Ishant Sharma's 18th over: A gamble that turned the match

Sunday’s game of India vs. England can be termed as one of the finest finals the world has ever seen. Although the rain had drained the contest of the match by shrinking it to a T20 international that was essentially played according to ODI rules, the match turned out to be another piece of evidence stating that English batsmen tend to bend under pressure.

In this victory of Team India pacer Ishant Sharma played a crucial role. Many may think of it as a game plan but in my view it was merely a gamble that Dhoni won.

With the scoreboard flashing 66-5, Jadeja and Virat boosted the total by adding a quick fire 47 for the sixth wicket. Kohli smashed 43 off 34 deliveries that included four boundaries and a six, before he gave his catch in the deep off James Anderson. Jadeja remained unbeaten on a 25 ball 33 to leave England a victory of 130 in 20 overs.

In the second innings, India started its pursue for the title quite beautifully by dismissing the English captain Cook in the second over. The spinners then took the charge and got 3 more wickets for the team. This was the time when the English batsmen were beset with conflicting anticipations. But Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan took the charge and got back at the Indians with some lusty blows and were leading England towards the victory with a 64 run partnership off just 53 balls and were appearing invincible.

Now came the 18th over of the match when England still required 28 off 3 overs with 6 wickets in hand. The match was no more a thriller. The odds were now stacked in favour of England and certainly, Indian shoulders were down. But now was the time for the biggest gamble of the tournament, courtesy Captain Cool. Just when it seemed that England were romping home with the trophy, came the 6ft 5inch Ishant, who was India’s most expensive bowler till then, but with a new vigour of proving his captain correct.

Being a cricket lover the first thing that came to my mind was- “Why did Dhoni hand over the ball to Ishant when Bhubaneswar kumar and Umesh Yadav have still got overs to bowl?”. Was the risk worth it? Was Dhoni correct? Was Ishant “the right man”? Apparently not! Since he started disastrously, getting hit for a six of the second ball and then continuing his horrendous run by bowling two consecutive wide balls.