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As was expected, Sachin Tendulkar occupies number one spot in the poll with a comprehensive margin, and had it not been for some poor and ridiculous umpiring decisions in the series, he would have really been the top scorer in the ODI series. Not that Ian Bell played bad and rightly justifies his second spot. In the poll he really made a move after the 5th ODI. At that point Ian Bell was hovering at 7th spot.

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What a bummer! So much expectations and so few met in the final of the one-day series. Rahul Dravid’s luck with the toss continued and yet again he read the conditions wrong. Cannot blame him really as these decisions are already made up by the team beforehand. However, with the way this series had gone, India should really have put on a more competitive total. Their lack of going past 200 is becoming a major problem now. The umpiring has been very consistent so far this series - and by that I mean the poor umpiring decisions against India. Aleem Dar the culprit this time. Yet again Sachin was the victim. Even though Dravid played down the umpiring decisions, this is getting just too much. The ICC and the world has no right to call the umpiring standards of Indian umpires low when the elite umpires of their own panel make such terrible decisions.

As for the match report, nothing much to write about, England completely dominated this one as they have whenever they have chased a total. India lacked aggression and fire when it required the most. All credit to England’s bowlers who played with passion and executed their plan perfectly.

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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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