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50 overs West Indies 222 (Bravo 73, Tahir 4-41, Botha 2-48) v South Africa

West Indies at one stage were on course to set a target of 270 + runs but decided to commit suicide in Pakistani style. They lost Gayle in the first over, the man is all  hype and very rarely lives up to the expectations, there is no professionalism in his game one can sense a lazy- carefree and irresponsible attitude in his body language, had he been a Pakistani batsman, I am sure ICC would be investigating him along with a few of his team mates.

It was hardly a surprise when Botha an offspinner bowled the first over for SA, such is the pathetic nature of wickets in India, its a shame for ICC that in the most important tournament of cricket, which comes after every four years we can’t expect to have a fair contest between bat and ball, the game has to be skewed in favor of the batsmen to please the crowd, the TV channels and the sponsors. 

A team which probably has the best pace bowling battery in the world resorted to play three spinners because the conditions in India are not conducive for fast bowlers. The true cricket enthusiasts are being robbed of the opportunity to watch a fair contest between bat and ball, Is this tournament even worthy of it’s title? I don’t think so.

Smith and Bravo restored the West Indian innings and took the score to 113 when Bravo got out after scoring 73 off 82 balls in 23.1 overs. Smith who was mainly playing the role of an anchor got out in the very next over on 36 from 57 balls, giving the first wicket to  debutant Imran Tahir who went on to take four in his first match.

Much was depended on Sarwan and Chanderpaul but they hardly ever live up to their reputation when things really matter, Sarwan was the first one to go becoming Imran Tahir’s second victim, from 2/112 WI slipped to 4/120.

Chanderpaul and D Bravo tried to form a partnership and scored 58 runs from the next 11 overs where the bulk of the scoring was done by Bravo and Chanderpaul just blocked everything on the other end, West Indies once again were looking to score around 260, when Chanderpaul called for a suicidal run and ran out Bravo who was scoring freely. ACSU hopefully you will investigate the matter.

Chanderpaul became the fourth victim of Imran Tahir and West Indies were 209/6 after 42.2 overs. They still had an opportunity to score another 40-50 runs specially when Pollard and Sammy were on the crease, but G Smith brought in his ace bowler Steyn back into attack who got rid off both players on a duck and just locked the fate of the match in his teams favor.

WestIndies were all out in 47.3 overs. A very disappointing and unprofessional performance from a major team.

Sometimes I wonder why Pakistan gets so much criticism when teams like Newzealand and West Indies consistently perform poorly in international cricket.

SA after losing two early wickets, chased the target very professionally, ABD was in regal form and scored a magnificient 100 and remained not out.  SA achieved the target in just 42.2 overs.

West Indies recieved another set back when D bravo in his third over fell on the ground after twisting his knee, he was in quite a bit of pain and his injury looked serious.

I hoped to see a better contest but once again it turned out to be a onesided match.