Rampaul, Morton guide West Indies to win over India

West Indies came back strongly in the second ODI played at Kingston in Jamaica to level the series with a thrashing, eight-wicket win over the Indians. The hosts had lost a thrilling, high-scoring encounter in the first game and with this win, the scoreline reads 1-1 with two more games to be played.India won the toss and decided to bat first on a pitch that he thought was a perfect batting wicket, but it soon became evident that he had misread the pitch. The wicket swung and nipped around a bit with evident extra moisture on it, as the team lost three quick wickets for seven runs played rather atrocious shots to be dismissed by Ravi Rampaul for a duck each, while last game’s fifty-maker Dinesh Karthik got a peach of a delivery to walk back for four to Jerome Taylor. Rampaul was making a comeback to the side, and he replaced Lionel Baker in the team.Yuvraj Singh looked in good touch in the game, continuing from where he had left off and in the partnership with captain Dhoni, added 47 for the fourth wicket. This included the shot of the inning, and in all probabilities, of the match as well, when Yuvi punched a ball on the leg-side like he was stealthily swatting a fly, but the ball travelled outside the fence for a rather huge six.

Man of the match performanceHowever, Taylor got rid of Yuvraj, and four wickets fell for the addition of 28 more runs to reduce India to 82/8 and with a huge chance of being bowled out before the 25th over itself!Dhoni was then joined by R.P.Singh and the duo began by the captain shielding the number 10 batsman by refusing singles. Singh’s confidence grew over time, as the West Indian bowlers started looking ragged, while Dhoni opened his arms at the introduction of the spinners.

Unbeaten 85 to win it for IndiaThe pair added 101 for the ninth wicket – only the fifth such occasion when the ninth wicket had seen more than a century added – and India ended their inning on 188. Dhoni scored 95, and fell agonisingly short of the century when he was bowled off a Taylor slower delivery. However, with the pitch having flattened out completely, India needed a couple of early wickets to have any kind of a chance. And while they did get two wickets, they were by no means early; Chris Gayle and Runako Morton adding 101 for the first wicket in just over 15 overs!Gayle was consumed by part-time spinner Rohit Sharma for a swashbuckling 46-ball 64, while Ramnaresh Sarwan also fell to the same bowler to leave the hosts at 132/2. However, Morton and Chanderpaul guided the team to a victory without any further hiccups and the West Indians triumphed by eight wickets and with almost 16 overs to spare!Rampaul’s four wicket haul – 4/37 off his ten overs – won him the man-of-the-match award, while Morton ended his inning with an unbeaten 85.

PAKISTAN vs NEW ZEALAND june 13 2009
Pakistan will face New Zealand at the Oval in London in their second game of the Super Eights in Group F. The Kiwis have played one game and routed Ireland in that game while Pakistan were soundly beaten by Sri Lanka in their first game.
Pakistan's woes with their bowling began even before the tournament began when both Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar were ruled out of the tournament for different reasons, while the injuries to Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir has weakened the pace department even further. Arafat has already been replaced by Abdul Razzaq in the squad, while Tanvir limped through his first over in the Sri Lanka game with wides and no-balls to his name. For the Pakistanis to perform well against New Zealand, they will need the quick bowlers to be able to restrict the free-scoring batsmen like Brendon McCullum and the half-century scorer in the last game, Aaron Redmond.
The Kiwis will obviously miss Jesse Ryder, who has flown back due to a groin injury, and one isn't too sure about Ross Taylor's status either. With a couple of others carrying a niggle or two as well, the Kiwi batsmen could face the same issue that the Pakistani bowlers would and that is the lack of personnel.
Having said that, Martin Guptill had had a good previous game, as did Redmond and if Brendon McCullum could remove his captaincy hat and get on with the batting one while opening the inning, the batting could roll over the weak Pakistani bowling. It will be the Pakistani spinners who will definitely test the Kiwi batsman, and players like McCullum and Scott Styris, two of the better players of spin, will have a lot of work to be done.
For the Kiwis, Iain O'Brien did play a couple of games earlier - including the warm-up ones - but wasn't found to be too successful. However, he has been New Zealand's more successful performers, and could return back to the side if one of the bowlers are found to be struggling with a niggle. Daniel Vettori could just end being a passenger in the side given his injury status, but Nathan McCullum has fit in the job very well. The battle between a Kiwi spinner and the Pakistani batsmen should be one interesting one to watch out for!
All in all, despite Pakistan's inabilities in this tournament, I would not have any favourites for this game; too close a game to call!