4.30 A.M 27/11/08
India chase 270 runs under the lights.
With Sehwag and Yuvraj in awesome form and some one like Irfan coming as low as number 8, India outwardly had nothing to worry. Yet the outcome depended on how well England bowled.
Sadly, for England, the imperious Sehwag ran amok and in the company of Tendulkar put on a century stand. Their 136-run stand took the match away from England. However, there was stutter when Yuvraj and Sehwag lost their wickets in quick succession.
An unruffled Dhoni and free-stroking Raina then put the Indian chase back on course.
In the end, India overhauled the English score with 36 balls to spare.
5.30 P.M.
India won the toss and invited England to bat. As Cuttack is notorious for its low bounce, one assumes the dew factor led Dhoni to this decision.
Dhoni’s decision caught Pietersen by surprise. After being invited to bat, he said, “We would have batted first. We would look to get a score of 250-260." Let us hope that his words do not come back to haunt him.
Dhoni despite saying that he wanted to test the bench strength relapsed to giving Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan a chance. However, the decision to drop Munaf and Gambhir to accommodate them seems arbitrary.
England after a sedate start had the jitters in the middle but is cruising at 224/4 off 44.2 over's. With Pietersen going great guns, a score of 300 looks likely.
6.00 A.M.
India has effectively sealed the series with victories at Rajkot, Kanpur and Bangalore. This match should reveal how seriously India takes Dhoni’s aim for a series whitewash.
Though there is a talk of looking at the rest of the matches as a mini series, India will effectively go in with their second string bowlers. Irfan and Ojha in all probability will replace Zaheer and Harbhajan.
Coming to the batsmen things are less obvious. Sehwag has come out publicly stating that he prefers playing through out the series. However, there is a strong sense that his statement is a deliberate attempt to mislead the opposition for he has been the thorn in the English flesh.
Apart from him the rest are relatively fresh. Gambhir is coming of a Test match ban and his team is not playing in the Twenty20 Champions League. Raina, Yusuf, Munaf are not contenders for a place in the Test squad. That leaves Dhoni and Yuvraj. Dhoni has a huge workload and there is no one to take his place in the squad whereas Yuvraj being a form player may continue on.
In all probability a keeper, Dinesh Karthik will be named in the squad for the final ODI and Dhoni will get the much-needed rest.
Since this is the age of curator speak, Pankaj Patnaik the curator has suggested the win toss bat first mantra. However, during the last three matches the pitch revealed itself as a slow and a low bounce wicket. As it is a day –night match the dew factor will also come into play.
This match could well be a low scoring match.
Match starts at 2.30 P.M. IST
Image from HANG THE DJ!
8 comments:
Hey Otty, thanks a ton for the change :) and now i can spam you ....
fun apart, i dont remember when did we have last match at this venue...
this had even hosted a test match way back in 1987 against SL when they were Bangaldesh of Test cricket :)
And for sure Dhoni wud need a break b4 Test series begins, else we cud see him taking a break from Test cricket :)
We saw what curator said in the last match, how I deferred and it went the way I suspected. THe curator can have his 10 minutes to fame .Only the pitch knows how it will behave.Like a villain it can smile and yet be a villain.The pitch report is a waste of time during tv live relays.They knock it with the knuckles and produce the same sound in evry ground but they
say difrent things
Sam,
Welcome back. :)
Hey, an ODI between India and WI was played here in 2007. http://sports.in.msn.com/cricket/stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1707036
Ya Dhoni needs to be rested or he will go AWOL. :)
R,
Pitch report is for our entertainment.:)
i would be keeping special eye on irfan's progress...other than that i am hardly interested...
Pan,
Kohli is tipped to play. I am actually interested in this match just to see how England performs against our second string.:)
ott, they won't even perform against shoestring.
NC,
At the end of the day you cannot blame them.
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