Blown By The Windies

India were today in real danger of being knocked out of the Champions Trophyafter a heart-breaking three-wicket defeat at the hands of title holders WestIndies who became the second team to qualify for the semi-finals.

The Caribbeans first restricted India to a modest 223 for nine and thenmanaged to overhaul the target with just two balls to spare in a thrillingfloodlit Group A contest which went down to the wire.

The West Indies were cruising along comfortably at 212 for three before thehome team staged a valiant fightback by scalping four wickets in the last fiveovers to raise hopes of a miraculous escape.

But, with four runs required off the last three balls, middle order batsmanMarlon Samuels smashed a wide delivery from Ajit Agarkar to the point fence tosee the Caribbeans through much to the dismay of the vociferous home crowd atthe Sardar Patel Gujarat stadium.

The Indians will now take on the mighty Australians against whom they face amust-win situation to keep themselves alive in the high-profile tournament, atask which appears extremely daunting considering their form.

The West Indians have garnered four points from two matches so far whileIndia and Australia have two points each from as many matches. The last leaguematch between the hosts and Australia will determine the second semi-finalistsfrom the Group A.

The West Indian victory also means that England, the fourth team in the pool,are out of reckoning having played two matches without a single point. If theWest Indies beat England in their last match on Saturday, they would emerge asthe champion team from the group but in case they lose, the net run rate willcome into play to decide the order.

In Group B, New Zealand have already romped into the semi-finals whiletomorrow's crucial match between Pakistan and South Africa would determine thesecond semi-finalists from the pool.

The Caribbeans owed their victory to a disciplined bowling show andresponsible batting performances by Shivnarine Chanderpaul (51), RamnareshSarwan (53), Runako Morton (45) and Chris Gayle (37).

The title holders, however, made things a little too tight for themselves inthe end by playing too cautiously till the dying stages and losing quick wicketsin the last few overs.

Put into bat, the Indian batting failed to click yet again as the establishedbatsmen could never really come to terms with the slow track. Mahendra SinghDhoni (51), Rahul Dravid (49), Sachin Tendulkar (29) and Yuvraj Singh (27) gotthe starts but could not really make them count.

The hosts relied on some late innings fireworks by Dhoni, who notched up hisninth ODI fifty, to take the total to 223 which looked doubtful at one stageafter a very slow start.

The West Indies run chase began with a flourish as none of the Indian pacemencould really manage to make much of an impression against the two openers ChrisGayle and Chanderpaul.

Gayle seemed in a belligerent mood, going on the offensive early in theinnings, but was also lucky to have been dropped on 9 by Suresh Raina off IrfanPathan.

Undaunted, Gayle continued to attack and picked up Pathan for specialtreatment, disdainfully dispatching the medium pacer for three boundaries in thefifth over of the innings.

But Munaf Patel, who began the bowling operations along with Pathan andmaintained a tight line and length, saw the back of Gayle in the tenth over.

The left hander got out to a suicidal shot, as he tried to work the bowlerover mid off and spooned a catch to R P Singh who made no mistake. Gayle hitseven boundaries and faced 37 balls to score 34.

Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo then added 57 runs for the second wicket, thehalf-century of the partnership coming off 69 balls.

The two ran well between the wickets, picking up the singles and two, whileChanderpaul launched an attack on a wayward R P Singh, picking up two boundariesin the 14th over of the innings.

Spin was introduced in the form of Harbhajan Singh in the 16th over, and theace offie was right on target, extracting some turn from the track.

Harbhajan not only proved a miser in conceding runs, but he also plottedBravo's (16) dismissal in his fourth over, beating the young all-rounder withboth the flight and the turn to trap him leg before.

Virender Sehwag, introduced into the operation from the other end, thensnared Chandepaul who played half-heartedly at a ball turning away and Dravidwas ready at slip to accept the offering.

Earlier, the Indian batting put up another dismal display which could nowprove to be very costly since they have to play the last match against worldchampions Australia.

The Indian openers held out the promise of a flying start, with Sehwag makinghis aggressive intent clear as he cut and square drove Jerome Taylor to pick upa four in each of the bowler's first three overs

Sehwag got a 'life' early on but the lapse did not prove costly for thevisitors, with the Delhi batsman making his long walk back to the pavilion inthe very next over.

The Indian vice-captain, who had cut Taylor to the backward point of theprevious delivery, failed to negotiate an incoming ball which found him plumbbefore the wicket.

India continued to persist with Pathan at one down, but the move backfiredyet again.

The Baroda player left without bothering the scorer as he inside edged aBradshaw delivery on to his off stump as India was in a spot of bother at 27 for2.

Skipper Dravid then joined Tendulkar, who seemed unusually sedate in thefirst few overs, and the two battle-hardened veterans set about to steady theIndian ship.

Tendulkar, who had earlier got his first boundary in the sixth over with astraight drive of Bradshaw, executed some fluent shots, a carpet-kissing coverdrive off Dwayne Smith and another majestic off drive of the same bowler deservespecial mention.

Dravid also seemed his customary cool and confident self not hesitating topunish anything loose, but the curtains came down on the 42-run stand whenTendulkar dragged a wayward Bradshaw delivery onto his off-stump.

PTI