Cricket Blog

Man of the match Yuvraj scored a second consecutive century and also took 4 crucial wickets to take India to its second win of the series. Birthday boy Yousuf Pathan scores a scintillating maiden half centure and helped his team reach 292. For England, Owais Shah scored a fifty and there was some awesome power hitting from Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff. They just left it too late for the big hitting but the 3rd power play produced 59 runs.

India: 292/9. Yuvraj Singh 118. Gautham Gambhir 70. Yusuf Pathan 50*.
England: 238 all out. Andrew Flintoff 43. Yuvraj Singh 4 wickets

Indian Batting (upto Yuvraj’s wicket)

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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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This is going to be India’s final chance before the first test match. Sachin Tendulkar has been confirmed as captain in place of an injured Rahul Dravid nursing a strained calf. After coming close to a win against Sussex, India would love to win this match, or atleast perform even better than that match. With Sachin and Ganguly back in the team, I would expect them to go in and score heavily. I would also expect Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Ramesh Powar to get a match. India would have to test all these players to make a final judgement on the 11-man team for the first test.

I think, Gautam Gambhir and Ranadeb Bose will be the ones to get the cut. For Gambhir this would be plain injustice if he gets to sit out and Jaffer gets to play. This would be pure bias from the team management, but I am not going to be surprised as that’s how the Indian team selection almost always works. The board may pick the squad but it is the captain and coach/manager who decide on the the final playing XI. Ranadeb Bose’s exclusion would be self-inflicted as he did not show any evidence of his domestic form in conditions favoring him. It may be nerves. But at this level you are supposed to deal with it.

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