The Indian team clinched the one-day series against England on Thursday. Following their win in the 1st ODI in Pune, they also defeated the visitors in the second ODI, which was played in Cuttack. After recovering from a disastrous start to post a commanding 381-6, team India won crucial moments, picked up wickets at crucial junctures, ensured the visitors were always behind the eight ball. The 15-run win in this match and the 2-0 lead in the three-match series gave Virat Kohli his first series win after being nominated the regular captain of team India.
Earlier in the afternoon – particularly the first thirty minutes of the match – was a testing period for team India. After being asked to bat, the home team lost the top three – including skipper Virat Kohli – in the first five overs. At 25-3, India were in deep trouble; another wicket at the time could have given England the opportunity to dictate terms and could have well resulted in India being bowled out cheaply.
But two old pros – Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni – bailed India through that difficult period and helped the team post a humongous total. Yuvraj Singh scored a career-best 150 – his first ODI century since the 2011 World Cup, while Dhoni scored 134 – his tenth hundred in ODIs and his first three-figure score in ODIs since 2013.
Glimpse of Yuvraj’s Good Old Days
Watching Yuvraj put the England bowlers to the sword, it reminded of the Yuvraj Singh in the pink of form all those years ago. Drives pierced the gap on the off-side. Lofted shots appeared to come off the sweetest spot on the bat. Cricket balls zipped across the turf. The bat swing was smooth. The lazy elegance was there again. Two things stood out in the left-hander’s knock on thursday: one, his intent from the beginning, and two, his attitude against the short-pitched deliveries dished out by the England quicks.
It is well documented that Yuvraj Singh isn’t comfortable facing up to the short-pitched delivery. Time and again, the left-hander has been found wanting, and his frailties against the short deliveries have been exposed repeatedly. It was not a surprise therefore, that the England quicks repeatedly used the short ball tactic against him.
On Thursday, it appeared Yuvraj had walked out with the intention of wanting to punish, to dispel theories of him not being at ease against the short deliveries. He creamed the full-pitched deliveries and dismissed the back of length deliveries with equal ease. In fact, he scored more off the short deliveries than he did off the other deliveries.
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Contrasting Hundreds
It was interesting to observe how the two batsmen chose to go about the job on hand; both batsmen ended up scoring hundreds, but those were the outcome of scoring runs in contrasting styles. While Yuvraj Singh took the “take the attack to the opposition” approach, Dhoni bided his time before putting the foot on the pedal in the later stages of his innings.
Yuvraj took an over or two to size up the conditions, but once he had a good idea of how the pitch was behaving, he went hammer and tongs at the English bowlers and kept the foot on the accelerator all the time. After opening his account with a single and picking up one more single thereafter, he threw caution to the winds; his next six scoring strokes were all boundaries – each one coming off the middle of the bat. The left-hander got to his half-century off 56 balls, and needed only a further 42 balls to get to the three-figure mark. He needed only a further 28 deliveries to race to 150.
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At the other end, Dhoni built his innings and steadily upped the ante; he had only one run against his name after facing 15 deliveries, and did not hit a boundary until after he had faced 22 balls. He crawled to a 68-ball half-century, but thereafter seamlessly switched to overdrive mode, scoring 81 runs off the next 54 deliveries he faced at a strike-rate of 150.
Dhoni’s knock on Thursday was reaffirmation that he still has plenty of cricket left in him. Most importantly, it was a window into the man’s belief – no matter how little cricket he plays, how poor his form, he still believes and has what it takes to successfully finish the innings.
Thanks to the efforts of Yuvraj and Dhoni, and their magnificent partnership – the second-highest 4th wicket partnership in ODIs – India finished with 381 runs on the board.
England Gave a Tough Fight
In their run-chase, England did not surrender, despite having to score at 7.64 runs per over from ball one. Opener Jason Roy scored 82, Joe Root chipped in with 54, Moeen Ali contributed a brisk 55 and captain Eoin Morgan scored his 9th ODI hundred – his first in more than eighteen months. All those knocks were only enough to take England as far as 366-8 – their highest total in ODI run-chases.
Unfortunately for the visitors, they came second best on the day and are still without a win on this tour of India. They have an opportunity to get that first win on the board when they take on India in the third and final ODI of the series which will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 22 January.
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