Indians have managed to shrug off the tag of chokers, writes L. Sivaramakrishnan
PULLING HIS WEIGHT: Spearhead of the Indian attack, Zaheer Khan, has taken up the responsibility of managing the final power-play overs.
India has wrapped up the series very convincingly. With it one can see the emerging confidence of a squad which believes in itself. From a group of brilliant individuals, they have transformed into a collective bunch who can finally call themselves ‘a team’. Indians have tasted victory and have discovered how addictive it can be. They have managed to shrug off the label ‘chokers’ and have grown in a short span from strength to strength.
The reasons may range from shrewd captaincy, to the coach’s ability to hold the team together or even exceptional individual performances. The bottom-line is that India is finally looking at a winning combination.
At a time when the senior most members of the team are looking to retire and young talents are being inducted, the team has managed to hold its own. There is a sense of wanting to make a contribution to the team — a contribution that counts.
In Bangalore, one could see Zaheer Khan given the responsibility of working with the bowlers. During the English batting power-play, Zaheer was seen talking to both Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel, setting the field for them and pointing out the most effective line and length to bowl. He himself bowled a brilliant first spell restricting England to just 21 runs in the first six overs. Yuvraj Singh took over the fielding aspect pushing the boys to run faster and dive harder.
Realistically speaking, this was England’s best chance to win. Choosing to bowl first, when weather was always a factor, was absolutely the right thing to do. Well knowing that the Duckworth/Lewis method was going to come into play, chasing a target was a smart option. But the catch here was that India knew it too! So what India needed to do was get quick runs without losing too many wickets.
Brilliant battingThis is exactly what they did. They not only scored quick runs but lost only one wicket by the end of 17 overs. Constant rain interruptions can not only break your concentration but the momentum of play as well. Given the circumstances, they batted brilliantly almost as if all their collective experience from their Twenty20 matches and IPL combined to produce some scintillating cricket.
With complicated calculations, India’s 166 runs in 22 overs was deemed to be equal to 197 runs in 22 overs, thanks to India not losing too many wickets before 20 overs. Getting almost 10 runs an over was always going to be an uphill task.
Fast bowlers impressIt was only when Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff got going that England posed any kind of threat. Rather than say that England did not make an impact, it would be fair to credit the Indian fast bowlers.
They choked the English batsmen and forced the runs to dry up when it counted the most. England managed to score only 14 runs off their power-play. With it they frittered away a chance of victory.
