India – England ODI series review

The India – England ODI series has been called off after the late night terror strikes in Mumbai last night.

So what was supposed to be a match review now has turned into a series review.

England toured from the west to the south to the east of India expecting a reversal in fortunes. They played the cricket of their lives to salvage some pride and scored 270 on what was a two-paced wicket in Cuttack.

KP helped himself to a century and thought that England had enough on the board when he refused a single of the last ball. He started his innings in a brisk fashion, then slowed down and ended up playing for his century. Still 271 was a match winning target, he thought.

That single did not make a difference. Because it was not Nottingham. And Stuart Broad did not pick up 6 wickets.

England almost lost to Sehwag, who rediscovered his consitency with his fourth half century of this five match series. Two quick wickets of Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh provided them the opening to come back into the match. Raina and Dhoni batted sensibly to shut England out of the match.

But England would be happy that they avoided a 7-0 whitewash.

Quick Review:

India: India have a lot of positives from the tournament. Sehwag and Gambhir have carried on from the Australia series. Yuvraj Singh rediscovered his lost form in Rajkot and can ride on this success until he encounters Mendis next. Sachin came back well in the last ODI and Raina helped himself with a 40 and a 50. Dhoni’s captaincy was again impressive and he batted well too. Yusuf Pathan scored his first ODI half-century in Indore. Zaheer spearheaded an impressive bowling performance with able assistance from Ishant and Munaf. Rohit Sharma, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan didn’t impress in the limited chances they got.

England: KP, Shah and Flintoff did well in patches. Broad was exceptional with the ball in the whole tournament. Otherwise they have a lot of thinking to do about their ODI future after such a dismal performance.