Neither the rain nor the Duckworth Lewis method which, until the final ODI favoured the English, could save India the ignominy of not winning a single match on the tour as Jonny Bairstow shone on debut to help England wrap the ODI series 3-0. Injuries, poor cricket accompanied by some exceptional performances from the hosts, rain and a few more injuries ensured that the World Champions had a forgettable tour of the country that once colonized them for centuries.
India's miserable tour finally comes to an end
After the 4-0 drubbing in the Tests, the younger generation did marginally better in the shorter version and might have well won two of the games if it wasn’t for the rain. The World Cup winners neither had the services of their top run getter nor the Man of the Series of the tournament. Their best bowler limped out with an injury in the first session of the tour and things have gone downhill since. The lack of an experienced bowler really did India a lot of harm as the inexperienced lot found it difficult to restrain the opposition after the batsmen put up a decent score on board.
Parthiv Patel got off to a blazing start with a 95 in the rained off 1st ODI while his partner Ajinkya Rahane has won a few fans in England. Looking completely at ease on his first international tour, Rahane provided India with the starts it terribly missed during the Test series. Dravid, in his last assignment as an ODI player, didn’t have the best of his series but bowed out in style with a fighting 69 in his final innings.
The batsmen, after the disaster in the Test series, stepped up a gear as Raina looked a completely different player from the one that was struggling in the Tests. While Kohli and Dhoni did their bit, Jadeja stepped up and delivered when required but it was the lack of sting in the bowling that was exposed. Without the services of Zaheer, Ishant and Harbhajan, India lacked the experience required to spearhead an attack. While Praveen Kumar was India’s most effective player in the Tests, he found the going a bit tough when the batsmen attacked him in the ODI’s while Munaf Patel’s attitude in the field was baffling. Ashwin and Jadeja did their bit to contain the opposition while RP Singh and Vinay Kumar were guilty of leaking way too many runs as a result of which there was no real pressure on the English batsmen while chasing.
The difficult part for India will begin now. After the highs of winning the World Cup, they were brought back to earth and now is the time to rebuild and bounce back after the disaster of this tour. India’s first assignment would be in October when England themselves would tour the subcontinent. India would undoubtedly like to have their star players and big names back by then but what would be essential is to retain a portion of the inexperienced lot and make them play alongside the big names. It would be an invaluable experience for an Ajinkya Rahane, for example, to learn from Sachin Tendulkar about the nuances of handling pressure at a very young age or for a Vinay Kumar to learn how Zaheer maintaines his head in a tight situation.
Great teams are not determined by how soon they reach the top, it is how they fight back when they lose it and Dhoni’s team, with a blend of experience and youth, have all the characteristics it takes to bounce back when they are down and out!
Tags: Cricket, Cricket India, England, India, Indian Cricket Team, World Champions
