A thrilling game to start the series. Patel has become an instant England hero, and that vital knock no doubt gives him a place for the next few matches at least. Hopefully the series will continue in this fashion.
Rain ruins 2nd ODI
Cricinfo Staff
November 17th, 2008
The Monsoon season had the better of the pitch
The highly anticipated fans awaiting the 2nd ODI of this 7 Match series were left without any entertainment despite the cold rain hitting the ground.
The rain had started the previous night before this encounter at Indore. However, the rain stubbernly put up resistance. After 4 hours of the covers being on the water-logged pitch, Umpires Russel Tiffin and Billy Bowden decided to abandon the match.
Today only one team prevailed. The weather. England will now have to build confidence ahead of the 3rd ODI at Kanpur.
Solid England too good for India
Cricinfo Staff
November 20th, 2008
An unbeaten 98 and
an economical 1-36
was just what England
needed from their
prime player
England (*Flintoff 98, Bell 86 ; RP Singh 2-39) beat India 227/9 (MS Dhoni 80 ; Broad 4-44, Bopara 2-17) by 86 Runs.
A prime knock of *98 and an economical spell of bowling from Andrew Flintoff knocked over India on a dry pitch in Kanpur. The pressure is now on the Indians as they are 2-0 down in the best of 6 One-Day International series.
India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first on a Dry wicket in Kanpur. Dhoni knew his strike bowlers would have to get quick wickets.
Ian Bell and Matt Prior strode out to the pitch to the appreciation of the 35,000 fans in the stadium. Bell started nicely dispatching some early boundaries and counter-attacking the swing from Zaheer and Munaf. With Zaheer going at over 7 an over, Dhoni was forced to take him out of the attack and bring RP Singh in. Immediately he removed Prior. Prior decided to Pull the ball over Mid-Off. However, he was late on the shot and as a result caught the top edge of the bat. The ball soared in the blue skies over Kanpur. Eventually Harbhajan Singh steadied himself and took a good catch. This brought in Owais Shah. Thats when the problems for the Indians started.
Bell who was looking in good touch was accompanied by Shah. The two showed no mercy for the Indian bowlers. As Bell went past his half-century, India finally got Shah. Dhoni gambled in bringing his strike bowler Zaheer Khan back into the attack. Fortunately for India, the gamble payed off. Shah on 32 got a gem of a ball as Shah stood motionless looking at the pitch.
The partnership of 100 was now broken as the score reached 119/2 at the end of 22 overs. Captain Keven Pietersen strode out to the middle with Bell in fine touch. Bell was continuing his aggression. However, he fell on 86. A wide bouncer from RP Singh was guided to the Virender Sehwag at third man who took a relevantly easy catch. Bell was fumid and trudged back to the pavilion. In the next 24 overs, England dominated the Indians.
Pietersen and Flintoff totaled up an unbeaten stand of 174 in 24 overs which propelled England to a mammoth 313/3 in their allotted overs. Pietersen ended on *83(70) and Flintoff *98(82).
Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag strode out knowing the task ahead was going to be a difficult one. Both openers started well with Gambhir taking the attack to James Anderson. Then Sehwag was dismissed as Broad took the first of his 4 wickets. Sehwag played the ball on the up. However, Collingwood lunged to his right and took a great diving catch. Suresh Raina came and went for a runner-ball 17 as his off-stump was knocked back by Broad who picked up his second wicket.
However, Gambhir was continuing to play his shots against Broad and Harmison. Unfortunatly, he was running out of partners as Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan fell in the space of 4 deliveries as the score reached 87/5.
The Indian supporters were silenced but has something to smile about as Gambhir reached his half-century. Shortly after he top-edged a Broad bouncer to Steve Harmison at third man who took a regulation catch and this gave Broad his 4th wicket. When Rohit Sharma departed for just 6 runs, captain MS Dhoni lashed out.
Knowing India were heading for a heavy defeat, he made the most of things and took the attack to all England bowlers as well as playing conservatively for a period of time. He was well accompanied by Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who made a positive 24. By the time Dhoni had reached his fifty, Harbhajan had already departed. Dhoni entertained the crowd scoring 80 before finally falling off the last ball of the Innings lbw by Ravi Bopara.
Some positive thoughts for India were that RP Singh had reached his highest score in One-Day Internationals with a valiant *20.
India now have an uphill task if they are to win this 6 Match ODI Series. They next ODI is a Day/Night match in Bangalore.
Broad showed why he's one of the best OD players in the world. Flintoff did really well as well. A top class knock and great economical bowling. Prior's wicket was stupid lol. He shouldn't have bothered with that shot.
Braod played brilliantly and Flintoff batted really well. India in trouble 2-0 down at home they need to come back now and Sachin if he is there then they have a chance...Great presentation Arslaan..
That was some great cricket from england. 300+ is never a easy task when you are facing solid bowling line up. Flintoff played a match winning knock and was supported by Broad in England's win. Nice update arslaan.
Great presentation, this story is really readable. England are performing above what would have been expected of them, India at home is one of the toughest tours...
KUTGW really interesting story.
England make it 3 in a row
Cricinfo Staff
November 23rd, 2008
A Captain's knock
of 98 was enough
for England to
go 3-0 up.
England 239/5 (Pietersen 98, Shah 56 ; Zaheer 2-27) beat India 237/6 (Gambhir 60 ; Harmison 3-30, Collingwood 1-12) by 5 wickets.
England continued to dominate the One-day format as India were soundly beaten by 5 wickets on a hard track at Bangalore. A captain's knock of 98 and Harmison's 3 wickets were just what England needed to go 3-0 up.
Once again. Indian Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first hoping the dew would take affect against the English batsmen under the floodlights.
In form opener Gautam Gambhir continued his fine run at the top of the order scoring another half-century. England took wickets regularly especially the vital wicket of Virender Sehwag as he he was outdone by Harmison's slower-ball. Suresh Raina accompanied Gambhir and the two took the attack to the bowlers. For the first time in the series, the England camp was looking worried as India had reached 80/1 in the 12th over.
However, the worry soon turned to joy as first ODI hero Samit Patel got his first wicket of the day dismissing Raina as Pietersen held onto the catch at Point. England knew that Gambhir was the danger man. He smashed a cut off Collingwood to bring his second half-century of the series.
However, England struck once again and this time they got the man they wanted. Collingwood got the ball to nip back off the pitch into Gambhir. The ball zipped onto Gambhir and he was trapped on the back foot. Collingwood knew immediately he was out and so did Gambhir. He was the main batsmen for the Indians and as he departed, the score reached 123/3 in the 25th over.
Yuvraj Singh, known as a big hitter finally found some form nailing a massive six out of the ground off the bowling of James Anderson. As a result of the ball being out of the ground, this caused a slight delay. And during the delay, a streaker envaded the pitch much to the delight of the supporters in the crowd.
Despite this, Yuvraj tried it once to often and was struck in front by Harmison who picked up his second wicket. Rohit Sharma was playing the anchorole of the Innings. Due to this, India's run rate dipped dramatically. However, all was not lost as Indian skipper MS Dhoni smashed a couple of lusty blows and remained not out on *32(48).
Overall, the Indians were not pleased with their overall total as they had a healthy run rate at the start however England took wickets at regular intervals which pegged the scoring rate back.
In their reply, England were reduced to 37/2 thanks to some accurate seam bowling from Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel. This brought Owais Shah and captain Kevin Pietersen together at the wicket. The two counteracted the onslaught by the seamers and took the attack to Harbhajan Singh who was really struggling due to the dew.
Harbhajan continued to bowl full-tosses and loosners which were continuously being struck to the boundary. Pietersen was playing the attacking role whilst Shah was playing conservatively as the two brought up their half-centuries respectively.
England were insight of victory needing 72 off 90 with 8 wickets left. Thats when India got the much awaited breakthrough and more importantly broke the 132 run partnership of Shah and Pietersen. Munaf Patel had bowled brilliantly all night and definatly deserved a wicket. He dismissed Shah as he attempted to glide the ball to fine-leg. Dhoni had placed Yuvraj there especially for this shot and it payed off. Shah had battled hard for his 56(97)but he was gone. This brought Andrew Flintoff to the crease.
The game took another twist as Pietersen was trapped LBW by a superb Reverse-swinging yorker by Zaheer Khan. Pietersen was livid and trudged back to the pavilion for a supreme 98(92). With the score at 188/4, English eyebrows were beginning to get raised.
Yet again India struck as the pressure mounted on the English batsmen. Part-time spinner Yusuf Pathan fizzed the ball at a yorker length. Collingwood attempted to give himself room but in the fallout he has made a mess of the situation. As England slumped further, they brought Hero Samit Patel into bat. Under the floodlight and with 40 required off 44 balls, would be England's savior again?
Flintoff was pushing the singles as was Patel. With the equation 27 off 24, Patel unleashed smashing 14 off Yusuf Pathan's penultimate over. That was the final nail in the coffin for the Indians as Flintoff his the winning runs in style with a boundary over Pathan's head with 3 deliveries to spare. Flintoff was unbeaten on *18(28) as Patel was *26(17).
England had once again beat India and now knew that they could not lose this series.
India now have the heat on their back as they go into the 5th ODI at Cuttack, 3-0 down and are now playing for pride.
I guess the captain is to blame to be honest. Dhoni made the wrong decision and wasn't able to put up a strong enough total. Gutted for Pietersen, such a great knock but just missed out on his century. Another strong performance by Shah . Great update .
237 is not at all a good total since the arrival of T20 cricket. Easy win for England, Pietersen played a captains knock. This means England cant lose the series. Hope India come back to level the series.
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. Great update 
