YET ANOTHER AGONISING RESULT FOR INDIA
BUT A SIGH OF RELIEF AS THE SERIES IS OVER
- By S.Ravichandran
India locked horns with England for the final time in the series. The fifth and final ODI was played at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on 16th September 2011. The entire focus shifted to Dravid as this is the farewell ODI for him. For the 5th time in the series England won the toss and chose to field, yet another example for Dhoni's misfortune in the series. Parthiv Patel and Rahane opened the innings as usual. After a decent start, Rahane was the first one to get out when the total was 51.
Parthiv Patel followed him soon when the total was 57. Dravid had to take charge once again with the total reading 57/2. This time however he had Virat Kohli in fine touch. They had a marathon partnership of 170 runs which saw Dravid playing cautiously and Kohli stepping up the run rate, which was tottering at around 4.0 at one stage. Kohli scored his 6th ODI century, which was also the first century by an Indian in this ODI series. Dravid got out scoring 69 off 71 balls bowled by Swann. He had an emotional farewell from the England players. Virat departed soon scoring 107 runs. Dhoni and Raina took charge of the proceedings taking Indian total towards 300 plus runs. Though Raina could not contribute much, Dhoni stayed till the end and completed his 50 of 35 runs. India amassed 304/6, reaching the 300 mark for the second time in the series, first time in the ODI series. The total looked formidable at that point of time.
Rain interrupted the play right before the English chase which made way to yet another dramatic entry for D/L. England had to chase a total of 270 which was once again modified due to another interruption of rain in the 10th over. The revised target was 241 off 34 overs at 7.09 runs per over. Though England was lucky to chase 64 runs less they had to chase the runs at a higher run rate which was to India's advantage. England's run chase was dominated by Kieswetter initially as he faced majority of the deliveries. He made a quickfire 21 and fell to Vinay Kumar leg before. Cook and Trott kept the run rate ticking and it was 106/2 in just 17.5 overs when Cook got out after making a fine 50. Munaf got injured while fielding which made Virat Kohli bowl 6 overs. With Dhoni not willing to include Varun Aaron even after losing the series, the bowling attack once again looked spineless. Ravindra Jadeja and R.P.Singh were very expensive, while Ashwin was ineffective. Trott made a brisk 63. Bell made a quick 26 and once again fell trying to hit a six. Bopara steadied the innings and debutant Jonny Bairstow blasted 41 off 29 runs. England won the match comfortably with 10 balls to spare. Virat Kohli's brilliant century could not fetch India a victory. Also he could not get the Man of the Match award, as Jonny Bairstow stole the show to grab that award. Dhoni was adjudged the Player of the ODI Series.
Forgettable series for India as they dropped from 1 to 3 in the Test Rankings and exchanged their 4th Rank with England to go down as 5th in the ODI rankings. For the first time we saw Dhoni under pressure and commit lot of tactical errors. It is also a great insult to come back from England without a single win.
India take on England at home for a one T20 and 5 match ODI series. Hopefully home conditions must bring different results for India. Before that there is the "Champions League T20" for Indian fans to forget the drubbing and spend some time lauding the sixes, fours and of course the Cheerleaders.
