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.
Showing posts with label Graeme Swann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Graeme Swann. Show all posts
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thursday, March 25, 2010
England makes much of the last option
Finally, the Alistair Cook led England team could now breathe free with his team eventually grabbing a victory from the hosts - Bangladesh when they beat the same by 9 wickets at Dhaka yesterday. This was a sure victory for England no matter how bad the players fared. But, rather than calling this a victory for England, this can be referred to as a Bangladesh's loss or a lot of compromise from the English side which saw them settle for a 9 wicket victory when they should have won both the matches by an innings. However, this victory has to be a welcome one for they didn't lose or settle with just a draw.
England had won the first test at Chittagong by 181 runs which should have alerted them for taking the hosts for granted in case they did so. That was the match where Alistair Cook had to opt to bat once again despite having a lead of more than 300 runs in the first innings. This was the moment when Alistair Cook made it to the record books for the wrong reasons when he became the first captain not to have imposed a follow on upon Bangladesh despite having a chance to do so. Even that match should have been won by England by an innings and not by few runs as was the case.
Anyways, that apart, coming to the Dhaka test, if not for the 9 wicket victory, England had nothing else to take home. The other fact that England would be happy is that their spinner Graeme Swann leaped to the second position in the latest ICC test rankings for bowlers, no matter how he achieved this. Luckily, he was also awarded the man of the series when there were likes of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. The man of the match was awarded to Shakib Al Hasan for his 4 wicket haul in the first innings which is needless to be said.
In the beginning, it was clear on the first day's play itself that there would be a fourth innings when Bangladesh put up a massive total as per their standards when they piled up 330 runs on the first day which went on to become 419 when the tenth Bangladeshi wicket fell. And then, there was some face saving work done by the English batsmen when they surpassed the 419 runs when they piled up 77 runs more than what the hosts could afford. Atleast then, England should have come back strongly upon the Bangladeshi batsmen which still was not the case when the Bangladeshi batsmen in their second innings also scored a total of 285 runs which was far ahead of their standard.
Finally, atleast a 10 wicket victory should have been made possible which still didn't happen. And, the last option was just to win in whatever way they could which they eventually did. Well England, Ashes are due in less than a year from now onwards.
England had won the first test at Chittagong by 181 runs which should have alerted them for taking the hosts for granted in case they did so. That was the match where Alistair Cook had to opt to bat once again despite having a lead of more than 300 runs in the first innings. This was the moment when Alistair Cook made it to the record books for the wrong reasons when he became the first captain not to have imposed a follow on upon Bangladesh despite having a chance to do so. Even that match should have been won by England by an innings and not by few runs as was the case.
Anyways, that apart, coming to the Dhaka test, if not for the 9 wicket victory, England had nothing else to take home. The other fact that England would be happy is that their spinner Graeme Swann leaped to the second position in the latest ICC test rankings for bowlers, no matter how he achieved this. Luckily, he was also awarded the man of the series when there were likes of Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan. The man of the match was awarded to Shakib Al Hasan for his 4 wicket haul in the first innings which is needless to be said.
In the beginning, it was clear on the first day's play itself that there would be a fourth innings when Bangladesh put up a massive total as per their standards when they piled up 330 runs on the first day which went on to become 419 when the tenth Bangladeshi wicket fell. And then, there was some face saving work done by the English batsmen when they surpassed the 419 runs when they piled up 77 runs more than what the hosts could afford. Atleast then, England should have come back strongly upon the Bangladeshi batsmen which still was not the case when the Bangladeshi batsmen in their second innings also scored a total of 285 runs which was far ahead of their standard.
Finally, atleast a 10 wicket victory should have been made possible which still didn't happen. And, the last option was just to win in whatever way they could which they eventually did. Well England, Ashes are due in less than a year from now onwards.
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