A comfortable victory for India in the end, but it could have been closer had Rohit not survived some fortunate moments early in his innings and had Martin held on to that catch off Yusuf. The presence of Raina at the crease made a huge difference, as it was he who infused some fluency to the chase. Sid Monga is done with the bulletin, so please do read it. Do stay tuned in for the details from the presentation.
A preachy GPRAJ: "Its a young team which can be experimented with at this stage to identify ways to plug the holes once the THE Middle order of Indian Cricket bids adieu in near future. Unless exposed to the heat of international cricket, you cant expect a state of the art middle order. Winning is important, more important is learning at this stage. Nothing wrong if we lose one or two games, but the seriousness of getting dropped would do justice to this team. So, Relax you guys and enjoy the game of cricket!!!"
Anjali: "Really happy to see a controlled performance from Rohit Sharma, and good to see that he was patient and hung around to see his team home. Hopefully we'll see some good performances from the other 'young' Indian batsmen."
Some of the precognitions turned out to be woefully wrong in the end. But keep them coming through the series.
Sammy: "We didn't score enough runs, we kept taking wickets but the total wasn't big enough to put pressure on them. It's a turning track and we wanted to have the best of the conditions when batting first. Desmond Haynes, our batting consultant, has been doing a good job and we just need to execute our plans properly."
Raina: "The bowlers did a great job, followed by Rohit and Shikhar. The track wasn't good for batting, but we rotated the strike well. We can do better in the field, a couple need to show more intensity. It's looking good at the moment, I hope we do well in the next game."
Rohit Sharma is Man of the Match: "It was quite difficult initially because the track was turning. It was important to spend some time in the middle to play our shots. We are used to the workload, with the IPL and it depends on each individual. I just want to keep scoring runs and I'm happy to start the tournament on a good note. I'm very much hungry for runs."
That's all from us today, folks. Join us again in a couple of days time for the second ODI. Hope you enjoyed this one. Cheers
Harbhajan walks in. Sammy runs in
END OF OVER:44 | 3 Runs 1 Wkt | IND: 210/6 (5 runs required from 36 balls, RR: 4.77, RRR: 0.83)
- Rohit Sharma67 (74b)
- Ravi Rampaul10-0-58-2
- Daren Sammy9-0-45-0
India's victory delayed by a bit. Rampaul has walked off the field to nurse his fingers.
YK Pathan c & b Rampaul 10 (19m 12b 0x4 1x6) SR: 83.33
JP: "Why people are bashing Raina saying "part time captain"? Really, we all know why he is a captain now. Just relax, this is his first game. I would love to see more games and his bowling changes and fielding placements."
END OF OVER:43 | 8 Runs | IND: 207/5 (8 runs required from 42 balls, RR: 4.81, RRR: 1.14)
- Yusuf Pathan9 (8b)
- Rohit Sharma65 (72b)
- Daren Sammy9-0-45-0
- Ravi Rampaul9-0-55-1
Rohit has cramps and the physio's out helping him get back on his feet.
Chucky doll: "If I am the coach, I would give a loooong stare to Raina. Hopefully, he won't do something silly like this again. Ah... young blood, wanted to finish in heroic fashion and perished with job unfinished."
All's well now after a delay. Sammy runs in
END OF OVER:42 | 10 Runs | IND: 199/5 (16 runs required from 48 balls, RR: 4.73, RRR: 2.00)
- Yusuf Pathan2 (4b)
- Rohit Sharma64 (70b)
- Ravi Rampaul9-0-55-1
- Anthony Martin10-0-39-2
Sam: "This is exactly why Raina is only a part-time captain! Why throw away your wicket ? Can't you be satisfied running 10 or 15 times and make it home ? Immaturity shows."
