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2nd ODI, Indore : India beat England by 54 runs, lead 7 ODI series 2-0.. Story.. Guest Article.. Scorecard.
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England conquered. West Indies on next Thursday.


First I thought I should give you a detailed explanation of what happened it this first "first round" match of 2006 Champions trophy - India vs England at Jaipur. Then I thought I should avoid making long articles - and should be writing the memorable incidences only. And then I thought of giving some tips to England team on how they can improve their "Falling ODI" status...

And then I wanted to inform you that next India's match in 2006 ICC Champions trophy is after a gap of 11 days. And then some more information on South Africa's tour in November...
MunafMOTMatJaipur.jpg
So many points that I wanted to share with you, that I have decided to cover each of above topic, in a single article, with least number of words..

Read on --

Indian bowling wins Jaipur ODI :

Experts wanted Dravid to win the toss and bat first. Which they heavily criticized when Dravid did the otherwise - Winning the toss with that special coin with Indian and England cricket board on either side, and calling England to bat first.

Indian captain reasoned that he thinks Jaipur pitch is dry and will take turn. They are playing 2 spinner's and want them to bowl with the dryer ball. Andrew Flintoff said he was happy to bat first as that's what he was going to opted had the coin rolled in his favour.

Hence - both captains got what they wanted and the match started.

There was some swing for Irfan Pathan but Munaf set things up by trapping Ian Bell in front of wicket. And then Pathan did the same to Flintoff. And then Yardy LBW B Patel. And if three leg before wickets were not enough - Irfan bolwed a rising one to Strauss and Dravid caught it at second slip.

England never came back and fell for 125 off 37 overs.

Indian innings had some hiccups as they lost required Harbhajan Singh to hit the winning run for them. But as long as the result is a win, they must be spared of criticism.

Important notes from Jaipur :

1. This one day International was Sachin Tendulkar's 368th ODI and now he leads the league of most ODI's played any player. The second and third in this list are Inzamam-ul-haq and Sanath Jayasuriya (367 both).

CricketerInMaking.jpg This record of most ODI's was held by Pakistan's Wasim Akram for a long time but now when three currently playing cricketers have crossed him, and with Rahul Dravid at 298, it seems like someone will surely cross 500 someday.

2. Munaf Patel was adjudged Man of the match for his 3 for 18 in 8 overs. His first ever Man of the match award. This Jaipur ODI was Munaf Patel's 11 One day International and he now has a total 12 wickets.

Should England's ODI status stay??

Of course it should. It's always good to have more and more countries participating in International cricket tournaments. Otherwise, England should withdraw from Ashes series for 2 or three years...

Because as long as Ashes series is in the minds of English cricket fans, players and administrators - they won't be able to see what else is there in International cricket arena. And having said all this, let me add this as well that it was one of those things that they won the Ashes last time. This time - Australian team and crowd will be hungry, thoroughly prepared and at home. I'll skip one meal if the manage to win a single test match in Australia this November.

West Indies next for India.

By the time Indian team turns up at Motera Cricket ground in Ahmedabad, on 26th of October - Thursday, Sri Lanka and New Zealand will be through with all of their three league matches, while Australia, England, and South Africa at 2 matches each. Any reason's why such a schedule??

I think a link to the points table to 2006 Champions trophy and it's schedule will come in handy here.

For those crazy Indian cricket fans :

Indian team will be trough to South Africa very early in the second week of November, where they will be playing 3 test matches, 5 ODI's and and Twenty20 match against South Africa - the first every for Indian cricket team. Here's more.






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