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Windies fade on Sticky Cuttack Wicket : Pepsi ODI Series 2-0 for Ind

Filed under Ind vs WI

Some called it a virgin wicket. Most were agreed that Cuttack pitch was low-and-slow. The word I liked was sticky-wicket, where the ball pitched, kissed the soil a little longer and then the bounce..

West Indies, captained by Chris Gayle for the first time - wanted to field first had he won the toss. Rahul Dravid won the toss and gave Gayle what we wanted.

Gautam Gambhir and Sourav Ganguly opened for India and the script turned out to be exactly opposite to what had happened in India wins Cuttack ODI.jpg

first Pepsi Series ODI at Nagpur. 4 for 1, 35 for 3, 66 for 5.... 90 for 7 when Harbhajan was bowled by Bravo in 31st over of Indian innings. Wickets were their for the taking but West Indian bowling artellary lacked fire-power. Dinesh Karthik suprisingly was timing the ball extremely well (exactly like his South Indian captain Dravid before getting out), and he found a forgotten partner in Ajit Agarkar.

Agarkar and Karthik complied 62 valuable runs when everyone was getting sure this Cuttack India vs West Indies ODI will be a low-scoring-thriller. Indians wanted 200 on the board after this rejuvenating partnership - but managed only 189 off 48.2 overs.

West Indies innings started with Gayle's wicket off the 7th ball, and then a little partnership of 36 between Dwyne Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Everyone were waiting for spinners to bowl on Cuttack pitch and Harbhajan obliged in his very first over.

Windies wickets kept on falling, and apart from little bit of Bravo and Devon Smith - no caribbean batsman stood firm with Chanderpaul, who again played yet another masterful innings against his favourite opposition India.

India vs West Indies 2nd ODI Cuttack : Score-card

India 189 all out, 48.2 overs	WI 169 all out, 48.2 overs
Gambhir 2, Ganguly 13, Tendulkar 0	Gayle 5, Dwyne Smith 15
Dravid 22, Dhoni 6, J. Sharma 1	Samuels 1, Bravo 31, Morton 0
Harbhajan 6, Powar 5, Zaheer 7*	Devon Smith 25, Ramdin 6
Dinesh Karthik 63, 87B with 7 4s	Bradshaw 2, Powell 1, Taylor 2*
Ajit Agarkar 40 off 47 with 4 4s	S Chanderpaul 67 off 125, 4 4s

Ian Bradshaw : 10-1-38-2	Ramesh Powar : 10-0-42-3
Darren Powell : 10-2-27-4	Sachin Tendulkar : 8-0-25-2

India won by 20 runs. Lead 4 ODI series 2-0.