India dominate England in an all-round performance
An all-round performance by India helped them to clinch victory over the visiting England side. India started their innings very slowly, with both their openers failing considerably. Gambhir and Rahane didn’t even get a 50 run opening stand with Gambhir falling on 8 to Dernbach, and Rahane following him to dressing room with just 4 runs against his name. India were 18 for 2 in 4.3 overs with Yuvraj and Kohli on the crease. Yuvraj Singh played some good shots and was lucky to be not given out when he nicked a ball to Kieswetter. Later, Yuvraj was declared leg before wicket to Tredwell. Virat Kohli looked like coming back to form today but he gifted away his wicket by playing a needless shot and getting caught in the deep. Raina played a sensible innings and got another crucial 50 but he didn’t last too long and the Indian captain was left alone with Ravindra Jadeja in the middle. Dhoni kept his cool and rotated the strike with Jadeja. Dhoni continued his good form and started hitting the ball all over the ground. Jadeja was slow in the beginning and got just 1 run in 44th over bowled by Tredwell. Dhoni took over from 45th over and started to free his arms. Jadeja also supported him by getting a few hits over the rope and taking singles at the right time. Dhoni got his 48th ODI fifty in 46.5 overs and was later caught by Root on the bowling of Dernbach on 72. But Jadeja didn’t stop as he kept on striking the ball and got his 6th ODI fifty with a four on the leg side. Jadeja finished off India’s innings beautifully with a six over deep mid-wicket. India scored 108 in last 10 overs to take their score to 285 for 6.
Indian bowling was very good today with Shami Ahmed, sending back Ian Bell to pavilion in his very first over. Cook and Pietersen tried to built the innings but both were sent back by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Cook was declared leg before wicket in 10.1 overs and Pietersen was bowled beautifully by Kumar in the 15th over. In the same over, Morgan was caught by Dhoni and suddenly England were 73 for 4. Kieswetter and Root got 37 for 5th wicket. Ashwin brought an end to Kieswetter’s innings. Later, Root was bowled by Jadeja. Patel held one end with nobody supporting him as Woakes, Tredwell, Finn, Dernbach all got out in quick succession. India won the match comfortably by 127 runs.
If we see at today’s match, all the players except the openers played their role very well. Yuvraj and Kohli got a start for India, which was beautifully set up by Raina and Dhoni, with Jadeja playing a blinder at the end of innings to give India a comfortable score. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled beautifully with new ball with Shami Ahmed supporting him beautifully from the other end. When spinners took over, they never allowed England batsmen to take over. Jadeja and Ashwin dominated over the English batsmen and India’s fielding was also very good, compared to England. Indian bowlers took wickets at regular intervals. This was the main difference between the two sides. Overall, we can say it was a very good performance by the Indian team.