We
have seen bigger losses ~ England was simply brilliant, that catch of Chris
Woakes dismissing Pant was exceptional – they fielded brilliantly, bowled to
plan, and had runs on the board – a clinical decimation of team India. India still have nothing to fear – just the
first loss – sure would sail to Semis and can take it further on – but when
Kedar Jadhav celebrated that boundary, it was too irritating – what hurt was not the loss, but the way the team crawled, the
intent was clearly missing,. As India
crawled, the die-hard Indian fan cried ..
Edgbaston Cricket
Ground, home to Warwickshire County
Cricket Club is in Birmingham. Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in
the West Midlands of England. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first
manufacturing town in the world".
The modern Birmingham is a major international commercial centre, It
possesses three universities and two university colleges make it the largest
centre of higher education in the United Kingdom outside London. Edgbaston traditionally has a reputation for
being one of the most highend, upmarket and/or affluent parts of Birmingham. Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of
the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket
structure; its home is Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
This is a historic
ground in existence for over a century.
Edgbaston's first test match was the first in the The Ashes series
against Australia in 1902. The scorecard reads : England 337 for 7
(Bairstow 111, Stokes 79, Roy 66, Shami 5-69) beat India306 (Rohit 102, Kohli
66, Plunkett 3-55) by 31 runs ~ clearly 31 was not the margin, Indians were
beaten squarely by a longer measure.
Jason Roy was back,
despite not being fully fit and that made a huge difference. Jonny Bairstow was
back to his monster-hitting mode. Liam Plunkett was back in the XI in a
tactical swap, replacing Moeen Ali, and took out Virat Kohli in a chase of 338.
'New' England got their wobbling World Cup campaign back on track at Edgbaston,
outbatting and outbowling India, clad in new, orange-and-dark-blue jerseys. If England can follow up their 31-run victory
on Sunday with another win against New Zealand on Wednesday, they will make the
semi-finals, irrespective of the other results.
Chris Woakes great catch dismissing Rishab Pant
We have
seen and heard it all ~ Rohit Sharma oozed class and alongwith Kohli blossomed
a fine partnership. Could not but imagine the blame Sachine would have had –
whenever India lost, social media would erupt stating that ‘when Sachin scores
a ton, India loses; he played for records and more’ – not to defame Rohit,
though he ended on losing side, his effort was valiant .. .. and we would hear
so many voices drowning Dhoni, blaming him for the loss. Some would call for
head, advocate Dinesh Karthik or question how Rishab Pant, who was not part of
the squad came into playing X1.
Sadly, towards the
end, MS Dhoni struggled to find the boundary, as did Kedar Jadhav, and they
even drew boos from the crowd. They gulped seven dots and took 20 singles in
the 31 balls they were there together. Dhoni made 42 off 31 while Kedar had 12
off 13 in a bizarre passage of play as India managed only 306 despite five wickets
in the shed. But the rot had set in at the start itself. Chasing a total as
steep as 338, India made just 28 runs in the first Powerplay. Then in the final
five overs of the innings MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav managed to hit just three
fours and a six while picking up 20 singles and playing out six dots. It might
be difficult to prove that India lost the match in these two crucial segments
of play, but what can be definitively said is India
lacked intent upfront and at the death – and that hurts !!
Indian openers,
especially Rohit Sharma, believe in following the routine of settling down
without taking any undue risk. However, 28 for 1 is the slowest start in the
World Cup after the first Powerplay. Partly that pressure was built after KL
Rahul rushed into a premeditated shot - a flick - off a straight delivery from
Chris Woakes, who took a lovely return catch. This after Woakes had bowled a
maiden to Rahul in the first over of the innings. In fact, it was India that
were in agony. Woakes bowled three consecutive maidens. The England fast
bowlers were highly disciplined as they kept mixing up the deliveries on a
pitch that was flat, but slow.
Virat Kohli has
questioned Edgbaston's short, 59-metre boundary where England openers picked
off a substantial percentage of runs against the Indian bowlers. Although Kohli
did not blame the shorter boundary for India's first defeat of the World Cup,
he did raise an eyebrow over the dimensions on one side, which he called
"bizarre" and "crazy" on a pitch that was flat, and slow. The
shorter boundary was a bother for India. On Saturday, as soon India arrived at
the ground, the coaching staff comprising Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Bangar and
Bharat Arun were seen having word with the head groundsman. As the host of the
tournament, the guidelines for pitch and ground conditions are set by the ICC. But that was a
physical measurement and what were the Chief Selector doing – in picking two wrist spinners in their first XI this
World Cup in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Perhaps a team of Ravindra
Jadeja in place of Kuldeep and Bhuvi in place of Jadhav could have made difference ..
It’s rare for a
bowler to draw the ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s when the batting team goes hammer and
tongs. Even rarer to bowl 30 dot balls in a 10-over spell when the batting team
makes 337. And in such a total, how often does one concede 27 in five overs
when the other five in the last 10 go for 65?
There is nothing exceptional
about figures of 10-1-44-1. But in bowling those overs, Jasprit Bumrah made
jaws drop for the way he made batsmen struggle to put bat on ball on a day when
willow dominated leather. “Bumrah was
outstanding in the end,” wrote VVS Laxman. “Outstanding spell. World No 1 for a
reason,” read one from Yuvraj Singh. “The best death bowler India has ever
produced?” asked Aakash Chopra. There were many not so famous names, posting
words of appreciation. It was all that and more. In the five overs he bowled in
the last 10, when England had wickets in hand and Ben Stokes was making a mess
of Mohammed Shami’s economy rate, Bumrah bowled three dot balls in each of over
numbers 43, 46 and 50. One more could have been added to the last one had the
batsmen not run a bye. There was one four against
him in this phase, off an edge.
.. .. in
the end, India lost – what hurts the average Indian fan – was the approach –
the crawling, the lack of intent – and when they show Ravi Shastri on screen or
Jadhav celebrating that boundary hit .. !! ~ the feeling was .. ..
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
1st July
2019
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