Congratulations to Team India on such a marvelous and
thumping victory over the Englishmen.With Virat Kohli composure and Suresh
Raina flamboyance,both combined well for India.
England winning the toss and choosing to bat first made a quick
start with Keiswetter and captain Alistair Cook making runs at a rapid pace.
Dhoni again showing why he is called the "Captain Cool" introduced
Ashwin who took the wicket of Cook,though an iffy decision,India drew
first blood. Then Keiswetter played far too many shots for his
liking and got wrapped on his pads.After an impressive middle order
consolidation by Peterson and Trott both fell to some good Bowling and Fielding
by the Indians.After their wickets fell,the Indian spinners came to their own
and removed the lower middle order with ease.Though Tim Bresnan,played few
shots,but they were restricted to 220.Varun Aron playing his first ODI was
impressive with his speed and line.He regularly clocked over 85mph and pitching
the ball in the right areas.With consistency and such speed,he can be a regular
in the team
India never got going in the initial overs and lost 3 wickets
under 50 runs.Then Sureh Raina and Virat Kohli combined and steadied the
ship.Suresh Raina counter attacked the English bowlers and took the charge to
them while Virat calmly constructed his innings.The two relatively senior
players were part of the 131 runs match-winning patnership.Suresh Raina was
bowled by Finn who was hit back over his head quite frequently by
Raina.Then,Dhoni came on the field and renewed the memories of 2nd April,2011
when he played that world-cup-winning innings against the Lankans.He made sure
that the team reached the target without loosing any more wickets and won by a
huge margin(with 59 balls remaining).Virat once again playing a match winning
innings and finished the game with a smashing off drive of Samit Patel.
Overall,the team performance was very satisfactory
It sometimes amazes me that is it the same Indian team that was
badly beaten and were embarrassed by the same Englishmen in their
backyard.Before the series started I thought that the team would be down with
confidence and some of the important players like Dhoni,Virat,Raina would be tired
after playing in the Champions League.But proving everyone wrong and silencing
the critics,the team rose to the occasion and gave every
countrymen a delightful gift this Diwali.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni continues
to amaze me with his confidence level and self-belief.He is not affected by
what the general perception is and what others are saying about him.His believe
on himself and on his team is so much that any criticism doesn't let him
bother.I personally felt that after a disastrous tour of England and loosing in
the Champions League his confidence and morale would be down,but with his
leadership skill and calmness is something that should be appreciated.
The seniors of the team,Virat and Raina,have taken the
responsibility and are delivering whenever they are expected to
do.Virat,specially has come to his own and plays very maturely.To show such
maturity for someone who has played some 70-odd One days is
simply marvelous and it shows that the youngsters are taking the
responsibility if it is given to them.Raina has always been flamboyant and he
is doing justice to his talent.
Without Sachin,Sehwag,Yuvraj,Harbhajan,Zaheer, who were the core
of the world cup winning team, the youngster are doing a great job and
doing them self a favor by performing at the highest platform.
Though the team is still not able to win enough series outside its territory
but with Dhoni & Co. in such such great form and high in confidence we
should expect some great result when the team will tour Australia later this
year
As of now,Chak de India, and win the series 5-0..!! Aukad dikha do
in Angrezo ko!!! Best of Luck...
