A New Omen

After the ODIs come the T20s in the Indian tour of the West Indies. One might even say it's the West Indian's favourite and strongest form of cricket . But imagine to everyone’s surprise , including mine , that India essentially walked all over the West Indies in the first game of the five match series .

The match was held in the Brian Lara stadium of Trinidad and Tobago . On a pitch that was humid and sticky , West Indies won the toss , and correctly ( in my opinion ) chose to bowl . The pitch made it hard to bat on with deliveries not being carried to the fence easily , nor were the batsmen allowed to freely swing their bats in the game . This showed in the early to the middle part of the Indian innings , as only Rohit Sharma from the top 6 managed to stay for 20 balls. While it is true no bowler was having a stellar day for West Indians , little by little the damage was accumulating . That was until Dinesh Karthik came along . On the pitch where batsmen were finding it hard to hit normal shots , Karthik had a full barrage to unleash . Hitting 41 of 19 balls , he almost singlehandedly built upon Rohit Sharma’s 64 to set a target of 191 .

In return the first over of West Indies batting was explosive. Arshadeep bowled the second over , and promptly got hit for a 6 and a 4 . But not one to be deterred , Arshadeep had the last laugh as he instantly returned with a wicket of his tormentor . After the first wicket fell , there was no coming back . India bowled 12 overs of pure spin , a tactic which West indies could not penetrate. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals , while not managing to get the necessary run rate . Indi seemed to have done a better job at what West Indies sought to do .

While this is only the first match in a 5 match series , this empathic victory os bound to have a heavy impact on the momentum of India . In any sport , momentum is an intangible that affects the performance of a team . The more you win , the stronger you are for the next game , buoyed by confidence and grit . That is why I feel this is an ideal start to the series for India.

Have a good week ahead !