The cold and clammy fingers of pressure have not yet choked England in the chase during the current NatWest Series. Alastair Cook's men have stayed abreast of targets, be it original or revised, and that will be a worry for M.S. Dhoni when the Indian team heads to Cardiff for the final match scheduled on Friday.
Except at the Oval where a top-order collapse weakened the score, India has found the runs, but its bowlers have fired sporadically with the rain and resultant wet outfield negating their control over the ball. The seamers have not stemmed the flow of runs in the first 10 overs and England has grabbed the initiative.
Cook and Craig Kieswetter failed in the opening match at Chester-le-Street and at Lord's on Sunday but overall, the host enjoyed the upper hand. At the Rose Bowl, England scored 56 for no loss in 10 overs; at the Oval it was 63 for one and even at Lord's, the score was 50 for two. These numbers meant that India's scores of 187 (23 overs), 234 and 280 seemed within reach as long as England had wickets in hand.
Missing Zaheer
Dhoni, who is missing Zaheer Khan's potency and Yuvraj Singh's variety in his ranks, said that the leakage of runs in the first 10 overs, undid the team. “We have given runs in the first few overs in the past but then the fast bowlers with a bit of reverse swing were able to get back. Over here we are giving too many runs in the first 10 overs and it is becoming difficult. None of our bowlers are real quick and when it doesn't swing and the ball gets wet, it becomes difficult,” Dhoni said.
R. Ashwin is the highest wicket-taker for India in this series with six scalps, averaging 21.00 and coming at an economy rate of 5.25 and he found belated support from Ravindra Jadeja in the last two games. On the other hand, the seamers — Munaf Patel (6.42), Praveen Kumar (5.09), R.P. Singh (6.06) and Vinay Kumar (6.40) — have disappointed with fewer wickets that were allied with inflationary economy rates.
It is little consolation that the England bowlers too have struggled with ODI specialist Jade Dernbach going for 6.83 runs per over but sudden incisive spells like the one that James Anderson bowled at the Oval, has helped Cook.
Munaf's rage
Jadeja may have partially reduced Dhoni's brooding angst over the fifth bowler's slot but the Indian skipper has another lurking headache to contend with. Munaf has been a picture of seething rage over the last week.
Things came to such a pass at Lord's that it took Praveen, who is prone to his own share of outbursts, to step in and advice Munaf. Suresh Raina acted as the guardian when Munaf mouthed profanities while Ravi Bopara walked away. An alert Raina dragged the bowler away from the retreating batsman.
The England bowlers have not been angels either with Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn having a go at Parthiv Patel but that is no excuse for Munaf's indefensible attitude that includes sledging his own team-mates for alleged ‘fielding' errors!
At Lord's he tried to kick the ball away while the throw from the deep homed in and with the Duckworth-Lewis equation determining the final verdict, Munaf's gesture could have proved costly. Luckily his boot missed the ball.
Dhoni needs to have a quiet word with Munaf like those earlier chats with S. Sreesanth.
A seamer frothing with anger is something that the Indian captain does not need at any stage.
