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World Cup 2015: Bowlers go WACA WACA Yay Yay; India survive on minefield

Even as batsmen continue to dominate tournament, wicket at Perth provides rare chance for pacers to breathe fire

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If nothing, it has to be the most-aptly named cricket ground in the world. Then again, it's among the few venues that have, over the years, filled batsmen with fear, anxiety and uncertainty. In a universe where batting paradises signify an embarrassment of riches, the WACA offers some much-needed relief to bowlers. It encourages what purists call a fair contest.

Friday was one such day, and a rare one at that. It's a pity that Dennis Lillee, president of the Western Australian Cricket Association, wasn't around. The CEO said "he may have gone fishing".

A hard pitch, gleaming under both natural and artificial sources of light, produced pulsating cricket throughout the day. If Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav reiterated the fact there is more to this Indian team than just batting superstars, then Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach did their bit to try and upset the apple cart in Group 'B'. They shared the honours.

If Jason Holder thought that by winning the toss he was unleashing the phenomenon called Chris Gayle on the Indians, he was wrong. Shami and Yadav wouldn't allow any of it.

Gayle, who hadn't performed against India in an eternity, painted an ugly portrait of himself in the 44 minutes that he was around. Plays and misses, tentative edges, cautious ducks and ugly heaves were all part of the story.

So intense, so fast and so disciplined were the Indian pacers that they put to rest all talk of their inability to give back what their batsmen get all the time on faraway sojourns.

First, Shami worked out Dwayne Smith by having him caught behind in the fifth over. The scoreboard read 8/1. He then welcomed Marlon Samuels with a snorter. Gayle and Samuels made for interesting watching. Lazy, relaxed and careless, they tries to outdo each other by the minute.

But it was Gayle who 'won' the battle. That he lasted 27 deliveries had a lot to do with the two steeplers that were put down. First, Shami dropped him off Yadav. Then, Yadav dropped him off Shami. Even Mohit Sharma grassed one.

Clearly unsettled with the ball nowhere in the vicinity of his 'zone', Gayle even took to slogging and flat-batting. He did collect a couple of fours and a six, but looked a shadow of the man who got a double ton the other day. A little earlier, he had run Samuels out. A mistimed pull, off Shami, finally ended his torturous stay.

Prepared with clay from a place called Waroona, which is about a 90-minute drive from Perth, the WACA pitch isn't as lively as it was in the previous century. But it's still zippy and nippy.

What the Indians did, the West Indians did just as good. Taylor sent back Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in quick succession. Both were caught behind the wicket. Then Roach and Andre Russell joined the party. Shami, Yadav and Mohit wouldn't have grudged their counterparts. After all, 12 of the 16 wickets that fell went to pacers. And less than 400 runs were scored. In all, that is. Perhaps cricket needs a few more such bowling havens.

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