How much difference can a change in format make in cricket? Just three weeks ago, with the end of the Test series that India humiliatingly lost 3-1, after being 1-0 ahead, it seemed that the entire world was ranged against the Indian cricket team and its long serving captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni was just days away from losing his job as the captain, and even losing his spot in the Indian team. It simply couldn’t get worse for him and the Indian cricket team.
And then Suresh Raina played a blinder in the 2nd match of the one day series against England at Cardiff. India won that match, and have never looked back since, only getting better match after match. Yesterday’s match at Edgbaston in Birmingham saw India play the perfect cricket match. It simply can’t get better than this.
Put into bat, England struggled right from the start. Captain Alastair Cook is not really a limited overs batsman and it showed. It didn’t take Bhuvneshwar Kumar long to dislodge Cook, and he had the other opener Alex Hales too. As Shami got Gary Ballace caught by Ajinkya Rahane, England were already staring at the barrel at 23 for 3.
Joe Root and Eoin Morgan struggled to hold things steady, but couldn’t really get the scoreboard moving. They both got out to the spinners, and it was only Moeen Ali at the end who gave the England bowlers something to defend by smashing a brilliant 67 off just 50 balls, with 4 fours and 3 sixes. But 206 was all that England could get.
India started with Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan. Rahane has been India’s best batsman in this tour, both in the Test series and the one dayers, and it showed. Rahane simply demolished the England bowling, going after them with calculated cricket shots designed to get the most benefits, playing aggressive cricket, but by playing with a straight bat and not giving the England bowlers even a whiff of a chance.
Shikhar Dhawan has been down on confidence, but at last, he joined the party, starting slowly at first and then playing his trademark swashbuckling shots. Rahane got his hundred easily, with plenty of time to spare, and by the time he got out, India had virtually won the match. Shikhar didn’t take long to finish the game off with a string of fabulous shots that he is famous for. India won a famous victory winning by 9 wickets and 20 overs to spare. It was a perfect win that has not only won the series for India, but also taken them on top of the world ODI ranking.
Captain Dhoni was understandably elated after the fantastic performance:
“The good thing is, we have kept improving from the first ODI on,” he said. “That’s definitely a big positive. It was a good toss to win today. The fast bowlers bowled really well initially and gave us those early breakthroughs, because of which we were able to put pressure on their middle order. Overall, I’m very happy. Jinks [Rahane] also got a century. We got an opening partnership. So a complete game for us.”
Dhoni said that his team was not really tested because they didn’t let Alastair Cook’s men test them. “That’s what happens in cricket. At times, you get early breakthroughs and you think that your batting or bowling has not been tested. You only get tested when you don’t get those breakthroughs. When you don’t get those early wickets and then the wicket doesn’t help you in middle overs, the spinners find it difficult to get wickets.
“We were not tested because our fast bowlers bowled well initially in the game. Where they didn’t bowl well, the spinners took the responsibility. So on and off it was good. Batting, we have kept improving from the first game, which I feel is important. We will only see how much we will be tested. Testing is good, but you don’t always want to be tested. You want to win games easily too, you don’t always want to hang in until the 49th-50th over.”
Trying to make sense of the difference between the performance of his team in the Test series and now in the One Day matches, Dhoni said,”It’s not only that. It’s not about consolation prizes. It’s about winning the series. Once you have lost the Test series, there is no real point thinking about it, because it is done and dusted. With the World Cup coming up, it is very important we start doing well outside the subcontinent. We don’t think about what happened in the Test series, and what will happen in the future series.”
