Rain Saves India from Aussies
As the Indian cricket team looks ahead to tomorrow’s game against the West Indies and Friday’s game against Australia in the DFL tri-series, they must have a mixed opinion about the prospect of more rain pelting down on Kuala Lumpur’s Kinara Oval. Rain has proved the plague of the series so far, shutting down both of India’s matches, prompting the Malaysian organisers to advance the start time for the matches by one hour to 1.30 PM local time.
But though the rain during the first of India’s matches had carried away a possible victory against the West Indies, it came as a blessed intervention in the midst of a rather dismal showing against Australia on Saturday.
The Indian team was struggling at 35 for five after eight overs, chasing a D-L target of 170 in 29 overs after a brief bout of rain had stalled play. The match was abandoned after a second, more steady downpour.
This was fortunate for India, because the Australians had played an excellent game. Mitchell Johnson was the man of the hour, with his four top-notch wickets in eight balls lending him his best career figures to date, at 4-11. Sachin Tendulkar, the hero of the earlier match, was again the highest scorer against Johnson, but at only 12 runs.
The Australians, who elected to bat, were kept somewhat in check by the Indian slow bowlers, but Shayne Watson’s 79 runs and Michael John Clarke’s 64 runs were only part of a large team effort that left their total at 244/10. “At halfway we probably had a good game of cricket,” said Australian captain Ricky Ponting. “But then the rain came and when they were five wickets down you’d like to think we would have won the game, but you never know.” Our own Rahul Dravid was in agreement: “In terms of 35 for five, yes we were a bit lucky but I’m more disappointed that we didn’t get a full 50 overs,” he said.
This puts India in a tough position to visit the Final on Sunday, after the West Indies secured their placement with a surprise three-wicket victory against Australia on Monday. Consequently, the West Indies series point total stands at nine in three matches, the Australians at seven points in three matches, and the Indian tally at only two points, gained from the rain-induced draw on Saturday. This means that India will have to win both of its upcoming games in order to make it to the final. Some, like IndiaDaily’s Cricket Blog, assert that this is not possible.
In response, coach Greg Chapell puts forth the standard Sports Coach Take-It-One-Game-at-a-Time attitude, and all of the players have bent their minds towards ascertaining the Windies’ weaknesses, predicting the state of the pitch, and gearing themselves up for the challenge. Young right armer Munaf Patel said, “There’s bound to be a bit of pressure on us, but there’s pressure on West Indies too. There’s pressure on all teams. …We did not come here to play games and watch the final.”