England gets the spin scare of its life!

The Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni sprang a bouncer at everybody, including the experts by making four changes to the existing Indian team for the Group A match against England. Top guns like Zaheer, Sehwag and Ashwin were rested. Ashok Dinda, Piyush Chawla and Harbajan filled their places. The opening slot was presumed to be given to Virat kohli. Dhoni once again surprised us by brining Pathan up the order and making him open. What conspired was one amazing all round performance by the Indians.

India once again lost the toss and were put to bat by Stuart Broad. England had made just one change, bringing in Tim Bresnan in the place of Samit Patel.

Coming out to bat, the Indians were cautious and scored off the lose balls. Gambir looked determined and his shots, though a little rusty, seemed quite reassuring. Pathan started off well but lost his wicket early on in the innings. Virat Kohli came in at number 3 and showed the world what a man in supreme form can do. He smashed even the decent balls through cover and piled in a lot of runs. Gambir and Kohli built quite an interesting partnership early on in the innings and made sure that India maintained the eight-run-per-over mark.

Kohli then miscalculated a short ball and was caught at the deep, leaving the crease scoring 40. It was then the responsibility of Gambir to take the innings forward. Rohit Sharma was sent in next and he also proved to be a valuable asset in the middle overs.

Greame Swann bowled brilliantly and after Gambir was taken out for 45, the Indians struggled. Dhoni and Sharma could not keep the momentum going and the run rate dipped. Between ten to fifteen overs very few runs were scored and India reached 120 odd at the end of fifteenth over, making it an uphill task for the players at the crease and the players yet to come to bat sensibly.

The last five overs saw the blitzkrieg of Rohit Sharma who, after steadying the innings in the middle overs thrashed almost all the deliveries to the boundary line.

The last two overs were productive for India. They ended their innings at a respectable score of 170, despite the wobbly score early on in the innings.

The English men fielded intensely and did not let the runs flow by. If not for the last few overs of respectable batting, India would not have seen the score that they did.

When England came out to bat, hell broke lose. Nothing went right for them and before long they had lost two wickets for a meager 24. Pathan breached their defenses and took two wickets in the two overs that he bowled. After four overs, they were struggling to place the ball at the right places. Spinners came in and England’s nightmare continued. Harbajan from one end and Piyush from another squeezed the air out of their existence. The ball swung and spun beautifully and it was a treat to watch such radiant bowling. Harbajan picked up four wickets for just 12 runs in the four overs that he bowled. Piyush also has to be given credit for his patient and awe inspiring bowling. England were all out for a paltry 80, thereby making it their lowest total in an international T20 game, the previous being 88 against West Indies.

India won by a comprehensive 90 runs and will go into the super eights with great momentum and brilliant playing options.

Harbajan received the Man of the Match for his aggressive bowling.

India will face the problem of plenty in making their choices for the super eights and we will have to wait and watch if Dhoni has any more surprises in store for us.

Till the next India Match,

Die Hard Cricket Enthusiast,

Aishwarya Kumar.