M S Dhoni served early warning to the bowlers in the Caribbean with a swashbuckling knock in India's tour opening practice match against Jamaica Eleven at Jarrett Park.
MONTEGO BAY (Jamaica): Mahinder Singh Dhoni served early warning to the bowlers in the Caribbean with a swashbuckling knock in India's tour opening practice match against Jamaica Eleven at Jarrett Park here.
The powerfully built wicketkeeper-batsman smashed four fours and three sixes in his 45 from 23 balls as the Indians notched up 289 runs for the loss of 7 wickets before bowling out the hosts for 173 in 45 overs.
Dhoni had a comfortable platform to unleash his powerful strokes when he arrived at the crease in the final 10 overs. Openers Virender Sehwag (33) and Rahul Dravid (31) had put on 65 for the first wicket followed by Suresh Raina (50) and Mohammad Kaif (49) who built on the solid platform.
Dhoni didn't fail to provide a flourish in the end with all three of his sixes deserving mention. His first was a low flat which hit the fence like a whistle. He then drove a six off Daren Powell which cleared the ground and landed on top of a three-storey building across the street. The Jharkhand lad's last pick-up from an off-spinner also kept travelling in a line parallel to the ground.
Sehwag played a contrasting knock but just when he seemed to be hitting straps with two successive fours, he dabbed a catch to wicketkeeper off the hard-working Daren Powell.
Skipper Dravid was done in by umpire Cecil Fletcher and made his point by glancing at the umpire more than once while trudging back.
The ball was certainly headed down the leg stump if it had not already hit the inside edge of the blade on to the pads. While Raina impressed with his clever manipulation of the field and powerful flicks down the onside, Kaif also played a busy innings and essayed a few pleasing drives down the ground.
On the flip side, the Indians bowled in a methodical manner without quite hitting top gear but it still seemed enough for a hapless bunch of local cricketers. The wickets kept falling at regular intervals before the introduction of irregular bowlers allowed the tailenders to free their arms.
It certainly pleased the spectators in the packed stands who had suffered in the hot sun with little to cheer.
Scorecard:
India:
V Sehwag c Hibbert b Powell 33
R Dravid lbw b Richardson 31
S Raina retd 50
Y Singh c Hibbert b Lawson18
M Kaif b Richardson 49
V Rao not out 15
M S Dhoni b Powell 45
I Pathan c Lambert b Richardson 06
A Agarkar not out12
Extras: (b-4, lb-10, w-13, nb-3) 30
Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs): 289
Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-76, 3-117, 4-207, 5-209, 6-264, 7-273.
Bowling: Jermaine Lawson 10-0-60-1; Daren Powell 10-1-53-2; Adrian Richardson 9.3-0-47-3; Bevon Brown 10-0-45-0; Donovan Sinclair 6-0-29-0; Tamar Lambert 4-0-36-0; Danza Hyatt 0.3-0-5-0.
Jamaica Eleven:
D Ebanks c Harbhajan b R P Singh 21
D Hyatt c and b Pathan 10
D Pagon c Dravid b Patel 04
T Lamber c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 33
W Hinds LBW b Agarkar 12
D Sinclair c Agarkar b Yuvraj 02
D Morgan not out 19
K Hibert LBW b Harbhajan 00
D Powell c Pathan b Sehwag 24
B Brown c Dhoni b Patel 22
J Lawson c Young b Patel 06
Extras: 20
Total (all out, 45 overs)173
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-39, 3-50, 4-71, 5-84, 6-98, 7-103, 8-133, 9-162
Bowling: Irfan Pathan 6-2-23-1; Munaf Patel 9-2-30-3; Rudra Pratap Singh 6-2-18-1; Ajit Agarkar 6-2-18-1; Yuvraj Singh 4-0-7-1; Harbhajan Singh 5-0-14-2; Virender Sehwag 4-1-22-1; Suresh Raina 3-0-14-0; Venuogopal Rao 2-0-17-0.
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