Historic win for India

By Amit
April 6 2006

India won the 4th ODI and with that the series after an all-round show by Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag and some excellent captaincy and batting by Rahul Dravid. With this win, India created history with a world record for most consecutive wins chasing: 15 matches on the trot.

4th ODI India v England: England won the toss and decided to bat first on a good batting pitch at Kochi. Unlike the 1st 3 matches where pitches tended to be low-scoring and difficult for batsman to play on, this looked like a 300+ pitch.

For India, Pathan and Sreesanth found some swing going early on as the conditions favoured swing in the first half hour. Pathan made use of it by sending Strauss out LBW and Sreesanth removed Prior caught behind just 3 overs later. Now Collingwood joined Pietersen and the two batted well and played their shots, with Pietersen even hitting an edged 6 off Sreesanth. With Pietersen at the crease, India decided to delay the use of power-plays and did not take them instantly after the 10th over waiting for Pietersen to get out. But that was not to be as Pietersen hit shots all around, with Collingwood giving him good support.

With the pacers proving ineffective, spinners Harbhajan and Powar were brought on, but although they brought the run-rate down a bit to around 5.5 from 6, they proved ineffective in taking wickets with Pietersen playing the spinners with ease. Dravid decided to bring on Yuvraj Singh who took a sensational caught-and-bowled off Collingwood to bring India back into the game. However, India still delayed the use of power-play even after 22 overs had been bowled despite the fact that Yuvraj Singh was bowling well and troubling the England batsmen. England were looking like taking the game away from India with Pietersen batting well.

With England on 148/3 after 28 overs with both power-plays still left and two big hitters Flintoff and Pietersen at the crease, England were looking set for a 300+ score. India finally decided on a gamble to take a power-play which paid off as Pietersen fell in the trap of going for big-hits, top-edging a Harbhajan Singh ball to Yuvraj at mid-wicket. Very next over, Yuvraj Singh struck to remove Flintoff out caught at mid-on by Dravid as India roared back into the game with England at 155/5 with both their in-form batsman out. All Indian spinners, including the part-timers, were bowling well and gave nothing away to the England batsmen.

Ramesh Powar, in the 34th over, bowled a classic off-spinner delivery which turned in from way outside the off stump to remove Solanki out bowled leaving Geraint Jones to bat with the tail. The England run-rate, which was around 5.5 at one stage, came down to under 5 with the England lower-order struggling. For England, Geraint Jones did a bit of a repair work, making 49 himself to take England to 237 despite wickets falling at the other end to Sehwag, who removed Blackwell caught and bowled and 2 overs later, removed Batty LBW. Geraint Jones rotated the strike well and took quick singles before being finally run-out in the 49th over, just 1 over after Hoggard was run-out to a direct hit from Agarkar.

The England innings finally ended at 237 off 48.4 overs. The fact that England sent in their three main ODI players, Pietersen, Collingwood, and Flintoff at No. 3, 4 and 5, came back to haunt them as once five wickets fell, England were left with no player who could do the big-hitting and accelerate the scoring rate in the last 10 overs, and the best that England could have hoped for was 260-270 after Flintoff went out.

Indian innings: Sehwag had a bit of a shaky start as he was dropped in a mix-up between 2 England fielders and another ball passed close to the stumps. However, Sehwag and Dravid gave India a strong start taking the score to 54/1 off 10.4 overs before Sehwag was caught at deep mid-wicket trying to hit a Blackwell delivery for 6. Just like India, even England delayed the use of power-plays and after 10 overs, with the absence of any power-play, field was spread out and this brought the downfall of Sehwag. India then sent in Irfan Pathan who along with Dravid played his shots, keeping the Indian run rate above 5 without taking any risks.

After 23 overs, England finally took the gamble of a power-play and just like India, it seemed to work for England as Dravid was out caught in the covers off Flintoff and 3 overs later, Irfan Pathan went out giving England a sniff of a chance. This made England take another power-play. Next over, Kaif was highly unlucky to get out as Anderson took an excellent catch at extra-cover off Flintoff. India were now at 152/4 and the match could have turned either way. This brought on Yuvraj and Raina at the crease.

Here, the match could have turned either way, but Yuvraj and Raina had other plans as the two first built the innings without taking any risks and ensuring the loss of no further wickets and later, having reached a comfortable situation, started playing their shots. In the 39th over, bowled by Anderson, Yuvraj Singh hit 3 boundaries to end any hope of an England win. In the 44th over, with only 14 runs left for India to make, Raina top-edged a Anderson ball and was out caught at mid-on and Yuvraj was out caught behind 2 overs later for 48, but Dhoni took India to a comfortable win by knocking off the remaining runs as India won the match by 4 wickets and with that the series 4-0.

India, with a win in this match, also created history for the most consecutive wins chasing by winning 15 games on the trot chasing, and look like extending this sequence further breaking West Indies record of 14 wins.