Indian Team's Journey in 2019 Cricket World Cup... Game 7...India Vs England

With an astonishing winning streak (5 straight wins) in the ongoing cricket World Cup, Everybody thought India is peaking way too early in the tournament. The game is a big leveller or the Team in contention has better ideas then winning the 6^th game (if you rule out the rain washed match against NZ)

We will discuss it thread bare later on, first lets us see how the game unwinded.

So, both India & Home favourite England came into the match at Birmingham, with England riding on big pressure of must- win from all quarters to improve its chances for the semis considering they had the best of chance to ultimately win the ever eluding cup as they themselves are the host this time. & India on the other hand needed just the 1 point to bolster its semis birth.

England won the all important toss & Morgan chooses to Bat first.

 India, as expected brought in WC debutant Rishabh Pant in place of VijayShankar who as stated by the team management got hit on the very same toe of a Bumrah delivery in the nets as before (Surprisingly!) & nursing an injury again!!...Wonder how much guts it takes for team management to tell the truth(that he has been dropped due to non performance).As I write this Blog, Reports today came in that poor Vijay Shankar is been ruled out from the rest of the tournament & will fly back home immediately. New players have been made scapegoat since ages in Indian Cricket…nothing new!!Wonder when will the established player be shown the door for the same reason.

Jason Roy came in after missing 3 games & didn’t disappoint a bit as he and his partner Jonny Bairstow put on a partnership of 160 runs in 22 overs.Indian bowlers though, were a bit unlucky as lot of edges of Bairstow went passed the wicket & the fielders.

Bairstow in presence of his regular opening partner, went on to make his maiden WC Century while Roy supported brilliantly from the other end with well made 66.The ground had a very short boundary on one side & Indians bowled too short to Bairstow which only helped his cause.

At 21,Jason Roy got a lucky chance of Pandaya when he gloved one on the on side to keeper Dhoni,but the “UNOFFICIAL CAPTAIN” of the Indian team forbade Kohli to take the DRS.It was a turning point of the match according to me as India could have made an early inroads here.

Once the initial uncertainty vanished, except Bumrah, every other Indian Bowler was clobbered around by English openers. In fact Chahal gave away most runs (88) of his quota of 10 overs by an Indian Spinner in an ODI match.

1^st 10 overs England were at 47 for no loss & next 5 overs costed India 50 runs as both Roy & Bairstow made mockery of the Indian bowlers. Eventually Kuldeep took the wicket of Roy (66 runs of 57 balls 4*7, 6*2). After Roy’s exit,Bairstaw went on to make his 8^th ODI Century, before getting out caught by Pant of Shami(111runs of 109 balls 4*10,6*6).England at this stage looked all set to reach 370-380 runs at the end.

The ever-dependable Joe Root then added 44(54) to the English tally before succumbing to Shami who was brought back by Kohli caught by Pandaya.Shami  also claimed the wicket of English Captain Eon Morgan for 1.

With the stage set for the onslaught, Ben Stokes then massacred Indian Bowlers for 79 runs of 54 balls with 4’s*6,6’s*3. Bumrah cleaned up Stokes to bring some respite to Indian Players and the fans.

Shami then went on to take his Fifer when he claimed both Butler & Wokes.

He became just the 6^th Indian Bowler to take 5 wicket haul in a WC.

 With 13 wickets in 3 WC matches already, Mohd.Shami is in the best form of his life right now.

England finished with 337 runs for 7 wickets in their stipulated 50 overs.With 92 runs coming in the last 10 overs.India managed to pull back a bit ,all thanks to Shami as at one time it felt that the English Batsman will reach 380 easily.

With a small boundary at one side, Pitch behaving as the typical Indian wicket and India’s formidable batting line-up it never felt as India won’t be able to chase the English Total. But what happened eventually is beyond any bodies guess.

Indian Openers, Rohit & Rahul began the run chase when on 4; Rohit was dropped by Root in the slips of Archer. Rahul, who was looking baffled right from the first ball he faced, got out caught & bowled by Wokes for a Duck in the very next over. India 8 for 1 in 3rd over.

Kohli came in & together he and Rohit partnered to add 50 valuable runs for the team of 82 balls.All this while Rohit was not able to middle the ball but was ready to grind it out as India looked up to him in this big run chase.

Virat reached his 5^th consecutive fifty in this WC of just 59 balls & became the first Indian Captain to score 5 fifties in WC history.

India 83 for 1 in 20 overs.

Then Rohit with an eye on the ever increasing asking run rate, hit 3 top class fours on stokes to accelerate the Indian innings. Stokes went for 13 runs in that over. Seeing Rohit going all out, England brought back J. Archer in order to break this partnership of Rohit-Kohli which seemed to take the match away from them.

Then Plunkett cleaned Kohli the very next over when the Indian Captain went for an expensive cut & was caught at Gully. He made 66 of 76 balls. India 146 for 2 in 29^th over. Together they both made 138 runs partnership for the 2^nd wicket. This for me was the turning point from the Indian Inning.

Rishabh Pant making his WC debut came in & took time to overcome his nervousness (almost got himself run out twice)of the big stage & went about doing what he does best. India 152 for 2 in 30 overs.

Then in the 35^th over, Rohit reached his well made 100 of 106 balls. His 3^rd of this WC.This must have been his most difficult century considering the condition India was in. He played a bit scratchy all throughout as the ball was not middling but kept his end safe as the wickets from the end kept on falling.

Rohit didn’t stayed for long and was caught behind of Wokes on 102(109).India 198 for 3 in 37^th over.

Rishabh departed of Plunkett after well made 33 (28) perishing under the upward heading asking run rate. India 225 for 4 in 40^th over. India needed close to 100 runs in the last 10 overs, which looked fairly achievable as now Pandaya & Dhoni were in the crease.

 In the 45^th over unfortunately Pandaya trying for a big shot perished when he was caught brilliantly on Long On boundary of Plunkett.He made 45 of 33 balls.India 267 for 5 in the 45^th over.England were impeccable in fielding department all throughout the Indian innings.

From here on India needed another 71 runs in 30 balls.A feat achieved by Dhoni a number of times earlier. But Dhoni had some other ideas.

He surprisingly, along with Kedar Jadhav just rotated the strike for the next 5 overs when the need of the hour was some lusty big hits. So much so forth that the only six of the Indian Inning came from Dhoni’s Bat in the 50^th over, till then it was all over for India.

India finally managed to make only 306 with 5 wickets still in hand in the end losing to England of 31 runs.

 Dhoni returned on unbeaten 42 of 31 balls (only 4*4, 6*1) with this loss India lost its first game of the WC.

MY ANALYSIS-

1. In my opinion giving Jason Roy the lucky escape was a big blunder by Kohli in the initial phase of the English Innings. The bowler Pandaya was sure but Kohli as always went to Dhoni for approval who forbade him to take DRS.Roy being the big main stay for England; India & Virat should have gone for the Review keeping in mind that England has a formidable batting line up. It was a risk worth taking at that point of time. That vital early wicket would have given an opening to Indian bowlers. 

2. The Indian Bowlers bowled too short to Bairstow.His stance & playing style is conducive to that length. In other words, Indian Bowlers bowled to his strength & he made merry of them all. There was no plan to get him out in the first place. Something which we saw so pronounced against Chris Gayle in the last match. On hindsight, Indian Bowlers were also a bit unlucky as most of his edges went safe.  

3. With base ready for onslaught, Ben Stokes made good use of short boundaries & Indian unplanned bowling. There seemed to be no preparedness what so ever or even plan B with the Indian Bowlers.

4.India was able to pull back a bit by removing Roots, Morgan & Butler cheaply, otherwise the score would have been anywhere near 400.

5.India started disastrously by loosing Rahul very early for duck.Now I don’t understand the problem with Rahul!! One match  he looks fully in control & then the other match he looks clueless.But problem with India right now is that it has no other opener to go to after shikhar got injured.

Those of you who are of the opinion that Pant should open the Indian Innings should understand this is no IPL or Twenty 20 Cricket, this is serious 50 over ODI and you need a technically sound player to do the all important job. When the need arise, I have my doubts that Pant has the ability to spend time on the wicket. He is good at making quick fire 30s or 40s in the middle overs as he did today. Unfortunately India has no other choice other than inconsistent Rahul for the all important position currently.

6. Hit Man Rohit Sharma is in the prime of his form right now. With 3 WC Centuries & a Fifty under his belt already, he only needs an able partner in Rahul as Roy supported Bairstow on the English Side to give India a formidable start every time he goes out to bat.  

7. I don’t have any complaint with Virat on the Batting front as he is cut above the rest in this department-5 consecutive Fifties in WC are no mean achievement at all & speaks volume about his consistency, but on the captaining front it’s high time he takes control in his own hands rather than working as a remote control of Dhoni and please stop backing Dhoni blindly in spite of what he did today. There are people outside the playing eleven who know a bit about the game just as you do, please don’t try to fool them by turning a blind eye where you need to take action.

8. Hardik has done well in all the outings.Atleast with him the intent is there to be seen by all. He & Pant have their roles cut off in the team to go all out & get quick fire 30-40 runs in the middle & they both understand it well.  

9.Kedar Jadhav has not got much of an opportunity to perform. But he is a gutsy, street smart player who can stay there on the wicket & can make quick runs. What happened today cannot be put on his head at all, he played his part of supporting Dhoni very well. You can’t expect him to go hammer & tongs when experienced Dhoni is just pushing the balls around for singles.

10.Mohd Shami is the man possessed as of now! Two 4 wicket haul & today a fifer when the English Batsmen were going great guns speaks volume about this man’s endless capabilities.Keep it up!!

11. Bumrah, out of all the Indian Bowlers was the most economical bowler even today .His consistency is just exceptional.

12.”Kulcha” combo had an off day today with whopping 160 runs conceded by both together in all. They just happened to be amidst the English storm today. There is always another day tomorrow. Still early days for both the Indian Spinners.   

 

13. This brings me to the all important question –as to what is happening on Dhoni’s front???

* Succumbing to pressure & two big heaves in consecutively two matches both unnecessary, unsuccessful & unlike Dhoni we know.

*Diminised ability to rotate strike in previous matches.

*Late onslaught in last two matches - lost the finisher touch. Even in this match India had 5 wickets in hand in the last 5 overs still he preferred to just push for single & rotate strike when all needed was an onslaught ala vintage Dhoni to get over14 runs per over. He managed to hit just one six that too in the final over. He woke up similarly in the last over against WI too.

*Two unbeaten innings in two matches at his own pace-Is he playing for himself at the fag end of his career??In this match also he came out unbeaten in 40s.What is the use of such unbeaten scores in a lost cause??

All in all, lot of questions needed to be answered by team India. Timely jolt today, as we are still in the league phase. India will no doubt reach the semis but solutions to some of these issues needs to be found out before we reach the sudden death stage. India cannot afford even a bit of complacency here at this stage.

Till we meet again after the match against Bangladesh!

Bye for now...

HAPPY READING!!