Guys, it took me a while to come out of oblivion and start writing this blog again. There are things that have kept me quite busy for a while now but I had to write this today, it was long overdue.
So India tied with England after a match that lasted almost the entire 100 overs and we still did not get a winner. To be honest, the tie is probably the most fair result that could have happened. India almost lost it completely when they were bowling and ditto for England when they took the batting power play. And the overall picture and the perception about our team did not change one bit- we have a team composed of wonderful batsmen, mediocre fielders and pathetic bowlers.
Match report:
Indian innings: MS Dhoni won the toss for a change and opted to bat and the first thing that came to my mind was what if we post a huge total (like the one against BD) and what if we continue to bowl in a manner that we did over the last weekend (again aganist BD). Anyways, Sehwag started in his usual manner trying to hit everything from the word go and barring a couple of loose shots was very much in control. Tendulkar was content with being there at the non-striker end and playing a wait and watch game. The Indian innings got off to a pretty good start till Tim Bresnan had Sehwag caught behind with the score reading 46/1. In came Gambhir and the score board started to move pretty quickly. Gambhir is the kind of guy who does not waste a lot of balls trying to get in and was quickly into his favorite mode where he nudges around for singles and doubles, plays a cheeky shot now and then and also charges down to spinners to put pressure on them. He did this very well against Swann even though he was beaten once and was lucky to get an inside edge four. By this time, Tendulkar also started to shift gears as he hit Collingwood for 2 sixes in his successive overs. Tendulkar continued the riot as he hit Swann for 2 more biggies off the first two balls of his new spell. It was at this time that the intent was pretty clear from the Indian batsmen, they were looking for a score in excess of 300. Gambhir departed in a rather bizarre fashion when he wanted to run down Swann for a single but was bowled instead, but nevertheless did a good job. Yuvraj Singh was promoted up the order probably with the thinking that he will find form against one of his favorite bowling attacks (of course we all know he murdered Broad but he has 3 centuries against England compared to Sachin who had only 1 century- before this match). He started steadily and even played a maiden over against Swann but with Sachin at the other end in full flow, he could afford that luxury. After the mandatory ball change and with Yuvi also starting to time the ball, in came the monster- the batting power play. England did very well during this 5 over PP as they got the key wicket of Sachin who made a strokeful 120 and gave only 32 runs (special mention for Yardy's efforts, he did a terrific job). Dhoni and Yuvi started to accelerate again but never really got going. I must appreciate England's willingness to hang in there as Yardy and then Bresnan persisted with their fullish lengths and not allowing the batsmen of Dhoni and Yuvi's calibre to get under the ball and hit it in the stands. This deserves even more applause considering the fact that bowlers at the other end- be it Anderson, Swann or even Ajmal were going for plenty at the same time. When Dhoni and Yuvi eventually started to cut loose, they did not last too long and 2 wickets fell on the same score (305/4 and then 3o5/5 in 46.1 overs). This was a major setback because even for the likes of Pathan and Kohli, it takes a while to come and get going. I would say that this was the turning point as India lost 2 in 2 balls and what followed was a procession of sorts. India eventually were all out for 338 in 49.5 overs. To me, not being able to bat your full quota of overs is a crime. It will be merely speculative to say that if India would have played one more delivery, they could have made one more run which would have got them the game. The last run that Zaheer did not finish and ended up as a short run is another moment up for debates. But that is not the point here. The point is to do the basics right all the time, like bat out the entire 50 overs, come what may. This is what the Aussies were so good at and no wonder they won 3 World Cups on trot. Anyways, India made 338 which is indeed a very competitive total, no matter what the conditions are and what is the bowling attack. 9 times out of 10, you will put your money on the team chasing to lose.
England innings:
England started quite well with both Pietersen and Strauss timing the ball perfectly and splitting the gaps. Munaf was reasonable with his line and lengths in beginning thought I would not say the same for Zaheer. Peitersen did get out to Munna in a somewhat comical way but England never allowed any bowler or the asking run rate to get to them. Trott started quite positively while Strauss was all class (more on him later). Even the much anticipated contest between the Indian spinners and English batsmen was never really a contest. Chawla did get rid of Trott as England reached the first nelsen (111) and bowled a couple of really fine deliveries to Ian Bell first up. However, both the batsmen found the bowling to their liking and kept milking the spinners. None from the spin variety that India offered- Yuvi, Yusuf, Bhajji or Chawla posed any real threat. Bell did benefit from one lbw appeal against him (everything about the decision was bizarre, to say the least and just goes to show that laws need to be modified regarding UDRS, even before the ICC needs to talk about modifying and improving technology). At one point England needed 93 off 14 overs with 8 wickets in hand and the match was theirs for taking. It was at this time that I decided to turn off my laptop and take a little nap.
When I woke up, things had changed by quite some distance then, to say the least. As England opted for that tiny little beauty or the monster, whichever way you call it, they lost Bell and Strauss on successive deliveries to Zaheer Khan. A little later Collingwood's struggles ended and Prior did not last too long either. The scorecard showed an entirely different scenario- England needed 50 off 28 balls with 4 wickets. However, England did not still press the panic button and their lower order comprising of Yardy, Bresnan, Swann and Ajmal did very well to keep them in hunt. With 29 needed off 12, England still had a long way to go but 2 sixes of Chawla brought them much closer. The last over from Munna saw English take 13, which was aided by that lusty hit from Ajmal Shahzad from the first delivery he faced, as the scores were tied. The last over six reminded me of Balaji when he was hit by Brett Lee once (one of the matches of VB series, India vs Austalia, January 2004), again in the last over and that last hit effectively sealed the match for Aussies. Indians were disappointed because they came quite close, the English were visibly jubilant because they had all but lost the match.
Andrew Strauss deservedly won the MoM award and boy what an innings that was. He made 158 which is a huge century but even more important was the the authority that he displayed during his innings. He toyed with the spinners, was quite decisive with his footwork and never looked perturbed by anyone in the field. This is even more noteworthy considering the fact that he comes from a school of batsmen not really known for their ODI exploits. I may be biased while I praise the oppositions, but Strauss gets a 10 on 10 for his efforts.
As I said in the beginning, the result was a fair indication of how the match progressed. When India batted, they looked like the deserving winners and when England batted, they looked like the same. At the end, it was definitely heart-ache for supporters like me, but there are things that MS Dhoni and his think tank need to sort out if we seriously want to win the WC. (Even though we are considered favourites by Bipasha Basu, Dhoni's father and many others :) )
I would not analyse the performance too much because I already did that. I will write more when India wins the quaters, the semis and then move to the finals :)
Good luck to Dhoni et al. for the coming fixtures.
Scorecard available at http://tinyurl.com/4lv23jk {Courtesy: Cricinfo}
