Rahul Dravid couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the year and the one-day series against the Windies. Everything went according to the script except the toss. No one knows the Nagpur pitch better than the Indian skipper as it’s always been a happy hunting ground for him.

India batted first and started off as if it had never lost 13 of its last 17 ODIs. Ganguly and Gambhir opened the innings with a solid 144 run stand. Ganguly was the cynosure at the city of oranges, who never looked like making a comeback after a 16-month layoff. He missed out on his 23rd one day ton but made all his critics eat humble pie. Dravid and Dhoni’s quick-fire 50’s ensured India passing the 300 mark and setting a target of 339 for the Caribbean’s to get in 50 overs.
 
The Windies started off on a good note with Gayle and Chanderpaul putting on an 80 run partnership before Harbhajan got Gayle caught by Dravid. Chanderpaul alone battled his way to a well made 149 not-out but found no support from the other end. Finally, the Windies did loose the match by 14 runs but Indians need not be too happy with this win.

Although I was one of the millions who couldn’t view the match live on NEO Sports but believe that we missed out on a few chances and the win could have been a bit more comprehensive. The bowlers were clueless going for 70 runs each, the batting needs to be done with and no more experiments after this. At the most Robin Utthapa should be given a chance incase we win 3 in a row or is that asking for too much.

The Windies in no way can be taken lightly, the batting line-up looks great and with Chanderpaul who enjoys Indian bowling needs to be checked early. Initially his game doesn’t look threatening but once he’s in…you know what he can do.

Match Summary

India- 338/3 in 50 overs (Ganguly-98, Gambhir-69, Dhoni-62 no, Dravid-54 no, Gayle-2/51)
West Indies- 324/8 in 50 overs (Chanderpaul-149 no, Gayle-52, Sameuls-40, Zaheer-2/48)

Both teams meet at Cuttack, Orissa on Wednesday. Watch out for the preview.