Cricket Blog

Here we are. The most exciting summer of cricket in a long while is almost over, with one last flourish still left. India and England are going to fight out at Lord’s for the final one-dayer in this long and grueling tour. Just a week ago, India were staring at defeat with the series slipping out. They were 1-3 down and had to win all their matches. So far they have done exactly that with one final hurdle left.

This will, for a few Indians, be the last time they ever play in England. The Big 3 - Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid - have done their country proud over the years. They have helped in laying the foundation for the next generation, they have provided role models for aspiring cricketers. They have gained respect in the eyes of the entire cricket fraternity. This will be their final hurrah in England and nothing better than to win the match and the series will do.

The momentum is surely with India at the moment, however, in the past we have seen how India have failed to carry on the momentum. But this time it ought to be different. These three have had a wonderful summer so far. Sachin and Saurav have smashed the bowling to all parts. Dravid has been having a much better time as a skipper, seeing his team perform to its potential. No coach, no problemo. I have to give credit to the way the Indian team has got the job done without a head coach. A lot of people ask if they need a coach. The answer is simple, a big fat Yes. Sure the team is on the verge of winning an ODI series. Sure they have won the test series. But this can’t keep up for too long. It is too much to ask the captain to strategize everything all by himself. The Indians have handled themselves admirably both on and off the field.

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What a match! Nerve-wracking right till the last over. Frustrating and joyful at the same time if you are an Indian fan. I, for one, did not believe that India would go an and win after being down 5 wickets and still requiring 83 runs from 58 balls. But the youth brigade held on to their nerves and in a cool, icy, tone won the match for India which they never should have won after conceding 30 runs off the last over with five consecutive sixes. Yes, you heard me correct, if you did not watch England’s innings you have missed out on something spectacular. Dimitry Mascerenhas smashed Yuvraj Singh for 5 straight sixes in the 50th over of the English innings. More on that later.

Paul Collingwood won the toss for the second time in a row and this time he decided to bat first on a flat surface that was going to help the spinners in the second innings. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Dravid and his men. Zaheer Khan was charged up and got one to move just enough for the ball to get the outside edge of Alastair Cook. England were 0-1. India could sense that if they snag a couple more wickets early on, they could put England on the backfoot.

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2-1. England in front. India lost by 42 runs. Doesn’t sound too bad? Believe me you, this was even worse than the first ODI drubbing. Yet again Dravid decided to field first. Again he was deceived by the bowling conditions. And India lost again. This was yet another frustrating day for Indian fans. The Indian team is like a see-saw. Up one day, down the next.

England deserved to be winners as they had played superbly. After being asked to bat first, the openers - Cook and Prior - did not allow any wickets to fall in the first 10 overs. And that’s exactly where India’s problems started. They knew that had to take wickets early on as there would not be much assistance for the bowlers later on. Plus their miserable fielding was on show for the entire world to see for a third consecutive time. I have no idea how they can call Dinesh Karthik as India’s best fielder. The man is quick, no doubt about that. But just being quick isn’t enough. You need to keep your eyes on the ball all the time and field cleanly. Half the time he is fumbling the ball or dropping easy catches.

Coming to the bowling, the pace attack was bolstered by the return of Zaheer Khan. The decision for bowl completely back-fired for Dravid as there was absolutely no assistance for his seam bowlers. Only RP Singh managed to get the ball to move and beat the bat regularly. Matt Prior lived dangerously and, after settling in the 30s, threw his wicket away by playing one aggressive shot too many. Ian Bell joined Alastair Cook, and the man was straight away into the game. Ian Bell is the dark horse of this series. Nobody expected him to be batting like this. Century in the first match and fifties in the next two matches. That is unbelievable stuff from a man whose place in the team has been questioned of late.

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Well so much for the closely contested battle, this match was one-way traffic from beginning till the end. An emphatic win by England was just the tonic the side needed in their quest to restore some respect after their test series loss. So much for the Big 3 and their over 30000 runs in international cricket. And to hell with Zaheer Khan’s series winning performance in the recently concluded test matches.

Cricket is a funny game, and ODI cricket is so funny that its almost cruel. It took just one day of play to bring the Indians to their knees. And it wasn’t just a big defeat, it was humiliation at its very best. Rahul Dravid won the toss, yet again, but that was the only thing that went India’s way. The decision to field first miserable back-fired as England posted a massive 288/2.

Alastair Cook and Matt Prior opened for England and started at a steady pace. Before the beginning of the match, Dravid had mentioned that he did not have too many bowling options. Now what exactly did he mean by that with Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar in the Indian squad. I can count 6 bowlers here. Plus there were the part-timers in Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly.

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