India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[Leggie]

Dravid said that it was based on that noone could bowl at the death and he was 'trying something'. It is good he got that experiment out of the way and it did not cost India the match.

yes but it almost did....

anyway great victory india! . i wouldnt miss saturdays game for the now...at the end of old trafford's match i was thinking saturday might be a nice day for a bike ride....but not now!

but that last over from india was pretty crap. first of all, if you have your main bowlers left at the death, use them! secondly, although bowling a spinner is crap in the last over, if you want to use one then flippin' use your frontline spinner, not the one who just tosses up straight floaters without much spin....

 

[Adarsh]

Whatever said and done, no one could have predicted that Yuvraj would be hit for 30 in that over.

 

[Sureshot]

Disappointing result, I didn't think we bowled badly, Anderson certainly didn't deserve to go at nearl 10 an over. Still, whatever happens on Saturday I can say I'm proud of this team, we've shown a lot of fight in this series, and we've needed it at times, Shah, Wright and Mascarenhas were stunning in the back end of our innings. I liked Wright's aggression vs the spinners, something we've not seen too much.

It may have gone down to the last game, but 7 is still too many, it's more like a season than a series. No doubt it'll have better financial impact than 5 vs both touring teams this year.

I've not got too much to comment on, despite losing, I can't think of anything instantly to point the blame at. KP maybe, his running was poor, and he didn't score quick enough on this pitch. Bowling wise, I thought we did alright, Anderson as said before wasn't as bad as figures suggested. I thought we were unlucky in the last few overs, as Uthappa seemed to be hitting them past Priors sides at will!

Broad was very good again, Dimi had a good game too. I thought the teams were very even today, not much between them.

 

[Leggie]

haha, just remembered that mike atherton called robin uthappa 'uthapatta'.....lol

and robin uthappa said 'praise the lord' in his interview. classic stuff.....

 

[SaiSrini]

Whatever said and done, no one could have predicted that Yuvraj would be hit for 30 in that over.

Absolutely. It was one of those days when Mascarenhas got it all going. 9 times out of 10, Yuvraj wouldnt have gone for that much runs.

haha, just remembered that mike atherton called robin uthappa 'uthapatta'.....lol

and robin uthappa said 'praise the lord' in his interview. classic stuff.....

shastri said "normally you have 'uthappa' for breakfast (uthappam is an south indian breakfast dish) but here uthappa can now go and have 50 dosas (another south indian breakfast dish)". that was classic one too.

though uthappa played brilliantly this innings, he is essentially a top order batsman. with tendulkar's retirement being slowly talked about in the open, Uthappa would form a good partnership at the top initially with Ganguly and then possibly a long term partnership with Gautham Gambhir (he batted well today and played some attractive and positive shots).

yes but it almost did....

anyway great victory india! . i wouldnt miss saturdays game for the now...at the end of old trafford's match i was thinking saturday might be a nice day for a bike ride....but not now!

The last game should be more important than anything else for the Indian fan. A huge chance to win another ODI series and that too against a resurgent England ODI side and that too, two in a row after the convincing series win against South Africa at Belfast. I feel this series is down to this situation primarily because of India's fielding and Agarkar.

 

[baburao]

^^ lol there are better openers than Gautam Gambhir.

 

[SaiSrini]

^^ lol there are better openers than Gautam Gambhir.

Give me some names?

Gambhir has done well in these two games so far (Leeds and Oval).

 

[Justcrazy]

what a match guys!!! Both teams played classic cricket and in the end India won with a lil luck and good batting by oldies...this is now the FINAL whoever wins will take the trophy...I think India can win if they bat first and put a decent total on the board...one more thing...I agree Agarakar taking early wickets buh hes wayyy too expenisve its just unacceptable...even Gangulay bowling better than him..

 

[Will_NA]

Whoo! What a game!

Of course I'm disappointed but it sets the series up beautifully. Broad didn't do a thing wrong in that final over. Credit to Uthappa. Maybe, Anderson could have gone for a bit less in his penultimate over but still, a great match. Can't fault ether side.

As for Dravid, bowling 2 part-time spinners/ dibbly-dobblers at the death!?

I blame Mascerenhas. Only 30 off the last over? That made the difference.

Luke Wright showed us the perfect example of how to attack the spinners. He just bludgeoned it straight down the ground.

It was interesting to see Uthappa's spider diagram. Talk about a 'V'.

 

[harishankar]

Great game by India although Rahul Dravid's captaincy was tested on occasion. I think the game was won by Tendulkar and Uthappa and at one stage Dhoni was struggling to get the ball off the square. He's not in top form at the moment and is a definite worry.

This victory brought back memories of a similar and famous chase of 326 by India in the Natwest Final in 2002. The two games are very similar if you think about it. England scored a high score, but could have gone higher, then India got off to a fantastic start (in 2002 with Sehwag and Ganguly, here with Tendulkar and Ganguly), then the falter in the middle overs by India and finally a recovery (by Yuvraj and Kaif in 2002 and by Dhoni and Uthappa now) and a thrilling climax to seal the issue in favour of India. Uncanny!

I always advocated playing 7 batsmen and now it has paid off. You see, the difference is not just the extra batsman's runs but also the psychological feeling of the top order batsmen to score much more freely knowing fully well that even a couple of wickets will not expose the tail too early.

See. The extra runs scored off a part-timer has been made up this time. But of course, India need to keep searching for an effective all-rounder. Agarkar was crap as usual and I seriously think that the time has come now to look at alternatives. Sreesanth I think deserves an ODI berth ahead of Agarkar who keeps floating up half volleys and long-hops every now and then. At least Sreesanth would be quicker and more aggressive. Agarkar just looks ineffective at the moment and he cannot contain runs either.

I think it's safe to say that India's spinners restricting England in the middle overs were crucial to bringing the series to 3-3 from being 1-3 down. Also the fielding has just tightened up (leaving Munaf out has stepped up the fielding by a couple of notches by itself).

Broad didn't do a thing wrong in that final over. Credit to Uthappa.

I agree that he bowled well, but a more experienced bowler would have tried a few variations in the last over, like a bouncer or two. With experience Broad will learn, but it was obvious that Uthappa knew what was coming at him set himself up beautifully to score that last 10 runs...

 

[surendar]

What a legend Tendulkar is...:hpraise I enjoyed the entire Indian chase! The way he and Sourav took the bowlers created the platform for victory which was finished well by Gambhir, Dhoni and Uthappa. Fantastic team performance

 

[karnog]

Great match and so far a great series. I still think pieterson is up for a big score soon and Agarkar is up for a good 5er to. England's future is looking good. Flintoff has some stiff competition from broad and wright in the future. Not only are they batting a lot better their fielding is much better.

 

[Sureshot]

Nah, Fred gets in every time. He's our best bowler, not to mention the fact he almost always gets wickets in the middle overs.

 

[baburao]

Give me some names?

Gambhir has done well in these two games so far (Leeds and Oval).

Shikhar Dhawan,Ravneet Ricky and few more : They deserve a chance too.Gambhir has been given too many chances.He just plays one good inning that too against weaker teams.He is not the permanent solution sorry. Two games?He has been around for more than 2-3 years and in and out of the team becoz of his inconsistency.Lets see what your facts are to prove that he will be the future opener.

 

[harishankar]

Shikhar Dhawan,Ravneet Ricky and few more : They deserve a chance too.Gambhir has been given too many chances.He just plays one good inning that too against weaker teams.He is not the permanent solution sorry. Two games?He has been around for more than 2-3 years and in and out of the team becoz of his inconsistency.Lets see what your facts are to prove that he will be the future opener.

For once I agree with baburao...

Gambhir has had his chances but he's not been the kind of batsman who fits anywhere into the Indian ODI side. If he cannot open, I don't see any position in the middle order for him, particularly with Uthappa playing so well. When/if Sehwag makes a comeback, Gambhir goes out again.

I see a future for Gambhir in Test Cricket if he can pip out Wasim Jaffer, but definitely not in ODI cricket.