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Moustaches are back in vogue

Tweet report for the Champions Trophy game between India and West Indies at the Oval

Nitin Sundar
Nitin Sundar
11-Jun-2013
This was the first India v West Indies ODI in England since the 1983 World Cup final.
There was a bit of rain in the air on match morning.
But the weather cleared up on time. Darren Sammy came in for Denesh Ramdin, who had copped a two-match suspension.
The game didn't begin the way most people expected it to.
Some people, however, knew exactly what to expect.
Sure enough, after a couple of scorching boundaries, Chris Gayle nicked Bhuvneshwar Kumar to give R Ashwin a sharp catch at slip.
India didn't seem to have a plan for Gayle's opening partner, Johnson Charles. He got a generous dose of loose deliveries from India's quicks.
Johnson mixed bottom-handed blows to the boundary with plays and misses. With him at the crease, it was a tale of two batsmen.
MS Dhoni began ringing the changes. Virat Kohli came on for a bowl, without handing over all his accoutrements to the umpire.
That didn't work, and Johnson passed fifty rapidly. MS Dhoni eventually turned to spin.
The game changed course completely once Ravindra Jadeja came on. His first over was a maiden, and he struck in his next two overs with straight non-turners that hit the pads. One of the dismissals came through a referral too.
Dwayne Bravo at the crease. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowling in tandem. MS Dhoni chirping away behind the stumps. Can IPL enthusiasts be far away?
Kieron Pollard couldn't get a run off his first ten balls.
But he hit his next two balls for six to prove there were no demons in the track. But there might have been some outside the ground.
Ishant Sharma, who had been impressive all day, managed to get rid of Pollard.
Jadeja came back to mop up most of the tail to pick up a five-for.
West Indies were 182 for 9 with 4.3 overs left, but Darren Sammy was still around, with the last man Kemar Roach.
Some twenty minutes later, Sammy had smashed five fours and four sixes in an unbeaten 56 off 35 balls.
Target 234. You thought West Indies would have their tail up after the strong finish? Think again.
Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma waded into the Windies attack with relish. They ran up their second successive 100-run stand at the top of the order, with enough class to suggest they deserved a #Pondulkar style partnership moniker.
Rohit nicked Sunil Narine behind, and was given out on review.
Virat Kohli began well, responding to chatter from the West Indies with an emphatic pull shot for four. But he too fell to Narine. Dinesh Karthik was given out caught behind first ball, but the decision was overturned on review.
Nothing seemed to bother Dhawan, who scored boundaries at will, with some help from the hapless bowling.
Dhawan and Karthik put India on course for a comfortable win, when a drizzle halted play. Dhawan was in the 90s, and India needed 30 off 15 overs.
No overs were lost, nevertheless the equation got tricky towards the end.
Dhawan cracked a six over point to get to his 100, and then kept out five balls to give Karthik his turn. Karthik finished things off with a boundary.
India were dominant from start to finish, but their fans aren't getting carried away.
ICC Champions Trophy

Nitin Sundar is social media manager at ESPNcricinfo

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