Team India Rocked!!!

Oh today's day was full of tensions....throughout the day!!!It's just I love tensions so much!
It was my IIFT examination today...one silly mistake and a loss of 1300 rupees along with the 2 hours of 'hair-pulling' session!Like all my friends,I too got excited about doing MBA just after completing B.Tech. and this was just for a few days...probably 2 weeks atmost.And in the mean time,I filled up the form of IIFT(Indian Institute of Foreign Trade,Delhi) which costed Rs.1300 plus speed post charges,printout and auto fair!Thankfully by the time ,the last date to fill up CAT's form had already gone and so I was saved by another Rs.1300 blunder.Anyways,yesterday I finally decided that I would go and appear for the exam.Just 'coz I had already made the mistake.So I went today.The paper was so so so frustrating that I could appear only 28 questions out of 150.The people at IIFT are such miser that they alloted marks per question in decimals(0.8,0.7,0.3).So,I attempted only 16.8 marks out of 100.But since I had nothing to loose here,it was okay.A nice experience! :)
Came out of the examination hall and saw the same look on everyone's face.It was so relieving.
But this examination was never on my mind until today morning.So,as soon as the exam ended and I reached my hostel,the biggest anxiety of today captured my thoughts.Day after tomorrow is my last paper of 7th sem.What!You think this was the biggest anxiety.C'mon you got to be kidding me.I'm an engineer and I like deadlines.Kal ka din baki hai abhi na!Anyways,the biggest anxiety was today's cricket match between India and England.The 4th one-dayer of the 7 one-day matches series.So,I was in front of the TV 15 minutes before the match started.India had already won the first 3 one days and a win today would have meant a series win with an insuppressable lead of 4-0.The climate at Bangalore was not very encouraging except that it wasn't raining like the previous match at Kanpur.
Kevin Petersen won the toss and as expected,looking at the overhead conditions,chose to field.Sachin Tendulkar was back in the squad and opened with Sehwag.He didn't last long and fell cheap for just 11.India were 38 at that stage.Then came Gautam Gambhir and the partnership between Gambhir and Sehwag took India to 106/1 at the end of 17th overs.There was an intrruption at the end of 14th over as rain started pouring heavily.Before that the soil near the bowler's end was coming loose again and again and groundsmen had to toil hard to keep it in shape.
The rain after the 17th over wasted a lot of play time.Finally,the match was reduced to a 22-22 overs match.It was a clear disadvantage for India as it meant that India would get only 5 more overs to play while England could plan their innings accordingly.But the good thing was all the English strike bowlers had bowled their spell of atleast 5 overs in the 17 overs itself.So that meant the rest 5 overs were to be bowled by the spinners only.But then too we were not much hopeful of India winning this match.But just for a while,'coz our team has certainly changed in the past one year.I was discussing with Ranjan that if we somehow score 50 odd runs in the last 5 overs,it would take the score to 156 which would be defendable although not secure.Sehwag hit the first ball way back into stands for a six and the whole crowd of ours was on a roll.But he didn't last long and after scoring a furious 69,he fell.


And then Gambhir also followed him.But with them departing,the real havocs were on the field.The super-in form Yuvraj Singh and our cool cap Dhoni.Yuvvi continued his super form this time too and hit 3 clean sixes in his 25* off 11 balls innings.Dhoni started well with a six but fell cheap for 9 off 5 balls.Yusuf Pathan faced the last ball of the innings and he did what we really wanted him to do at that stage:A Six!India posted a total of 166/4 in its stipulated 22 overs i.e. 60 runs off the last 5 overs!It was better than what we expected but it was not going to be enough,atleast if Peterson & Flintoff stayed.
Everyone was charged up by that time...and I am talking about people in my hostel.
England innings started and we had a very pleasant surprise.The target was revised to 198 in the same 22 overs for England through the Duckworth Louis Rule!!!Now this was a fighting total...well I calling it a fighting total 'coz where the target was increased,England were also given an 8-over powerplay with the 2-over powerplay that was to be taken by the batsmen.So,it seemed a well poised match.No,actually I thought it was a little bent towards us.
The batsmen showed the magnitude of their destructiveness when required,it was the turn of the bowlers to prove their mettle.And Zahir Khan,Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma did that.Engalnd were 21/1 by the end of 6 overs.The first 6 overs of powerplay.And then came the spinners.Yusuf Pathan was hit for 17 off his very first over and Harbhajan Singh went for 10 and slowly the match seemed to turn to their side with Owais Shah hitting hard.India managed to remove the most dangerous player of England,Kevin Petersen, cheaply.But Flintoff showed why he can be as destructive as anyone on his day.Both scored quickly and without taking undue risks.And at one stage they were 125/4 at the end of 15 0vers and requiring just 73 off the next 7 overs.It wasn't difficult for them.If only they would have survived.Ranjan was getting anxious at the way they were hitting the bowlers out of ground and claimed that we have lost it.But I believed that if we get one good over and that too by the 5th bowler...it would hurt them a lot and they would certainly take extra risk.And that is where we will strike back.Yuvraj bowled the 16th over giving only 5 runs.And that was it.Next over they took the last powerplay and went for extra risks.Both Owais Shah and Flintoff were in the pavilion by the time the powerplay of 2 overs ended.India took back the reins of the match.
After that it was just not as tough.With the last ball requiring 20 runs for England to win the match,we were fully satisfied at leaving studies for this match.Virender Sehwag was named the Man of The Match.And India won the series with 4-0.I am pretty impressed by the way our team is performing on field.They really seem to gel like a team after Dhoni had taken the reins.The fielding has improved tremendously.Most batsmen are in tremendous form.Bowlers are making the life of the opposition batsmen like hell.And we are winning on trot.Earlier this month it was the numero uno team Australia who faced the dread and now England.
I couldn't see the rise of Sachin Tendulkar as the pivot of our batting as by the time I started watching cricket in around 1996,he was already well established.But,I am certainly watching the rise of 'The Greatest Captain of All Times' Mahendra Singh Dhoni,our Jharkhand lad.And the rise of the next 'Numero Uno' team,Team India.
Mark my words.















The Score-card:

England in India, 2008 India vs England, 4th ODI M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, November 23, 2008

Match Information Umpires: Daryl Harper (Aus) & Amiesh Saheba (Ind) Third Umpire: S K Tarapore (Ind) Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama (SL) Toss: England (Elected to field) Match Status: India won by 19 runs Match State: Rain reduced game (22 overs)

India Innings | England Innings

Batting: India Innings

Batsmen India (166/4 in 22 ovs) Runs Balls 4's 6's SR Virender Sehwag c J Anderson b G Swann 69 57 9 3 121.05 Sachin Tendulkar b S Broad 11 21 2 0 52.38 Gautam Gambhir c J Anderson b G Swann 40 37 7 0 108.11 Yuvraj Singh not out 25 11 0 3 227.27 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c) (wk) b S Patel 9 5 0 1 180.00 Yusuf Pathan not out 6 1 0 1 600.00 Suresh Raina Harbhajan Singh Zaheer Khan Ishant Sharma Munaf Patel Extras: b - 1, w - 4, nb - 0, lb - 1 6 Total: (166 for 4 in 22 overs) 166 Run Rate: 7.55

Fall Of Wickets

1/38 (Sachin Tendulkar, 7.5 ov.), 2/117 (Virender Sehwag, 18.1 ov.), 3/142 (Gautam Gambhir, 20.2 ov.), 4/160 (Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 21.5 ov.)

Bowling: England

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER James Anderson 5 0 33 0 0 1 6.6 Stuart Broad 6 1 49 1 0 0 8.2 Andrew Flintoff 5 0 20 0 0 2 4.0 Samit Patel 3 0 24 1 0 0 8.0 Graeme Swann 2 0 21 2 0 0 10.5 Kevin Pietersen 1 0 17 0 0 1 17.0

Batting: England Innings

Batsmen England (178/8 in 22 ovs) Runs Balls 4's 6's SR Ravinder Bopara c I Sharma b M Patel 1 7 0 0 14.29 Ian Bell b H Singh 12 15 1 0 80.00 Owais Shah c S Tendulkar b Z Khan 72 48 9 3 150.00 Kevin Pietersen (c) b I Sharma 5 5 1 0 100.00 Andrew Flintoff c Z Khan b I Sharma 41 30 3 1 136.67 Paul Collingwood c S Tendulkar b M Patel 22 14 3 0 157.14 Samit Patel c G Gambhir b Z Khan 11 9 1 0 122.22 Graeme Swann run out (M Patel) 5 4 1 0 125.00 Matthew Prior (wk) not out 0 0 0 0 0.00 Stuart Broad not out 0 1 0 0 0.00 James Anderson Extras: b - 3, w - 3, nb - 1, lb - 2 9 Total: (178 for 8 in 22 overs) 178 Run Rate: 8.09

Fall Of Wickets

1/1 (Ravinder Bopara, 1.2 ov.), 2/44 (Ian Bell, 7.4 ov.), 3/52 (Kevin Pietersen, 8.5 ov.), 4/134 (Owais Shah, 16.5 ov.), 5/141 (Andrew Flintoff, 17.4 ov.), 6/161 (Samit Patel, 19.6 ov.), 7/178 (Graeme Swann, 21.4 ov.), 8/178 (Paul Collingwood, 21.5 ov.)

Bowling: India

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Zaheer Khan 5 0 20 2 0 0 4.0 Munaf Patel 4 1 22 2 0 1 5.5 Ishant Sharma 5 0 41 2 1 1 8.2 Yusuf Pathan 1 0 17 0 0 0 17.0 Harbhajan Singh 4 0 42 1 0 0 10.5 Yuvraj Singh 3 0 31 0 0 1 10.3

Powerplays

India Innings Powerplay 2: Overs 11-14 (Bowling) Powerplay 3: Overs 15-18 (Batting) England Innings Powerplay 2: Overs 5-6 (Bowling) Powerplay 3: Overs 17-18 (Batting)

And yeah!Did I tell you that this was the 700th ODI India played.