Image via WikipediaIndia out of the ICC World Twenty20 Cup
India’s dream of retaining the Twenty20 World Cup came to naught against the disciplined English. The English bowlers taking advantage of the pace and the bounce in the wicket bowled to a plan and choked the Indian batsmen.
It is not that the Indian batsmen succumbed to the pressure; they fought until the last but one ball, however the disciplined English prevailed.
Earlier in the day, everything went according to India’s plan. Listening to Dhoni at the toss one got the impression that India wanted to chase and hence brought in Jadeja in order to strengthen the batting. Nevertheless, the exclusion of Irfan somehow did not jell with the professed idea.
The Indian bowlers performed creditably with Jadeja accounting for the dangerous Pietersen and Bopara. Then Harbhajan took over and managed to restrict England to 153. The odd jarring note was a couple of misfields by Yuvraj Singh. His poor fielding of the last ball cost India an additional 3 runs, which later turned out to be losing margin.
Nevertheless, it was not this lapse in the fielding that cost India the match; it was the inability of the Indian batsmen to dictate terms with the English bowlers that cost us the match.
Losing Rohit early, Gambhir and Jadeja were unable to get the impetus going. This is where one commends the English bowlers. They never let the batsmen free their arms, kept the ball buzzing around the ears and literally kept them on their toes.
Surprisingly, Gambhir, who normally tries to unsettle the bowlers by walking down the pitch, failed to do so. At the other end, Jadeja played too many dot balls and whenever he connected, he was unable to find the boundary.
In retrospect, this phase cost India the match. Both Gambhir and Jadeja were one-dimensional in the sense they tried to heave at the deliveries and in the process forgot to harry the bowlers and the fielders by taking the singles.
The fall of Gambhir and the advent of Yuvraj changed the game slightly. Yuvraj revived the hopes of the Indian fans with a six of the first ball, but he too failed to make an impression.
In the meanwhile, Dhoni came in at the fall of Jadeja’s wicket. Yusuf Pathan came in at the fall of Yuvraj’s wicket. Both Dhoni and Yusuf set about lowering the target in different ways. Yusuf whenever given the opportunity cleared the ropes. Dhoni scurried around and both brought the target to 18 of 3 balls.
Sadly, for India despite a huge one-handed six by Yusuf and a trademark heave by Dhoni India fell short.
6 comments:
I don't see much of cricket unless you put a gun to my head. But I have never seen more disciplined and planned bowling in recent times than the Poms dished out against India. I bet India's Young Turks are just not good enough against short-pitched stuff and fortunately for them, pitches worldwide have become homogenous, flattened shirtfront. And I'm not sure if they can play spin as well.
SWANN WAS THE SURPRISE PACKAGE. HE WAS ABLE TO KEEP THE RUN DOWN . SIDEBOTTOM BOWLED A GOOD FINAL OVER.
I will give all the support to the bowlers because of England’s win against India. Spinner Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid bowled well. They put some pressure over India team. The interesting thing is that they made their return on the edge of elimination. Let us see how long they can go as a host team. Best of luck.
Som,
I was surprised by their disciplined bowling. They won the match for their team by sustaining it.
lviss,
I agree with you. Even Broad bowled an excellent over (the penultimate one.)
Kamrul,
Firstly, a warm welcome to you, dear neighbor.
Exactly, it was the bowlers who won the match.
Yes, the curse of the world cup (hosts never win) may well derail them any moment. :)
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