da realbet： The lamentable part – as is usually the case with Bangladesh – is thatthey showed signs of creating a contest before unraveling spectacularly.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at Jaipur11-Oct-2006
‘Chris, whatever you do make sure I get my fifty as well’ – Shivnarine Chanderpaul to Chris Gayle © Getty Images
It’s hard enough for top-quality bowlers to come up against a rampagingChris Gayle, just spare a thought for the lesser teams. Unfortunately forthem, Gayle’s made a habit of pulverising minnows – he averages 59 againstZimbabwe and close to 49 against Bangladesh – and today it was apremeditated assault. Start steady, motor along and go ballistic towardsthe end.”Things weren’t that easy,” he said at the end of the day, beaming acheeky smile. “The wicket was keeping low and one needed to concentrate. Ineeded to capitalise on the start. Hopefully I can better my performanceagainst Sri Lanka.” But was the wicket really that difficult? WasBangladesh’s surrender understandable? “It was a good wicket and we sawthat when they batted early on. But they didn’t really capitalise on thestart. It wasn’t the easiest of wickets to start but it’s something thatneeded you to dig deep. Once you got in you can pace yourself and go onfrom there.”The manner in which he went after them as the finish line approached madethe bowling look quite pedestrian. “It’s definitely not the weakest attackin ODI cricket,” Gayle retorted when asked his thoughts. “They bowledwell, especially the two left-arm spinners. They put the ball in the rightareas. My game-plan was to go out there and not take it for granted. I’m agood reader of the game and it’s a situation – when I’ve played 100 andodd one-day games – that one learns.”His constant chatter with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, towards the end of thegame, didn’t go unnoticed. “Chanderpaul and myself wanted to work well inpartnership, we wanted to communicate and plan it well and stay till thethe end,” he continued. “I wanted a hundred and he wanted a fifty, so hesaid, ‘Chris, whatever you do make sure I get my fifty as well.'”Gayle and Chanderpaul have taken care of the bulk of West Indies battingin the opening two games of the tournament but Brian Lara wasn’t tooconcerned. “The game on Saturday [against Sri Lanka] is very, veryimportant for us we’s love to qualify No.1 and move on. If Chris andChanderpaul are the only two to bat on Saturday, this is great for us.There is no room for experimentation at this present time. You just haveto win, win, win.”No team wants to pick themselves up from a loss going into the moreimportant stage of the tournament,” he continued looking ahead to the SriLanka game, “so I think both teams going to be very competitive. WestIndies is going out to put out their best XI and we are going to go reallystrongly for a win. I think three wins on a trot, going into the secondstage of the tournament, is definitely going to be positive.”West Indies’ fortunes, though, will hinge on the fitness of their players,three of whom were ill-disposed. Lara admitted that it was a seriousconcern. “Starting with Sarwan, Smith and Morton, and now Fidel it’s hardto quarantine the guys specially if you travel. Hopefully Fidel will beback in the field soon.”