India win tour opener despite early wobble

India 159 for 6 (Badri 43, Sammy 4-16) beat West Indies 143 for 5 (Bravo 41, Harbhajan 2-25) by 16 runs

	S Badrinath's 43 took India to a total they could defend© Associated Press

During a five-over spell of poor discipline, West Indies lost the tour opener, the only Twenty20 international in Port of Spain. Led by Darren Sammy's four-wicket haul, the hosts bossed India for 15 overs on a spinners' paradise, but then they dropped a catch, took a wicket off a no-ball, bowled a lot of length, and the 72 runs they conceded in the last five overs proved to be the deciding factor. With two specialists spinners handcuffing the chase, the West Indies batsmen never really threatened India's total, although they lost only two wickets in the first 15.3 overs.

West Indies had been much more clinical for the majority of the first half of the game. Two reprieved men, though, - Rohit Sharma, dropped on 8, and S Badrinath, caught off a no-ball on 25 and not given stumped on 36 - played crucial parts in those five overs that went for 72. India's first 72 had taken more than 12 overs on a Queen's Park Oval pitch that had been under covers for most of the week because of rain. It misbehaved profusely: a few deliveries took the top surface with them, and the spinners managed disconcerting turn even without giving the ball much air. To make it worse for India, it drizzled for about the first 12 overs of the innings, but not hard enough to send the players off. There were two massive boundary-less periods: 19 balls at the start and 32 in the middle.

The way the ball turned justified India's call to play two specialist spinners, in Harbhajan Singh and R Aswhin, but West Indies inflicted damage even before spin was introduced. Their captain Sammy exploited the conditions with slower offcutters, slicing a chunk out of India's batting during an unbroken four-over spell, even as Chris Gayle watched from the stands, dressed in flashy party wear and a cap that said "captain".

Sammy's first wicket, though, was with a bouncer that cramped the debutant Shikhar Dhawan, and kissed the side of the bat on its way through to Andre Fletcher. Virat Kohli got a massive leading edge to a slower delivery, Parthiv Patel lobbed another offcutter to point, and Suresh Raina heaved to mid-on. Following that, Nurse and Bishoo stifled India, but the turning points came in the 14th and 16th overs.

First Nurse passed a maiden international wicket by failing to hold onto a simple return catch from Rohit. Then Rampaul seemed to have got rid of Badrinath, but the replays showed his front foot had landed on the line. The resultant free hit went for four, which should actually have been six because Nurse caught the ball on the full and dived on the boundary rope, and that opened the floodgates.

Rohit hit Rampaul for a six down the ground, and Badrinath hit two fours off Bishoo's next over. In between those boundaries, Badrinath was stumped, but the umpire Peter Nero refused to even refer it to the third umpire. The 18th over, bowled by Christopher Barnwell, was a disaster for West Indies even though he managed Rohit's wicket. He began with five wides and was hit for two sixes, one each by Rohit and Yusuf Pathan, in a 20-run over. Bishoo did some damage control in the 19th, but Rampaul came back to bowl length in the 20th, and was smacked for a six and a four by Harbhajan Singh.

Expectedly India wasted little time in unleashing spin after Praveen Kumar opened the defence with a maiden over. Ashwin and Harbhajan proved to be too good at the start, and Ashwin - albeit fortuitously - removed Lendl Simmons early. The man to blame was Nero again, who ruled Simmons caught behind off the thigh, and also off the wicketkeeper's helmet.

What followed involved no luck. Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo managed to not lose their wickets but struggled to stay in touch with the asking-rate. As the ball turned and bounced, surely they would have wondered why their home pitches should test their weakness, and not the opposition's. That didn't explain lack of urgency in running between the wickets. No Indian fielder felt under pressure to charge at the ball as West Indies were not looking to convert ones into twos.

The asking-rate touched 17 for the last five overs, and the first big risks taken by the pair resulted in wickets to Harbhajan. Barnwell displayed his big-hitting capabilities in a 16-ball 34, but he was left with too much to do to prevent West Indies' first T20 defeat to India. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Rajasthan enter final despite Badrinath's heroics

Rajasthan 552 for 7 decl (Chopra 139, Menaria 106, Kanitkar 100*) drew with Tamil Nadu 385 (Badrinath 175) and 2 for 0
Scorecard

In pic: Badrinath's heroic effort went in vain as Rajasthan roared to their first Ranji final © ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rajasthan's dream is still alive. They couldn't dislodge Tamil Nadu's wall, S Badrinath, but dismantled the rest brick by brick to enter their first Ranji final since the 1973-74 season. The seamers, Pankaj Singh, Deepak Chahar and Sumit Mathur, sparkled on a docile track to apply the squeeze, and the legspinner Vivek Yadav ran through the lower order to shove Tamil Nadu out of the competition. Tamil Nadu, if they didn't get bowled out, had to score 272 runs in 90 overs on the final day to go through based on net run-rate but they were shot out in the last session.

For 10 hours and five minutes, Badrinath resisted everything hurled at him: outswingers, inswingers, bouncers, leg breaks, sliders, sledges, official warning from the umpire for repeatedly pulling out of strike, his team-mates' self-destructive ways, and his opponent's determined resolve. They couldn't out him at all but Rajasthan found a way around him to achieve their dream.

There was nothing in the pitch but the seamers created venom in the air to do the job. The 18-year old Chahar, playing his debut season, swung the ball both ways, Pankaj mixed his outswingers with the nip-backers, the balding Mathur punctuated his probing line around off stump with bouncers and Yadav flung in his quickish legbreaks and sliders to hustle Tamil Nadu.

It was a fascinating day's play. You could feel the pressure Tamil Nadu were under, and you could sense the intense desire and ambition of their opponents. Badrinath v Rajasthan was a riveting battle. Like yesterday, the bowlers complained to the umpires that Badrinath was not ready when they were ready to bowl. Like yesterday, the umpires chastened Badrinath. "The moment the bowler turns around, you have to be ready," Hariharan told Badrinath. "This is the last friendly warning." A visibly agitated Pankaj had a few words to say. Badrinath moved away again a short while later, as Mathur released the ball, and was handed his official warning. The heat was truly on. If it affected him, Badrinath didn't show it and knuckled down further but he was let down by his team-mates.

R Sathish, who had come in after the overnight batsman K Vasudevadas had inside-edged an outswinger on to his stumps, did all the hard work before throwing his wicket away. Chahar had him in a tangle- the big inswingers repeatedly rapped him on the pad and the outswingers kept teasing the outside edge- but Sathish fought on grittily. Every time he was beaten, he looked at Badrinath and flashed a smile. The pair saw through the first session but the self-destruction set in the second. Sathish went for a flamboyant on-the-up drive off Mathur but hit it straight to short extra cover to leave Tamil Nadu wobbling at 283 for 5.

It was in these kind of big moments that Tamil Nadu have choked in the past and more brain freeze was in store today. C Ganapathy, promoted ahead of Suresh Kumar, was peppered by bouncers from Mathur and threw his wicket away by pulling one straight to deep square-leg. Suresh Kumar hung around for a while and the pressure started to tell on everyone. When the score was 312, Badrinath charged down the track to Yadav and failed to connect but Rohit Jhalani fluffed a simple stumping. Yadav, though, kept chugging along and soon trapped Suresh Kumar lbw with a slider on the off stump line.

Enter L Balaji. He stuck adhesively to the crease for 76 minutes and was dropped on 14 by Jhalani but failed to connect with a sweep and fell lbw to Yadav. The No.10, R Suthesh, combusted spontaneously on arrival: He tried to slog Yadav and miscued it to mid-on and S Sam got into a mix-up with Badrinath and was run out by a direct hit by Robin Bist from deep midwicket to trigger celebrations in the Rajasthan camp. Badrinath trudged back in disappointment.

Rajasthan rubbed the salt into wounds by making Tamil Nadu follow-on and an over later it was all over. History was calling and the desert boys were all ears. Rajasthan now face Baroda in a final that not many would have predicted. It's been that kind of a season. -ESPNcricinfo