Jump to content

West Indies A tour of India, 2013

Chandan

By Chandan
in Cricket Talk

Recommended Posts

Chandan Newbie

Chandan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

1st test Day one http://goo.gl/zXAnR1 India A fight back after lethargic start Wisden India staff | Mysore | 25 September 2013 Kirk-Edwards-405x263.jpg Kirk Edwards hit 11 boundaries and a six in his innings of 91 runs. © AFP Scorecard: India A vs West Indies A, 1st four-day game, Mysore It was the first day of the first of three four-day games between India A and West Indies A at Gangothri Glades Stadium in Mysore, and though West Indies A won the first two sessions, reaching 173 for 1, India A bounced back strongly to reduce them to 264 for 5 by close of play on Wednesday (September 25). Things started fairly well for India A after Cheteshwar Pujara won the toss and inserted the West Indians. There was moisture in the air to use and the early morning freshness in the pitch helped Mohammad Shami and Ishwar Pandey to get the ball to bounce appreciably. Pandey was the more impressive of the two to start with but it was Shami who got the breakthrough as early as in the third over. He got one to skid and rap Kieran Powell on the pads. The umpire was quick to raise his finger, but Powell looked disgusted, indicating that he had got bat on the ball before it hit his pad. But he had to go, out for a five-ball duck, and walked back slower than Inzamam-ul-Haq at his most lethargic. Powell had clearly missed out, because by the end of the first hour of play, the pitch had become easy-paced and, as Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk Edwards showed, all it needed was a little grind, a little patience and an ability to identify the balls to go after. “The pitch was a bit spongy in the beginning so it required a bit more patience. Once we got in, it was a lot easier,” said Edwards after the day’s play. “In Mysore, medium pacers usually get help so we chose to bowl first, but the wicket is really slow, so there was no help,” explained Parveez Rasool. Pandey continued to ask questions, catching edges that either fell short of or went past the three-man slip cordon and, on one occasion, got the ball to rear off a good length and hit Brathwaite around his solar plexus, much to the excitement of the healthy crowd that had walked in. But, most of the cheers were reserved for Ashok Dinda, who must have been a trifle confused with the excessive adulation showered on him. And, to be fair, he did little to justify it, mostly pitching too short and not troubling the batsmen much. The official capacity of the stadium is 10,000, but with parts cordoned off, there was room for only about 5000 people to get in. Each time Dinda ran in to bowl, it sounded like there was double that number in attendance, and when he hit Edwards on the shoulder with a bouncer, the makeshift bamboo-and-cloth stands looked set to come down. That is part of the magic of playing in non-regular centres. And with the stadium being inside the University of Mysore premises, more and more youngsters came in as the day progressed. But the Indians made little headway and run scoring was slow. “I thought that if the guys were going to attack me then I am going to make use of their energy and let them bowl the short stuff at me,” said Edwards. “I just teased them a bit and took what was on offer.” The tempo did change a bit after lunch, taken at 58 for 1, and both Brathwaite and Edwards brought up their half-centuries midway into the second session. Edwards lifted Rasool for a straight six and played a few pleasing drives past the pace bowlers, and Brathwaite’s square cut for four off Harshad Khadiwale’s leg-cutter was delectable. The scoring rate finally crossed three-an-over in the last over before tea, taken with West Indies A on 173 for 1, Brathwaite unbeaten on 73 and Edwards on 89. It was Pandey then, running in as hard as before, who got the second wicket in the first over after the break, when he knocked Edwards’s leg stump out with a yorker after Edwards had made 91. But that 172-run stand had clearly helped West Indies A win the first two sessions. Soon after that, Pandey almost made it 183 for 3 but Dinda failed to hold on to a tough chance at mid on off Narsingh Deonarine when he was on one. It did, however, become 211 for 3 when Brathwaite, on 92, played Rasool on to his pads and the ball ballooned up for Rohit Motwani, the wicketkeeper, to complete a tumbling catch. “It would’ve been nice for me and Kraigg to get centuries because we did all the hard work,” said Edwards. “I think we lost two or three wickets too much but having said that, it keeps the game interesting.” Rasool, who had been unexceptional till then, beat Deonarine in flight and pulled off a brilliant return catch diving to his left to push West Indies A to 223 for 4. Deonarine was gone for 28 and West Indies A had lost their third wicket in the session for the addition of just 50 runs. The dismissal of the set batsmen slowed the scoring rate down again and Pujara opted not to take the new ball and, instead, took Rasool out of the attack and brought in Rajat Paliwal. It did look like a strange call, but Pujara clearly knew what he was doing as Paliwal trapped Leon Johnson plumb in front after he had made 10. Chadwick Walton looked like a man in a hurry, and though Assad Fudadin (4 not out in 65 balls) seemed happy to play out the day, Walton took some of the pressure off West Indies A towards the end, motoring away to an unbeaten 26 in 32 balls. ---------------------------------------- http://goo.gl/o7KTUZ Fidel Edwards replaces injured Cotterrell

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...