The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
After run-rain, actual downpour
Following the 489-run first T20, the second ends in a damp squib; match called off after it rains during chase
SYNOPSIS:
Amit Mishra makes the most of unexpected T20 recall while Indian pacers go back to their plan of bowling short under the pump to derail world champions and bowl them out for 143. But rain and a wet outfield end the match in a no-contest as the USA gets a wholesome cricket experience.
Unexpected recall
Cricket can be guilty of spewing incessant statistics on most occasions but sometimes numbers do tell a great story, even if unintentionally. The comparison between Amit Mishra’s bowling averages in Tests and ODIS under MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli is an excellent case in point. While under Dhoni his wickets have come at 45.82 and 47.83 apiece in the longest format and the 50-over version respectively, the corresponding figures when Kohli has set his fields read, 20.64 and 12.28. So it’s pretty obvious who he’s had more fun playing under. Maybe it also explains, considering Dhoni’s captaincy has pretty much coincided with a majority of Mishra’s career, why the 33-year-old has always been on the periphery of Indian cricket for so long without ever completely being sidelined.
Ironically, his statistics in international T20s have been rather impressive all along, and for the record he’d played six out of seven matches prior to Sunday when Dhoni was captain. Still, his last game in the shortest format came back in 2014. And it’s possible that he wouldn’t have been in Florida right now if he hadn’t already been in North America with the Test squad.
But the fact that R Ashwin bowled most of his 24 balls in the first match as a leg-spinner, it was inevitable that if there was one change Dhoni was looking to make for the second contest, Mishra was to be it. And he proves his worth right away, getting rid of the dangerous Johnson Charles with his very first delivery. Charles had started off in the same no-holdsbarredmodeonceagainandracedawayto43 off almost half the deliveries. It was a smart dismissal too, as Mishra had Charles caught at long-on while swinging against the turn in a direction he so prefers to.
That wicket also sparked off India’s dominance in the contest, which if not for the rain and the lack of a super-sopper at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Lauderhill should have helped them level the series. Only five runs came off the next two overs as Ravindra Jadeja bowled five dots to start his spell. Then it was over to Ashwin, as the Indian spinners did what they had done during the Tests: run roughshod over the West Indians. The off-spinner got rid of Lendl Simmons in a manner which would have made every gully cricketer smile in envy— bowling a wide down leg-side to get the charging batsman stumped.
Such is the depth in the West Indian T20 line-up that top-order wickets often only mean more trouble, for it brings the likes of Andre Russell and skipper Carlos Brathwaite to the crease. But it was Mishra again who came to the fore, bowling Dwayne Bravo and Brathwaite, first by deceiving the batsman in the air with a googly before beating the next with a subtle change in trajectory.
Keep it short
It’s been a trend that Indian pacers have followed over the last couple of years, and more often than not it has paid dividends in all formats. Whenever they have felt under the pump, they’ve gone short. If Ishant Sharma bounced out the whole of England at Lord’s for a famous Test win, the likes of Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav took most of their wickets using the bouncer during last year’s World Cup Down Under. Having come under some heavy fire in the opening match, it was only natural that they opted to correct their length on the following day.
And it was a short rising delivery that helped Shami remove centurion Evin Lewis as he fended it only as far as short fine-leg. Bhuvneshwar Kumar too wasn’t shy despite his lack of pace to test the bounce of the slowing wicket. But as has been the case this year, it was Jasprit Bumrah who was Dhoni’s go-to man in the tough overs. And he combined his short stuff and that trademark yorker to great effect to knock out Marlon Samuels and Andre Fletcher and once again finish the series as India’s most impressive seamer.
Wholesome experience
Iftheamericans(notthatthereweremany localspresent)didn’tthinkthesportwascomplicated enough, they learnt that there were a lot more uncertainties and unexplainable quirks than they imagined. Like you don’t always have to play for five days to not get a result and feel bemused about it. It’s possible in a four-hour contest as well. All it takes is a little rain. And even if the playing surface does dry up and seem perfectly normal to resume play on, at least from the outside, you still run theriskofacricketmatchbeingcalledoffwith almost the entire day still left at your disposal. Oh, not to forget, that something as vague as satelliteissuescanalsodelaythestart.thefirst game might have gone exactly how everyone who organized the series must have hoped it wouldwithalast-ballphotofinish.thencame thedampsquib.wellatleasttheygotawholesome experience over the weekend.