da betway： Over the years, the Oval has built up a reputation of being atrue track, one brimming over with runs for the batsmen
Erapalli Prasanna10-Jul-2002Over the years, the Oval has built up a reputation of being atrue track, one brimming over with runs for the batsmen. But evenon the truest of tracks, a limited-overs match reduced to 32overs per side becomes something of a lottery. The swift changein conditions hardly afford a captain or coach any time to chalkout a strategy, and the only effective ploy is to bat out thefull 32 overs.In such a situation, one can feel for Sourav Ganguly, and he didthe right thing by electing to field after winning the toss. Itis very difficult to know what target to set in such conditions,and with a palpably stronger batting line-up, India always hadthe better chance when chasing a target. England, on the otherhand, would have been under pressure to take calculated risksright from the outset and put up a decent score.
© CricInfoAs was expected, India had made a few changes to the team astheir place in the NatWest final was assured. But I feel sorryfor Harbhajan Singh. The off-spinner is a proven match-winner andshould be a permanent fixture in the team. Even if the rationalebeing followed dictates that England not see too much ofHarbhajan before the Tests, his being held back strikes me as amistake.After all, England have seen enough of Harbhajan – even in hisown backyard in India – and meanwhile the bowler is missing outon valuable match practice. Moreover, Harbhajan has demonstratedan aptitude to get on a roll once he takes a wicket, and suchdouble-blows are vital in limited-overs cricket.In my opinion, it was the professional approach of the Englishmenthat helped them finally win the match, handing India their firstloss in a hitherto successful tri-series. Ronnie Irani, coming inat number three, played especially well, and the English battingmeshed to revolve around him. Andy Flintoff and Michael Vaughanscored runs at a blistering pace, and even though India bowledwell towards the end and picked up a flurry of wickets, the lastball six from Darren Gough showed that the English were not goingto let a delivery go wasted.
© CricInfoIrani has been England’s find of this one-day series. Called backinto the team after a rather long hiatus, Irani has beencontributing to the English cause consistently in everydepartment of the game. Not too often does one see an all-rounderscore a fifty and pick five wickets, and that type of performancereally does deserve a magnum of champagne and many accolades.Irani must be congratulated for his emphatic comeback, especiallyconsidering the fact that the English selectors can be veryruthless when it comes to these so-called bits-and-piecescricketers.The steep target before India was already the first punchdelivered when the openers strode out to the middle. But to behonest, it was not only the spiralling run-rate that caused themayhem in the second innings. Irani’s ability to wobble the ballaround, off the pitch and in the air, caught the Indian batsmenunawares. The dismissal of Yuvraj Singh, courtesy a brilliantleg-side stumping by Alec Stewart, turned the matchcomprehensively in England’s favour. Stewart, incidentally, hashad an excellent series thus far, yet another pointer to thevalue of experience.Before this match, India were almost invincible in this series,primarily due to their explosive batting strength. The realdanger was that, at sometime or another in the near future, thebatting would crumble under pressure. On Tuesday, I thought therewas a marked lack of purpose to the Indian batting, and Ganguly’sdismissal was perhaps the most obvious sign of the complacencythat seems to have crept in. It is here that India miss a goodall-rounder like Flintoff, who will have a crucial role to playin the 2003 World Cup.Losing to England by a wide enough margin to hand them a bonuspoint and an immense psychological advantage ahead of Saturday’sfinal was not the smartest thing to do. Having said that, Indiahave a good chance of heading the points table by beating SriLanka at Bristol on Thursday. Moreover, as the result of thematch is only of academic interest, I hope to see Harbhajan andTinu Yohannan in action.