Preview: England V/S India, 5th ODI at Dharamshala

India and England Face-off at Dharamshala

The Pakistan tour concluded at a happy note for India. The last match at Kotla was a nerve stumbling thriller. Another dismal performance was put up by the Indian batsman and they just managed to score 167 . It seemed as though the battle was already lost, but the bowlers bowled their heart out that evening, in the chilly weather which was threatening to go down the freezing point. Bhuwaneshvar Kumar, who impressed throughout the series bowled with speed and movement which was enough to claim two Pakistani wickets within ten overs. The later part was then taken care of by the debutant Shami Ahmed. The spin duo of Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja slowed down the scoring and built pressure on the Pakistani batsmen. Umar Akmal, who was looking in good touch, perished after scoring 25 when he danced down the wicket in an attempt to  break-free and missed the ball, which was bowled short by Ashwin. Dhoni collected the ball and took the bails off. Ashwin also claimed the important wicket of Nasir Jamshed who was in pretty good touch. The penultimate over was critical and the responsibility of bowling that over was handed to Ishant Sharma. It appeared as he had pledged, "I will only bowl length", before the start of that over. He started off with a fullish delivery outside the offstump and was skillfully deposited over point bisecting the deep cover and deep third-man fielders by Md. Hafeez. Next ball was heaved over wide mid-on which beget him a couple of runs. Next ball was short outside off-stump and was hammered over extra cover for 4 runs. Mohammad Hafeez threatened to take the game away from India. In a span of 3 deliveries he had changed the equation of 23 off 12 to 12 off 9. The next ball was 'GAME' for India. Luckily, Ishant Sharma's delivery found the toe of Haffez's bat and he was caught at short  midwicket by Yuvraj Singh. If that ball had hit the meet of Haffezs' bat that was certainly another boundary. Pakistan were All out for 157 and they lost the game by 10 runs. We hoped that team India's miseries will end with this victory and it surely did.

The first match b/w India and England was played at the new Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on 11th of January. England piled up 325, thanks to the heroics of Samit Patel & Craig Keiswetter in the death overs. India had a great start piling up 100 run in 18.4 overs but wickets of Gautam Gambhir & Ajinkya Rahane in quick succession pushed India on the back foot. Virat Kohli and and Yuvraj Singh tried building a partnership but Virat Kohli, who was not in great touch, got out caught by the wicket keeper trying to play the loafted extra cover drive. Suresh Raina And Yuvraj had a great Partnership. It was dominated by Yuvraj who was in punishing mood and was sweeping the spinners and flicking pacers for sixes. Then Yuvraj also perished trying to paddle Tredwell down to fine-leg and was caught at short - fine-leg. Suresh Raina also reached his 50 then was dismissed softly, c & b Tredwell.

The 42nd over was bowled by Samit patel which Saw two massive sixes from Dhoni and the second was one- handed. He then hit Bresnan over long-on for 6. The very next over, he was caught at mid-off of Dernbach. Afterwards, Ravindra Jadeja inside - edged a pull short onto the stumps and India's ship started to sink. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Ashwin tried to take  India  home but India lost the match by 10 runs.

Next Match, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, 15/01/013

India won the toss and chose to bat first 

India lost their openers early. Yuvraj and Kohli steadied the ship but then Yuvraj was given LBW from a ball pitching outside leg stump of Tredwell. Kohli also perished after a few overs. India were 97/4 then. Dhoni and Raina joined hands and put on a partnership off 90 odd runs.

During the 38th over Raina dragged one onto his stups trying to slog a Steve Finn delivery towards midwicket. India were 190/5 then. In the 42nd over Dhoni launched Chris Woakes over wide mid- on for a 6. Jadeja chewed the 43rd over up for a solitary run. Dhoni said something to him and the rest is history. He scored 46 of his next 16 balls he faced and shared a partnership of 98 runs with Dhoni. He also extracted 16 runs of the last 3 balls of the innings which allowed  India  to post a mammoth 285/5. England were shaken up by Shami Ahmed and Bhuwaneshvar Kumar who claimed 4 crucial top order English wickets. England crumbled to 158 all out.  India  won the match by 127 runs.

Next Two matches saw an Indian Domination

Ranchi, 19th January

England 155/10

India 157/3

India won the match by 7 wickets

Mohali, 23rd January.

England had a solid start, but were shaken up by the Indian spinners in the batting Powerplay. Joe root, who played well in Ranchi and Kochi, stood out this time. He counter attacked India by his 45 ball 57 and shared a very good partnership with Kevin Peiterson who scored 73.

England Posted 257/8

India surprised everyone by sending Rohit Sharma to open the innings. The decision paid off as he scored a fluent 83 of 93. The match was finished by Raina who scored 89.

Now that India have won the series, A few questions arise:

1. What is the purpose of having an out of form opener in the form of Gautam Gambhir in the team?
2. Why aren't Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane released for the Ranji Finals when they are not playing in any of the matches?

These are critical questions ahead of the team management before the final ODI.

The teams are likely to be

India : -

1. Cheteshwar Pujara/Gautam Gambhir 2. Rohit Sharma 3. Virat Kohli 4. Yuvraj Singh 5. Suresh Raina 6. M.S. Dhoni 7. Ravindra Jadeja 8. R. Ashwin 9. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 10. Ishant Sharma 11. Shami Ahmed

England : -

1. Ian Bell 2.  Alastair Cook 3. Kevin Peiterson 4. Eoin Morgan 5. Joe Root 6. Samit Patel 7. Jos Butler 8. Tim Bresnan*/James tredwell 9. Steven Finn 10. Struat Meaker 11. Jade Dernbach

England will play for pride and India to keep on the winning momentum.

India are high confidence and England on high self esteem.

Lets see who will win tommorow?

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