Paul Collingwood, England former one day international captain, had stated in his column that the key to winning against India was to stop Yuvraj Singh. England tried to piece it together, only to wait for Yuvraj to order a take out again!
Call it the winter haze or smog (as is more commonplace these days), but it appeared England thought they had done enough and were content to do the basic minimum. However, against this Indian team in stupendous form, it would tease but not really test them.
Mediocrity has sometimes been England’s calling card in the recent decade which explains why they have often flattered to deceive and at others, appeared never physically present for the contest. Kevin Pietersen quickly found out how shallow his team could appear when facing the Indians at home. The Indians had, of course gorged on the Australians, for lunch and were ravenous for more. It was nothing short of a hiding that India delivered to England in the first two matches and the onus was upon Pietersen to get his team to get going as a unit, a fighting one at that, in order to stop India in their tracks to cause further humiliation for the England side.
What was that phrase again? Flatter to deceive. England’s innings with the bat sounded pretty much like that. Their new opening pair, Ian Bell and Ravindra (or Ravi, as he is more commonly known) Bopara, got off the blocks which was significant in itself. England seemed to have found their feet and finally India, in for a decent contest.
Bopara’s sixty and Bell’s forty-six though would only be complimented by Owais Shah, pushed further down the order. Therein lay England’s tragedy. Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma picked up two wickets apiece, Ishant making a comeback. But it was Yuvraj Singh who played the second spinner’s role to perfection as the England gave him enormous respect and were strangled really Harbhajan Singh fastened the chains at the other end with his three wickets for thirty-one in his ten.
The flow and ebb of the innings left India and the spectators with the feeling that despite their commendable start, England were not really running away with the match or in any particular hurry to do so. So, where perhaps thirty more runs could have come with a little more ambition, England were counting on other factors to win them the third one day international at Kanpur.
The wicket of Gautam Gambhir buoyed the England bowlers to spit fire on the number three batsman, Suresh Raina, Roughed up and ruffled by Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad picking up the cue, Raina’s departure added a little more drama into the innings. But with a cool, rather uncharacteristically patient Virender Sehwag steering the ship, India were soon to overturn the tide in their favour.
Rohit Sharma’s subtle company gave way to Yuvraj Singh and once again, India had put on their skates. A cameo of thirty-eight from thirty-one balls from Yuvraj Singh was enough to wake up the somewhat drowsy Indian innings even as a dusk-like atmosphere enveloped the stadium.
But the gloom was even more evident on the faces of the England players. India had their neck in front, Messrs. Duckworth and Lewis notwithstanding, and Pietersen’s frantic visits to the tattered paper in his pockets sadly did not guide his bowlers on what was needed to do. A couple of loose, leg side deliveries ensured Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yousuf Pathan did not have to stretch themselves too much. The England fast bowlers had clearly lost their brief zing and the spinner picked for this match, Graeme Swann had been done away with without too much drama. More spinners into the fray as the light continued to fade appeared like a waiting game, a matter of time before India would be eventually declared the rightful winners of the match.
England showed patches of life. But it will take more than their patchy performance to ensure they can now come back in the series, fighting every match out of India’s hands in order to save the series, let alone win it.
