cautiously Virat opened out with a brilliant array of effortless shot all around the ground and got out only in the last ball bowled notching up his 14^thODI century in just 81 balls. He made exactly 102 runs—exactly the margin of victory for Indiafinally. Team India finally set a mammoth target of 312 in fifty overs for the hosts amassing more than 80 runs in the last seven overs. 

Correcting the mistake made in the encounter with Sri Lanka Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was taken back to open the Indian attack and the seameer immediately justified his place by capturing 3 crucial wickets. West Indies started their batting shakily and just when they achieved a postion of relative strength at 56/2 a heavy downpour disrupted the proceedings. Duckworth and Lewis rules came into play thereafter setting a target of 274 runs in 39 overs for WI. The hosts suffered their usual habit of losing wickets in heaps maybe due to rain interruption or the D/L or an inspired Indian attack. They got all out for 171 in the 34^thover rewarding Indiawith a desperately needed bonus point. Although costly at first Umesh Yadav chipped in with 3 wickets too, and Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja evenly shared the others wickets to fall. 

The Scorecard:  

If Sri Lanka win their match against the hosts tomorrow they will have 9 points (10 with a bonus point) and will sail into the final provided they defeat Indiain the last league match on Tuesday. If they lose tomorrow Sri Lanka would still remain in contention on an Indian defeat and be eliminated otherwise. With 9 points WI will the top team to qualify on a victory over Sri Lanka and on a defeat all three teams will be in with a chance. A short tournament deadlocked in a big way! 

In a virtual final before the Final India with 5 points have to beat Sri Lanka on Tuesday, bonus point or not, to be in with a chance to qualify. Back with a vibrant team spirit and winning ways the ICC Champions Trophy winner Team Indiais set to be a huge challenge for Sri Lanka to overcome. 

West Indies Tri-Series Cricket: India On The Brink!

Sri Lanka on Tuesday achieved the unique feat of losing just one wicket to post a huge 300+ total while put into bat and India suffered one of its worst defeats in one-day cricket while chasing. Sri Lanka outplayed the ICC Champions Trophy-2013 winner in all departments of the game to win by whopping 161 runs in the third match of the West Indies Tri-Nation ODI Cricket Series being played in Jamaica and Trinidad. It was a rank bad day for India with nothing clicking for them including the changes done in the team. Shami Ahmed coming into the team out of nowhere and replacing Bhuvaneshwar Kumar—consistently the main strike bowler for India in recent matches—was a huge surprise as it was illogical. With captain MS Dhoni out of the Series due to injury selection of specialist opener Murali Vijay was another surprise because the hit Shikhar-Rohit opening duo could not at all be disturbed. As it turned out these changes in a crucial match like this contributed profusely for the Indian humiliation. For a change stand-in Captain Virat Kohli won the toss and easily succumbing to the Kingston ‘trend’ put Sri Lanka in.

Man of the Match Upul Tharanga

The Kingston ‘trend’ was set by the fact that the pitch normally remained damp helping the quickies and then easing out in the afternoon. In the first match West Indies won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first. Sri Lanka got all out for 208 in less than fifty overs and West Indies won with tremendous ease in the 38^th over. In the second match too toss winning West Indies put India in and restricted them to 229/7 in fifty overs. But for a flash of West Indian harakiri tendency they would’ve won the match with tremendous ease again rather than the thrilling one wicket margin. What Kohli perhaps missed was the fact that in both matches the ‘trend’ helped only the West Indies quickies who are naturally enjoying the home advantage too. It took a spectacular batting display from Sri Lanka with Upul Tharanga (174 not out) in full flow to thoroughly demolish this myth. Opening with captain Mahela  Jayawardene (107)  Tharanga had a double century partnership and then a century partnership with Angelo Mathews (44) coming in to bat at No.3. The mammoth target of 249 was beyond India as they huffed and puffed to 187 all out. The best fielding side in the Champions Trophy got totally disoriented on the field this time with various lapses crowning their defeat.

Now for a berth in the final India must win its both remaining matches and yet hope West Indies defeat Sri Lanka. Assuming India win next two matches, a Sri Lanka victory over West Indies would still allow both Sri Lanka and West Indies go into the final thanks to one bonus point earned by each. It is highly optimistic at this moment to hope India earn two bonus points too which would increase their chances in case Sri Lanka defeat West Indies but fail to earn a bonus point.

Points Table As Of Now

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
West Indies	2	2	0	0	0	9	+0.765	439/85.3	437/100.0
Sri Lanka	2	1	1	0	0	5	+1.051	556/100.0	396/87.5
India	2	0	2	0	0	0	-1.758	416/100.0	578/97.4

India meet West Indies tomorrow in a do or die encounter as the action shifts from Kingston, Jamaica to Port of Spain, Trinidad. Fortunately there will be no ‘trend’ or ‘myths’ to haunt Virat Kohli this time and the toss might be relatively less significant.

India: Corruption Loses, Suresh Kalmadi Ousted From AAA!

If you are following the political turmoil basically over the issue of corruption in India for the last two years rather seriously you cannot help but suffer from frequent spells of pessimism. You tend to feel that in 99.9 percent of cases corruption finally emerges victorious thanks primarily to the politics of corruption fought so shamelessly and without any sort of ideologies. So powerful are the lobbies of vested interests, so powerful are the people in power, so powerful are the chains of mutual interests and so toothless and ineffectual are the legal and judicial systems that the corrupt finally escape even after being charged or jailed or whatever. As you can righteously feel pessimistic in the recent IPL Spot Fixing Scandal after all the big stories of corruption almost every accused is currently out on bail and things do not at all augur well for justice being done in near future. The premier investigative agencies pursuing cases howsoever diligently are always targeted for allegedly favoring particular ‘party’ individuals or groups or whatever. Nobody cares for the truth anyway. But today, we witness a definitive case of corruption losing and the truth prevailing.

Suresh Kalmadi, the main accused of Delhi Commonwealth Games-2010 corruption case, continued to pull the ‘mutual’ power strings to remain in contention and power even after being jailed for ten months. The brazen corruption kingpin wanted to attend the London Olympics as the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) right after coming out of jail on bail. One court even allowed him to do so, but fortunately one higher court barred him citing national embarrassment. Banking on the ‘mutually corrupt benefit scheme’ and on his ever loyal ‘partners-in-corruption’ Kalmadi still did not want to lose his home-ground Pune in Maharashtra seeking re-election as the President of the Asian Athletic Association (AAA) for the fourth time in view of the 20^th Asian Athletic Championship starting in Pune from 2^nd July, 2013. Kalmadi might have drawn tremendous inspiration too from N Srinivason, the classic case of the adamantly corrupt.

But today, in the AAA poll held in Pune Suresh Kalmadi lost by 18 votes to 20 votes and was ousted from the AAA. The Athletic Championship that got overshadowed and dampened by the Kalmadi factor could finally start in full glory. Indian sports legends who have been lambasting Kalmadi in helpless rage for his shameless quest for power and position now welcome the verdict with open and free hearts.

At least in one case Corruption loses in India. We must hail this event as very significant and possibly as the catalyst for cleansing our great country of corruption—be it in the realm of sports or anywhere.