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India vs England - 2nd ODI Faridabad 2006.

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After losing the Delhi ODI, from a situation were no one thought England will manage to lose so many wickets so soon and hence the match, England players must be down in confidence. The ODI at Faridabad will surely give them a chance to come back as the Faridabad pitch - as far as news so far has come - is not a flat one. Its loose on the top and firm on the inside which means that seam bowlers will have some assistance in the morning - due to the early start of Day ODI's, it can be safely said that it will take turn in later half of the match.... if not before that!!

Kevin Pietersen played a brilliant innings in Delhi ODI and proved why he is considered one of the most exciting one day players in cricket right now, and along with Andrew Flintoff, England have a good middle order but what is lacking is good opening stand

and resistance from the lower order. Coach Duncan Fletcher has asked his batsmen to keep playing sweep shots but be more selective (five England batsmen got out trying to sweep at Delhi). Kevin pietersen holds himself as the culprit for losing the Delhi ODI for the shot that he played against Yuvraj Singh and has admitted that the next morning was the worst he has ever had in his life!!

Not many people know, but Nahar Singh stadium at Faridabad holds some unforgettable memories for Mohammad Kaif. It was at Nahar Singh Stadium only where a young batsmen, called Mohammad Kaif came for a camp and was later selected for the under - 15 team.. and since then, he has become on of the most important part of Indian ODI team. Read this.

This India vs England ODI at Faridabad will be only the 8th international match ever played at Nahar Singh Stadium and the record here is not all that good for India. The have just won one of the 4 ODI matches that they have played and that too was againt Zimbabwe. This time around, India surely will be looking to post a win as they have been doing in last few months. India have won 13 off their last 17 ODI's and this will be 14 in 18 iff India manage to keep Kevin Pietersen and Flintoff in check - says captain Rahul Dravid.

One last thing - ICC cricket ratings are fastly becoming popular and gaining the craze among the cricket lover.. so let me tell you that a 5-2 win for India will mean that India jumps to No. 3 spot with 115 points, just three point behind South Africa and if the manage to win 6-1, they will be just one point behind South Africa with 117 points. Here is full calculations related to what can happen in ICC one day ranking, depending on the result of this India vs England One day series.

Do you know that sify is telecasting this India vs England one day series on internet... I am not sure how exactly this is happening, but if you have a good and fast internet connection at your place and also some money, try this for more information.

India vs England, 2rd ODI - 31st March, 2006

How can you win when you yourself don't believe you are good enough. England were on top in the first one day International at

Delhi and eventually lost it by playing careless cricket for just an hour or so... And here today in Faridabad, they were going very nicely but somehow gave the impression of being unsure of their capability to win a ODI in India..It all started with -

England's batting after Flintoff won the toss. Rahul Dravid rarely wins the toss but seems to read the pitches better and hence he had included Ramesh Powar in place of Rudra Pratap Singh. England's openers - Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior gave good

start to Englishmen, of 66 but then they lost two quick wickets.

After that, Kevin Pietersen(who seems to be only capable batsman in England team) along with Andrew Strauss took England to a position from where a score of 250 or more looked fairly simple. Then came the change time - India were playing a new spinner - Ramesh Powar, someone whom England had never played and even though he is another off-spinner like Harbhajan Singh, Powar is more orthodox off spinner with good flight and spinning the ball occasionally..

Powar bowled Strauss who came down the wicket to him and then foxed Flintoff who also came down the wicket, but didn't tried to hit a big shot. The ball went straight through and England captain was caught in two minds - got stumped eventually. After that, it was the same story as it was at Delhi, no Englan

d batsman had a clue of which shot to attempt and ended up getting out in a schoolboy manner.. Only Kevin Pietersen seemed at ease and after deciding to go after Indian spinner in 41st over, he did managed to hit two sixes and 4 fours - but that wasn't enough to give England a comfortable total.. They made 226 and were all out yet again!!

Indian batting started with lots of talk about how Virendra Sehwag was playing - rather than how many runs India were scoring in those inital over. The Faridabad Pitch has lots of soft top and that's why the ball spun quite a bit, but the new ball was coming very nicely on the bat and Sehwag did manage to hit a couple of easy boundaries.

Just like England, India did the same - Opening partnership of 61 and then losing wickets mindlessly. India lost 5 wickets for just 31 runs in 11 overs, barely score any runs in that period. this led to a situation where India were 94 for 5 wickets and the required run rate climbed up to 6 runs per over..

The fort was in the hands of two young Indians - one is not even 20 years old right now and another barely had the technique

to play on this difficult wicket of Nahar Singh Stadium - Faridabad. Yes, I am talking about Suresh Raina and Mahandra Singh Dhoni. This second one day international between India and England again proved that Indian cricket team is now learning how to play under pressure. India needed around 110 runs off nearly 115 balls and Raina started to show his class. He was brilliant at times, but also gave impression of being overly exited, trying to hit every ball to the boundary..

It was Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who himself has played just 35 one day matches so far - tried to calm down his younger partner and they started picking up singles at rapid rate. This was around 32nd or 33rd over of the Faridabad ODI, 2006 but England seemed content to give away the singles... Raina and Dhoni made a partnership of 118 balls and by the time Dhoni got out - trying to hit Andrew flintoff out of the ground and take some Mumbai revenge, it was all over. India competed the target of 226 with one full over to spare and 3 wickets in hand.

Important notes from the Faridabad India vs England One dayer.

1) We always argue over number of balls bowled in an over when we ordinary people play cricket, but how many times Dhoni&RainaAtFaridabad.jpg

does an International match has a mistake in number of balls in an over. 43rd over of Indian innings had only five balls. Neutral umpire - Asad Rauf from Pakistan called "over up" with one more ball from flintoff to go!!

2) Indian cricket team has now equalled the record of winning most number of matches while chasing a target in one day international history. At Faridabad, Indian team registered their 14th straight win while chasing a target in ODI's, which was also done by West Indies in late 70's and early eighties.

3) England's kevin Pietersen has made a bright start to his one day career as he equalled the record set by Vivian Richards of West Indies to reach a mark of 1000 one day runs. They both did it in 21st Innings on their one day career.

Here is the schedule and lot more on India vs England ODI series.

Its Only Cricket

India vs England - 2nd ODI Faridabad 2006.

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