INDIA ZOMG.

India Windies first ODI. And India's batting has left me absolutely STUNNED.
They were spectacular, marvelous, eye-asaulting, entertaining... all of it.
The opening stand between Ganguly and Gambhir (yes one non-regular opener and one player who's not played ODIs for 16 months) of 144 was eye-poppingly good. Boundaries flowed in with ease and both batsmen looked very well set and comfortable from the very start. They defended, slogged, drove, pulled, hooked with almost-perfection and it was seriously hard to believe that this was the very same team which lost MISERABLY to South Africa purely because of their terrible batting performances.

When Gambhir finally got out, Tendulkar came in. He didn't look too comfortable out there, but he made 31 and departed. And in came... surprise surprise, DHONI. Almost immediately Ganguly got run out on 98 (!!!!), which was terribly saddening because he played like a DREAM in this comeback match. I thought all was lost and that 300 was a far fetched dream when Dravid walked in, because as much as I absolutely ADORE the way Dravid plays, let's face it, his strong point is defence. I must say, I was very terribly mistaken.

Dhoni and Dravid took a while to settle, but then suddenly, Dhoni pulled out all stops and launched a mighty six into the stands. And that really was the breaking point. Together, Dravid (YES MR WALL HIMSELF) and Dhoni hit 8 sixes, 3 by Dravid and 5 by Dhoni. Dravid's sixes were beautifully delicate, amazingly executed and gorgeous to watch. Dhoni's were just powerful, mighty heaves into the stands. Amazing. They put up 119 runs in just close to 70 balls and took India to 338 for 3. :)

I was ecstatic during their flurry of sixes and fours but I must admit that happiness has worn off a little now that India are bowling. As usual, something must let us down and I think the fielding and bowling is bent on doing spectacularly badly or something. Tendulkar DROPPED CHRIS GAYLE at slip. It was an incredibly easy catch and he caught it and then SOMEHOW managed to drop it anyway. Sreesanth followed that up with three terrible balls which Gayle dutifully dispatched for 3 consecutive boundaries. HIGHLY frustrating. But there's cricket for you. Indian cricket at least. Somehow, Australian cricket fans never end up this frustrated, because Australia just can't lose. Darn.

Maybe it's gonna be Bhajji's day.
Bleargh there goes the match, more Windian boundaries. I HATE :'(
Goodbye, I shall come back to update on the result afterwards.