In today's match Kevin Pietersen showed that England is a one-man batting army with an occasional support from Andrew Flintoff. Pietersen played a good knock on a slow and turning wicket but was out to a very rash stroke.
When he was at the crease, Indian bowlers were totally clueless and hoping for a mistake from the batsman. Pietersen obliged them with a pre-mediated sweep shot that ballooned up in the air and Yuvraj took an easy catch.
Flintoff also went back soon and after that it was clear that England innings would came to a premature end.
The other batsmen failed to apply themselves when the situation demanded and this meant that England were short by 40-50 runs on a good batting track.
Rahul Dravid used the power plays intelligently and his bowlers bowled a tight line and length after the fall of Pietersen to bowl out the visitors.
Yuvraj and Sehwag came good with the ball and that eased up the pressure on the team as the main bowlers had been mauled badly by Pietersen.
Both of then did their bowling job to perfection and reminded me of Mohinder Amarnath.
However, I am very surprised that when it came to batting Sehwag did not show the same zeal. He got off to a good start but could not convert his knock into a big score.
Dravid and Pathan played sensibly and though we lost four wickets with 152 runs on the board, Yuvraj and Raina made sure that the target was not very difficult to achieve.
Yuvraj is in the prime form of his life and making full use of all the opportunities that he has been getting.
But the biggest surprise today was the inclusion of Mohammad Kaif in the playing XI. Instead India could have tried some other youngster like Uthappa or RP Singh.
The wickets on which the ODIs have been played are also not the ones where a weak England team could pose much trouble to India.
We may be patting our back after winning the series but these wickets are tailor made for our slow bowlers and spinners. When our team goes out of the sub-continent they suffer because there the pitches are fast and bouncy.
Ideally, I would like wickets that have a little more pace and bounce as that will not only improve the technique of our batsmen but also give them a taste of what they will face of foreign soil.
(Krish Srikkanth is a former skipper of Indian cricket team. He maintains a regular blog on IBNLive. His website is www.krishcricket.com)
About the AuthorKrishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth was one of the most destructive batsmen who could decimate the strongest and most fearsome attacks in the world by his vast r...Read Morefirst published:April 06, 2006, 19:48 ISTlast updated:April 06, 2006, 19:48 IST
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England have been totally out played in the One-Day series though Team India, too, is not in the best of the form. The visitors have not been able to bat for the full quota of 50 overs even once in the series and Kochi match proved no different.
In today's match Kevin Pietersen showed that England is a one-man batting army with an occasional support from Andrew Flintoff. Pietersen played a good knock on a slow and turning wicket but was out to a very rash stroke.
When he was at the crease, Indian bowlers were totally clueless and hoping for a mistake from the batsman. Pietersen obliged them with a pre-mediated sweep shot that ballooned up in the air and Yuvraj took an easy catch.
Flintoff also went back soon and after that it was clear that England innings would came to a premature end.
The other batsmen failed to apply themselves when the situation demanded and this meant that England were short by 40-50 runs on a good batting track.
Rahul Dravid used the power plays intelligently and his bowlers bowled a tight line and length after the fall of Pietersen to bowl out the visitors.
Yuvraj and Sehwag came good with the ball and that eased up the pressure on the team as the main bowlers had been mauled badly by Pietersen.
Both of then did their bowling job to perfection and reminded me of Mohinder Amarnath.
However, I am very surprised that when it came to batting Sehwag did not show the same zeal. He got off to a good start but could not convert his knock into a big score.
Dravid and Pathan played sensibly and though we lost four wickets with 152 runs on the board, Yuvraj and Raina made sure that the target was not very difficult to achieve.
Yuvraj is in the prime form of his life and making full use of all the opportunities that he has been getting.
But the biggest surprise today was the inclusion of Mohammad Kaif in the playing XI. Instead India could have tried some other youngster like Uthappa or RP Singh.
The wickets on which the ODIs have been played are also not the ones where a weak England team could pose much trouble to India.
We may be patting our back after winning the series but these wickets are tailor made for our slow bowlers and spinners. When our team goes out of the sub-continent they suffer because there the pitches are fast and bouncy.
Ideally, I would like wickets that have a little more pace and bounce as that will not only improve the technique of our batsmen but also give them a taste of what they will face of foreign soil.
(Krish Srikkanth is a former skipper of Indian cricket team. He maintains a regular blog on IBNLive. His website is www.krishcricket.com)
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