Story India's Tour To England

[Rahul]

indian creeping above northampton's finally...it had dropped and the rr had become almost 6....but some good batting has got it down

ganguly gone

dravid's gone as well just when india looked as if they were cruising

india went 7 down but pathan got the winning runs in the end....got close in the end though

 

[Rahul]

scorecard

bowling card

ganguly top scored...his spider...most of the runs in his fav off side

and the worm comparison..india stuttering in the end with loads of wickets falling but scraping through

NOW finally time has come for the odi's......learnt my lessen...not many tour matches for me......gonna come straight to the internationals....might just play an odd tour match or something!! they got too much!!

 

[zimrahil]

I have to back Vaughanie and the boys - Harmison will surely rip through the top order - or maybe not

 

[m_vaughan]

yes....you can play 1 or 2 as means of preparation, and autoplay the rest.

 

[Rahul]

So FINALLY it's here time for the 1st ODI !!

it's a bright and sunny day....perfect day for cricket!!

Saurav Ganguly wins the toss and elects to bat in perfect conditions for batting!!
india happy with winning the toss as they're not so good chasers!!
it's a hard wicket....it's sunny but the wind is quite chilly!!

closer look at the pitch....doesnt look as if it'll deteriorate as the match goes on....so no disadvantage for any of the teams!!

 

[Rahul]

The england side...the middle order looks quite weak though....not much experience....but other than that quite a strong side!!

Indian Squad......very tough decision on the selection of the bowlers....nehra unlucky to miss out and so was agarkar...but zaheer cudnt have been left out after the wonderful performance in the last tour match....batting looks as solid as ever!

and we're all set to start.....tendulkar taking strike.....gough with the ball!

 

[Rahul]

Details

Tutsi's patch ver 5.4
Difficulty: Hard
Sam's Exe

tendulkar gets a blow from an anderson bouncer

sehwag's guides it to the empty 3rd man area for 4

India 22/0 after 5 overs....not a very extravagent start...sehwag has also been surprisingly careful.....india know the importance of the 1st match in a 3 match series

beautiful cover drive for 4 from tendulkar

 

[Rahul]

tendulkar smashes another 1 for 4

sehwag avoiding a very quick bouncer....

tendulkar dropped at mid off........that cud prove very costly.....bad miss from strauss

 

[Rahul]

sehwag's gone...he edges 1 off anderson and read takes it nicely.....he'd been kept quite and finally lost his patience...but a beauty of a delivery.....big blow for india

sehwag makes his way back after making 18

tendulkar reaches his 50.....india are 105/1 after 20 overs......gr8 start...they look on their way to big score

bowling figures after 20 overs.....all have been expensive apart from anderson......but the surprising part........where are harmison and flintoff!!!!!! that's cricket 2004 for u!!! lol!!

 

[Rahul]

half way through the innings...partnership is worth 98!! huge for india....eng need a breakthrough and very quickly or else the match can be out of their hands!!

tendulkars spider...this is a crucial knock from him!! just what india needed....let's c if he can convert it to a 3 figure score

classic straight drive from sachin...text book stuff....little master is on fire!!

and finally harmison is brought into the attack...we know he prefers the old ball but after 25 overs no ways...bad captaincy vaughny.....i think he was trying to slow things down with collingwood and blackwell!!

flintoff had been off the field with a niggling side strain......they still risked him in the match....not a guarentee that he will bowl though!!

 

[Rahul]

cover drive from laxman for 4 to reach his 50

he's gone at almost a run a ball as well...wonderful knock
and the partnership crosses hundred as well!!

absolute class from laxman as he on drives it for 4...india's core reaches 150!!

 

[m_vaughan]

maybe you should use the lineup editor's bowling lineup function, and open the bowling with gough and harmison, followed by anderson as 1st change, freddie as 2nd change, and then the other bowlers.

 

[Rahul]

yup...will do that from the next match!!


Flintoff finally coming into the attack..vaughan is hoping he can change the direction of the game

laxman hits 1 down mid off's throat....flintoff has broken the partnership!! good catch...blackwell timed the jump to perfection

really good knock from laxman...

tendulkar's been given lbw...harsh decision...looked as if it was going down due to the angle......but blackwell strikes!!

sachin unlucky to miss out on the hundred.....he was looking in ominous touch

 

[Rahul]

and ganguly's fallen into the trap...caught at backward point......they peppered him with balls outside the off and he cudnt resist going for it...so suddenly england look as if they can be back into it!!

glorious straight drive from dravid

200 is up

yuvraj singh goes early as well...flintoff strikes again

 

[Rahul]

250 is up....dravid and kaif building up an important partnership...they're the last of the batsmen left....kaif playing a little camio!!

and kaif is gone...gough traps him lbw for his 1st wicket of the series

gr8 knock from kaif...he's gotten india on track for a 300 once again!

50 for dravid...he's playing a beauty as well!!