A totally clueless England

Looking at yesterday's game between India and England, one has to pinch himself to see whether it was a dream that he was witnessing when India crushed England yet another time despite winning the series for the fourth consecutive time to return the favor back to the touring nation. That was not the Indian team with the likes of Sehwag and Yuvraj doing the trick with the bat but some Varun Aaron whose name was felt only yesterday when he grabbed 3 wickets returning with a spell that read 6.1-1-24-3. As an Indian cricket fan I wish there were more than 5 games.

Had the series been a 7 match one, India would have made history when they would have become the first ever team to have won all their matches in a 7 match one day series. Players like Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin make their names felt only once in a blue moon. But, against a team like England and especially yesterday, they had their ball do the talking. Though Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar proved comparatively costly with the ball, they had a wicket against their names and an over maiden. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the most successful bowlers with 3 and 2 wickets respectively.

It was confusing whether the pitch aided the bowlers or the batsmen when India were on the top in both the departments while England were at the receiving end in both. Had the pitch aided the batsmen, England, with the likes of Pietersen, Cook and Bopara should have made it count. But, all England could manage was 220 on the board finishing their innings with 4 more overs still to go. And, had the pitch been a bowler's paradise, then still the Indian batsmen should not have seen the match end with 10 more overs still to go. Does England have an answer?

India had three quick wickets falling when Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel fell early. Thanks to Greame Swann who grabbed three wickets out of the four that fell to see at least one English bowler returning successful. With that initial success, though a win was far from reach, the match should not have ended so early when there were ten more overs left. May be the English captain wanted to prove that England batsmen played more than the Indian batsmen could manage. To put an end to the sweet revenge, all India now require is a win in the fifth ODI and a win in the one-off T20 match.