Raining is just not cricket
Match in Lauderhill is halted by weather.
In spin and guile, Dhoni and his men came up with the perfect strategy to counter the power hitters they were up against, but all they could do was look on as rain brought an early end Sunday to the second of the two T20 internationals between India and West Indies at Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill.
Chasing a victory target of 143, India was looking good at 15 without loss in two overs when the heavens opened. Fans of the game, who had turned up in large numbers for the second consecutive day, waited patiently but the umpires finally decided that the outfield was toowet for the game to resume.
Dhoni wasn’t the happiest person at the ground when the match was called off.
“What the umpires told us was that the condition out there was quite bad,” he said at the post-match conference. “I have over 10 years of experience as a player and, frankly, I have played under worse conditions. During the one-day International series against England in 2011, wewere literally playing in the rain. Ultimately, the umpires decide.”
Carlos Brathwaite had a different take on the issue.
“We were always working against time, especially with the 40-minute delay that we had at the beginning,” he said. “There were two or three unsafe areas. Inmy opinion, itwas unsafe.”
The West Indian captain said the team was pumped up and ready to defend142.
“Runs on the board are always runs on the board,” he said. “The spirit and the attitude of some of our players, when the gamewas called off, was that India got abit lucky with the rain. You never know what will happen in cricket, but we had full belief that we could defend the runs on the board.”
As in the first match, Johnson Charles showed a preference for the leg side and was happy to feast on anything that was not on a full length. Luckily for India, their prime tormentor on the first day, Evin Lewis, did not last long as he mistimed a pull off a Shami delivery and was caught by Amit Mishra at short fine leg.
The ground isn’t the largest in international cricket, but that did not deter Dhoni from throwing the ball to Amit Mishra before the end of the power play. Charles took the bait and perished, holing out to Rahane at long on.
Sensing an opportunity, Dhoni immediately turned to Ravindra Jadeja and then brought in Ashwin. While Jadeja darted them in on a length and shackled the batsmen, Mishra and Ashwin, bowlers with more weapons at their disposal, wove aweb of deceit around the West Indian batsmen. The innings soon went on a nosedive as many of Brathwaite’s men, frustrated by their failure to hit the sixes that were coming by so easily the previous day, fell victim to rash strokes.
Mishra, who was benched for the first game, ended with 3-24 of his four overs.
“The addition of a spinner paid off; Mishra bowled really well,” said Dhoni. “It
was a brilliant effort by the bowlers to restrict them to just over 140 runs; that is like a 100 runs short in the T20 format.”
The stadium and the facilities
came in for praise fromboth captains.
“It is a good venue to come back and play cricket,” said Dhoni. “As far as the facility is concerned,
it is as good as what you would get anywhere in the world. The infrastructure looks good. Unfortunately, there were thunderstorms today, but the weather has been really good. It suits cricket.”
“It feels like home; we want to make this our secondhome,” said Brathwaite. “The outfield was perfect, and lightning quick. The pitchwas fantastic. I can see a big future ahead, not just for West Indies and India, but for American cricket itself. It is just a matter of the United States experiencing more games.”
Neelesh Mehta, a doctor from Chicago, came hoping to see India win but isn’t unhappy as he prepares to head back home.
“Itwould have been great if India had won, but that is how it is in sports,” he said. “It is sad that we did not have a full game today, but I feel lucky that I got a chance to see such high quality cricket. I hope India comes back again. When these guys play, people come to watch.”
“I didn’t expect the games to happen, but I am glad they did,” said Stephen Abraham, who is from St. Lucia but now lives in the Virgin Islands. “T20 is the best thing that has happened in cricket. I love watching the West Indies play; I will pay to watch them if they play anywhere in theUnited States.”
By the end of the series, cricket had also managed to find a few freshly-minted fans.
“I don’t understand all the nuances of the game, but I find itway more exciting than baseball,” said Twain Safford, a chauffeur who was part of the large army of people who made the event happy. “I have attended many big sports events, but this was something else. The energy of the fanswas unbelievable.”
The series took place four years after the last international game at the stadium, one that featured West Indies and New Zealand. Earlier this year, the Caribbean Premier League organized a Lauderhill leg of its league, with considerable success.