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Diwali came to the Eden Gardens and Kolkata a day early. The pain and humiliation of the series defeat in England was washed away in a strong tsunami of euphoria as India completed an eagerly awaited 5-0 whitewash to give the entire country a Diwali gift.
The hosts dominated the hapless England team with both bat and ball to record an emphatic 95 run win. Needing to chase a challenging target of 272 runs on the difficult pitch, the visitors’ innings folded up for a mere 176 runs. But what a match it had been! Contrary to the picture presented by the final outcome, the contest itself was a gripping one and had enough highs and lows, emotions and drama befitting a blockbuster.
The visitors, who were already on the backfoot thanks to four consecutive defeats earlier before Kolkata, suffered a blow even before the start of the match as their main batsman Kevin Pietersen was ruled out due to a thumb injury. The South Africa born was replaced by Ian Bell. There was a change in the English bowling department also as off-spinner Graeme Swann was brought into the playing XI. India also had a change to their line-up, with local lad Manoj Tiwari replacing Parthiv Patel.
Put into bat by England, the Indians started on a confident note. Openers Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir played Tim Bresnan with relative ease but his partner Steven Finn did make the Indian hop due to his pace, he ws by far the most effective English bowler.
The Indians were off to a slow start with the first 50 runs coming off 11 overs and England skipper Alaistair Cook brought in spinners Graeme Swann and Samit Patel at that stage. But the spinners were not too effective and Bresnan and Finn were soon recalled back into the attack.
The change yielded almost immediate results as Finn removed Gambhir with the very first ball of his second spell. The tall fast bowler unleashed a lighting quick delivery which cut in and crashed into the stumps of the inside edge of Gambhir’s bat.
Virat Kohli (0) then misjudged an incoming delivery to gift Finn his second wicket of the over while Bresnan pressed home the advantage in the next over when Rahane reached outside his offstump to play at a slightly wideish ball and England wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter dived to his right to pull off a very good catch.
The flurry of wickets rattled the Indians and Finn almost clinched a well deserved third wicket in the 22nd over when Suresh Raina (38) was extremely lucky to survive when he tried to drive Finn but only managed to edge the ball to second slip where Swann let go of a virtual sitter.
Raina and local lad Manoj Tiwary (24), then tried to bring the innings back on track, adding 43 runs between them in 52 balls before the latter edged Stuart Meaker to the keeper much to the disappointment of the vociferous Kolkata crowd.
That brought MS Dhoni to the middle. Team India captain proved that he undoubtedly belongs amongst the rare breed of men who come to the rescue of their team even in the toughest of circumstances with a commanding performance.
With the Indian batting struggling after losing several quick wickets, Dhoni ambled out into the middle and smashed an unbeaten half-century to take his team to a competitive total.
The skipper went ballistic in the slog overs, smashing the England bowlers to all corners of the park, finishing at a personal score of 75 runs off just 69 deliveries with three stinging hits to the fences and four huge sixes. Dhoni hit the first six of the innings off the bowling of Swann in the 43rd over, stepping out to hit the ball right over the off-spinner’s head and into the crowd. Just one ball alter, Dhoni unleashed another powerful smash, sending the ball towering over wide long on for the second six of the Indian innings.
The last over by Patel was quite dramatic. The first ball was hit for a six over the mid-wicket boundary by Praveen Kumar. The Indian attempted another six in the next ball, but could only manage to find Bairstow who took a well judged catch right on the long on boundary. Dhoni then hit the penultimate ball of the Indian innings for another mighty six and by then India had put up a challenging total.
During the England innings, Varun Aaron, who had impressed one and all in debut ODI in Mumbai, was a very different bowler. He did not start his bowling on a confident note, firing his opening delivery a bit too wide only to see Kieswetter smash it to the square boundary and complete his half-century in style. That seemed to typify his first spell.
But that was only until he dismissed cook with a beautiful delivery. The Jharkhand fast bowler made quite a comeback coming over the wicket and swung in a fast one which beat Cook with sheer pace and demolished his stumps.
The fall of the first English wicket brought about a radical transformation in the entire Indian team. The quality of bowling went up a couple of notches, and the fielders, who were behaving like disinterested spectators only seconds ago, suddenly became a hyper-energetic bunch.
Jadeja, who was adjudged the man of the match, clinched the second breakthrough by trapping Kieswetter leg before. Ashwin joined the party by getting Bell caught behind and before Jadeja pressed home the advantage by inducing Trott to edge the ball to Virat Kohli at slip.
With five rival wickets down, India again started to look like the World Cup champions everything fell apart. Tourisits ending at 176 was a mere formality from then on.
Brief Scores: India: 271 for 8 in 50 overs (MS Dhoni 75 not out; Samit Patel 3 for 57) beat England: 176 all out in 37 overs (C Kieswetter 63, A Cook 60; Ravindra Jadeja 4 for 33, R Ashwin 3 for 28) by 95 runs.
India move to 3rd
A clinical India on Tuesday jumped two positions to third spot in the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table after. MS Dhoni’s side had started the series in fifth position on 112 ratings points and after winning all the five ODIs, it has moved into third position on 118 ratings points.
Alastair Cook’s side, on the other hand, slipped from fourth position to fifth after dropping from 112 ratings points to 106. It now leads sixth-placed Pakistan by just five ratings points whose five-ODI series against Sri Lanka starts in Dubai on November 11th.
‘Happy Diwali to all’
Happy Diwali to all of you!!That was the emphatic message sent by Team India captain MS Dhoni to the entire nation after his team inflicted a comprehensive series whitewash on a hapless England.
“It was a good series victory for us. England are a very good and balanced side and it was extremely satisfying to beat them in such a manner,” Dhoni told reporters after the victory. “Wish you all a very happy Diwali,” he added.
Contrary to the unseemly attitude displayed by the English players - both current and retired - and the over-enthusiastic English media after India’s debacle in ‘Old Blighty’, Dhoni preferred to adopt a more calm and gracious approach towards the vanquished rivals.
“England are a very good team but they are not used to Indian conditions. They have got very good players, a very good bowling unit. After 30-40 runs, it becomes really difficult to bat in this heat,” he pointed out.
Refusing to get carried away by the series win, Dhoni maintained that the Indian team has several weak points which need to be ironed out. “When you win a match or a series, everything tends to get swept under the carpet. But we need to improve quite a bit. There are several areas that we must look into,” he asserted.
The Indian team faced a barrage of criticism after the humiliating debacle in England. Not only the fans and the media, even former players had joined the defeaning chorus breating the team. But Dhoni preferred to take it in a light spirit. “Yeah former players do tend to criticize us. Maybe I will also do the same thing when I am retired,” he joked.
“I was not too worried about criticism. Cricket is big in India. So these things are natural. When we win, we are treated like heroes, but when we lose we have to take the criticism. Cricket is a very big part of our lives and we have to take these things in our stride. But when the criticism starts bothering us, then it becomes difficult to perform,” he admitted.
Meanwhile, MSD’s counterpart Alastair Cook blamed failure on the entire tour on the batsmen. “It’s really a bit of shocker. Incredible. We have not batted well in the entire tour. Batting is one of the team why we lost many games,” Cook said. “Not many of us have played here. The bowl does not come quite well in these conditions. Winning is a habit and losing is also a habit. When the confidence is not so high, it’s not easy,” he added.
The hosts dominated the hapless England team with both bat and ball to record an emphatic 95 run win. Needing to chase a challenging target of 272 runs on the difficult pitch, the visitors’ innings folded up for a mere 176 runs. But what a match it had been! Contrary to the picture presented by the final outcome, the contest itself was a gripping one and had enough highs and lows, emotions and drama befitting a blockbuster.
The visitors, who were already on the backfoot thanks to four consecutive defeats earlier before Kolkata, suffered a blow even before the start of the match as their main batsman Kevin Pietersen was ruled out due to a thumb injury. The South Africa born was replaced by Ian Bell. There was a change in the English bowling department also as off-spinner Graeme Swann was brought into the playing XI. India also had a change to their line-up, with local lad Manoj Tiwari replacing Parthiv Patel.
Put into bat by England, the Indians started on a confident note. Openers Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir played Tim Bresnan with relative ease but his partner Steven Finn did make the Indian hop due to his pace, he ws by far the most effective English bowler.
The Indians were off to a slow start with the first 50 runs coming off 11 overs and England skipper Alaistair Cook brought in spinners Graeme Swann and Samit Patel at that stage. But the spinners were not too effective and Bresnan and Finn were soon recalled back into the attack.
The change yielded almost immediate results as Finn removed Gambhir with the very first ball of his second spell. The tall fast bowler unleashed a lighting quick delivery which cut in and crashed into the stumps of the inside edge of Gambhir’s bat.
Virat Kohli (0) then misjudged an incoming delivery to gift Finn his second wicket of the over while Bresnan pressed home the advantage in the next over when Rahane reached outside his offstump to play at a slightly wideish ball and England wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter dived to his right to pull off a very good catch.
The flurry of wickets rattled the Indians and Finn almost clinched a well deserved third wicket in the 22nd over when Suresh Raina (38) was extremely lucky to survive when he tried to drive Finn but only managed to edge the ball to second slip where Swann let go of a virtual sitter.
Raina and local lad Manoj Tiwary (24), then tried to bring the innings back on track, adding 43 runs between them in 52 balls before the latter edged Stuart Meaker to the keeper much to the disappointment of the vociferous Kolkata crowd.
That brought MS Dhoni to the middle. Team India captain proved that he undoubtedly belongs amongst the rare breed of men who come to the rescue of their team even in the toughest of circumstances with a commanding performance.
With the Indian batting struggling after losing several quick wickets, Dhoni ambled out into the middle and smashed an unbeaten half-century to take his team to a competitive total.
The skipper went ballistic in the slog overs, smashing the England bowlers to all corners of the park, finishing at a personal score of 75 runs off just 69 deliveries with three stinging hits to the fences and four huge sixes. Dhoni hit the first six of the innings off the bowling of Swann in the 43rd over, stepping out to hit the ball right over the off-spinner’s head and into the crowd. Just one ball alter, Dhoni unleashed another powerful smash, sending the ball towering over wide long on for the second six of the Indian innings.
The last over by Patel was quite dramatic. The first ball was hit for a six over the mid-wicket boundary by Praveen Kumar. The Indian attempted another six in the next ball, but could only manage to find Bairstow who took a well judged catch right on the long on boundary. Dhoni then hit the penultimate ball of the Indian innings for another mighty six and by then India had put up a challenging total.
During the England innings, Varun Aaron, who had impressed one and all in debut ODI in Mumbai, was a very different bowler. He did not start his bowling on a confident note, firing his opening delivery a bit too wide only to see Kieswetter smash it to the square boundary and complete his half-century in style. That seemed to typify his first spell.
But that was only until he dismissed cook with a beautiful delivery. The Jharkhand fast bowler made quite a comeback coming over the wicket and swung in a fast one which beat Cook with sheer pace and demolished his stumps.
The fall of the first English wicket brought about a radical transformation in the entire Indian team. The quality of bowling went up a couple of notches, and the fielders, who were behaving like disinterested spectators only seconds ago, suddenly became a hyper-energetic bunch.
Jadeja, who was adjudged the man of the match, clinched the second breakthrough by trapping Kieswetter leg before. Ashwin joined the party by getting Bell caught behind and before Jadeja pressed home the advantage by inducing Trott to edge the ball to Virat Kohli at slip.
With five rival wickets down, India again started to look like the World Cup champions everything fell apart. Tourisits ending at 176 was a mere formality from then on.
Brief Scores: India: 271 for 8 in 50 overs (MS Dhoni 75 not out; Samit Patel 3 for 57) beat England: 176 all out in 37 overs (C Kieswetter 63, A Cook 60; Ravindra Jadeja 4 for 33, R Ashwin 3 for 28) by 95 runs.
India move to 3rd
A clinical India on Tuesday jumped two positions to third spot in the Reliance ICC ODI Championship table after. MS Dhoni’s side had started the series in fifth position on 112 ratings points and after winning all the five ODIs, it has moved into third position on 118 ratings points.
Alastair Cook’s side, on the other hand, slipped from fourth position to fifth after dropping from 112 ratings points to 106. It now leads sixth-placed Pakistan by just five ratings points whose five-ODI series against Sri Lanka starts in Dubai on November 11th.
‘Happy Diwali to all’
Happy Diwali to all of you!!That was the emphatic message sent by Team India captain MS Dhoni to the entire nation after his team inflicted a comprehensive series whitewash on a hapless England.
“It was a good series victory for us. England are a very good and balanced side and it was extremely satisfying to beat them in such a manner,” Dhoni told reporters after the victory. “Wish you all a very happy Diwali,” he added.
Contrary to the unseemly attitude displayed by the English players - both current and retired - and the over-enthusiastic English media after India’s debacle in ‘Old Blighty’, Dhoni preferred to adopt a more calm and gracious approach towards the vanquished rivals.
“England are a very good team but they are not used to Indian conditions. They have got very good players, a very good bowling unit. After 30-40 runs, it becomes really difficult to bat in this heat,” he pointed out.
Refusing to get carried away by the series win, Dhoni maintained that the Indian team has several weak points which need to be ironed out. “When you win a match or a series, everything tends to get swept under the carpet. But we need to improve quite a bit. There are several areas that we must look into,” he asserted.
The Indian team faced a barrage of criticism after the humiliating debacle in England. Not only the fans and the media, even former players had joined the defeaning chorus breating the team. But Dhoni preferred to take it in a light spirit. “Yeah former players do tend to criticize us. Maybe I will also do the same thing when I am retired,” he joked.
“I was not too worried about criticism. Cricket is big in India. So these things are natural. When we win, we are treated like heroes, but when we lose we have to take the criticism. Cricket is a very big part of our lives and we have to take these things in our stride. But when the criticism starts bothering us, then it becomes difficult to perform,” he admitted.
Meanwhile, MSD’s counterpart Alastair Cook blamed failure on the entire tour on the batsmen. “It’s really a bit of shocker. Incredible. We have not batted well in the entire tour. Batting is one of the team why we lost many games,” Cook said. “Not many of us have played here. The bowl does not come quite well in these conditions. Winning is a habit and losing is also a habit. When the confidence is not so high, it’s not easy,” he added.
