Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the Indian skipper for this match which was going to be a test for India after their convincing win over Scotland. On this count they have failed. Zaheer Khan, coming after a stupendous test series, could not get his line or length correct and was punished to all parts of the park. His 7 overs cost 57 runs and he went wicketless. India’s failure was the pace attack and the English batsmen must be loving what they saw yesterday. In one word, the Indian bowling yesterday was Pathetic.

Munaf Patel and Ajit Agarkar - both in the squad for the ODIs only - did not have a good match either. Both were expensive and failed to utilize the conditions that were perfect for bowling when Dhoni won the toss and decided to field first. There had been overnight rain and the weather was pretty overcast. Zaheer and Agarkar opened the bowling for India and both were very wayward. Agarkar struck early and got Darren Maddy for only 6 runs. The Indians were rejoicing but that was going to be the only little bit of happiness for the day.

Vikram Solanki captained the English Lions and was soon on top of the Indian bowling. Alongwith Luke Wright, they put together a rock solid start for the team. Wright who is also going to be part of the English Twenty20 world cup squad, showed exactly why he had been picked as he smashed 56 runs from only 40 balls. Solanki made a quick 60 from 65 balls.

The introduction of spin saw the Indians wrestle some control back in the match. Powar was the most successful of the two as he got three quick wickets to rock the Lions. But the delivery of the day came from Piyush Chawla when he trapped Solanki to a wrong ‘un in front of the wickets. With four wickets lost in the space of a few overs, the Lions slumped from 108-2 to 149-5. Paul Nixon and Ravi Bopara needed to show the selectors why they ought to be in the England squad. Thats exactly what they did when the got the match back under control with some wise and sometimes unorthodox cricket.

Schofield and Bresnan provided the late fireworks and capped a good outing for the English Lions. The Indians were left with a target of 297 to win and thats when the skies broke down upon the ground. A light drizzle quickly turned into a downpour and the match was abandoned with India sitting on 32/0 from 6.5 overs. Uthappa and Ganguly were opening for India with Sachin Tendulkar resting. It would have been a scintillating run chase had the rain not played spoilsport as both the batsmen were looking good despite the relatively slow start.

For India the bowling is going to be a little bit of a worry as seen in the match. However, if Zaheer and Munaf get their act together and Piyush can start being a little more economical, I don’t see why the Indians can’t beat England at their home turf.

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