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India takes inaccessible lead of 4-0Filed under
IndvEng Bangalore ODI
Aman Raj seems to be on a writing spree.. Following is third article by this 20 year Pune student inside 10 days.. view Aman's Orkut profile.The first win at Rajkot was comprehensive, second ODI at Indore was convincing, third at Kanpur was methodical, and yesterday, fourth ODI at Bengaluru it was majestic. Indeed, Indian wins in this Hero Honda ODI series has been as clean as a whistle. Hats off to Zaheer Khan.. for me, it was the 17th over of English innings (first over of their batting powerplay) which proved to be the turning point in the game. Easily the best over of the game, given the immense pressure it was bowled in. Zaheer Khan was asked to take the charge, and he gave nothing away..one yorker followed by other one, and then another. Failing to take advantage of batting powerplay, it also fetched wicket of Owasis Shah out of frustration. The left arm veteran was in the pick of things once again in the very next over as well as it wasn't the captain but Zaheer Khan himself who was setting the feild for fellow pacemen Ishant Sharma. Sharma proved why he is a captain's delight when he deceived Flintoff with a slower one. Sharma's ability to get key wickets continued as he counted for both Flintoff and Pieterson. England for the first time in the series, looked to have a hold on the game, although it was for a very short span of time. But nevertheless, Indian team did show signs of wear and tear and panic when Shah and Flintoff came out counter attacking after the loss of three early wickets. There were misfields, a drop catch and moments when the bowler was seen yelling at the fieldsmen in anguish. Shah showed tremendous temperament. He started off slowly and suddenly shifted the gears. The best part of his innings was his ability to hit sixes at will and with ease. He never looked like really hitting them, but every time he hit it - it went a good 10 to 15 yards back. One thing is for sure, in the next team meeting, India would be discussing plans exclusively for Owasis Shan as well . Flintoff was the power package of the game. There were a lot of sixes hit in this game but the biggest came from England Allrounder who hit Harbhajan Singh for a massive hit that almost kissed the roof of Chinnasawamy stadium. Flintoff was seeing the ball like a football in his 82 run stand with Shah which was the feature of the English reply. Powerplays still remain the cause of worries for England, out of the total 8 overs of powerplay in all, they scored 35 runs and lost three crucial wickets. It remains an unsolved mystery and England has to process it very quickly if they are to have any impact in the series. Indian spinners had a torrid time in the middle. It was difficult to grip the ball on the wet outfield. Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan gave away 90 runs in seven overs between them. In fact, it was the Indian pace trio of Zaheer, Munaf & Ishant which did the job for the team on the day. Early on, between all the delays and interruptions, India put up a total of 166/4 (converted to 198 on D\L method) in their alloted 22 overs. Sehwag carried his form forward from kanpur to score back to back half centuries. He and Gautam Gambhir once again assured India of a decent total. India finished with a flurry of sixes. Yuvraj,Dhoni and Pathan each of them got into the act to help India reach 166. India is looking a brutal force, there was intensity in the feild, sense of urgency in running between the stumps and aggression from the bowlers. Zaheer and Ishant bowled with a lot of fire, there was exchange of words and looks on their follow through more often than not especially in the first powerplay. These are the signs of a dominant team, this is what Aussies were really good at. India looks to carry on the same trend, they seem to demoralize the opponent. The look on Pieterson's face said it all at the presentation. He was quick to admit that his side has been outplayed in the series so far. He said "India are playing fantastic cricket they have beaten Australia convincingly and now they have beaten us". Certainly these are ominous signs for the rest of the teams. There are three more games to be layed in the series and I would like if India takes it as a fresh 3 match series. The senior pros will be rotated in the rest of the series to make an ideal composition with young fellows like Irfan Patan, Virat Kohli and Pragyan Ojha. I think Dhoni will go for the kill and won't let the momentum shift prior to the test series. A 7-0 result is there for the taking, let's see whether India can do a clean sweep or not!! Photo Quiz : Identify Cricketers | Pictures : Cricketers Wife & Girlfriends Related ArticlesIndvEng Bangalore ODI
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