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Kevin Pietersen was in superb form again, but his dismissal set off a collapse that England couldn't recover from
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An almost casual mid-innings slump meant that a smidgen of interest
remained to the end, but in reality this was yet another procession for an
Indian side that has learnt to win matches without going anywhere near
full throttle. Helped by England spluttering and seizing up when they
should have been flooring the pedal, Rahul Dravid and his boys needed no
second invite, and an eighth win in succession gave them yet another
series win with three games left to play.
When Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood were rattling along, a score in
the region of 300 was a distinct possibility. Their 91-run partnership -
from just 16 overs - had been characterised by purposeful running between
wickets, and well-placed biffs into the wide open spaces. Pietersen, who
averages close to 70 while maintaining a run-a-ball strike-rate, is a
colossus of the one-day game and a class apart from his team-mates, but
yet again his dismissal - to the ill-judged sweep - was the signal for the
innings to descend from bang to whimper.
Yuvraj Singh's stupendous catch to send back Collingwood had given India
some respite, but it was Pietersen's failure to convert an accomplished
effort into a monumental one that cost England the game. Once Flintoff was
deceived in flight by Yuvraj, the game was as good as lost, with only
Geraint Jones's defiance thwarting a superb choke job from the Indian slow
bowlers.
To his credit, Dravid was never flustered, rotating the bowlers cleverly
and waiting until the 34th over to enforce the third Powerplay. The
spinners backed him up beautifully, with Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar
a persistent threat on a pitch that offered more than a hint of turn. The
support cast was no less worthy, with Yuvraj and Virender both scalping
valuable wickets.
Having passed up the opportunity to blood Robin Uthappa in a live game,
Dravid then watched from the other end as Sehwag produced another
frustrating cameo. Given how poorly he plays the horizontal-bat strokes,
the attempted hook off Matthew Hoggard was a bizarre choice of shot, but
having escaped that, the manner of his dismissal - mis-hitting a long hop
from Ian Blackwell - was sinful enough to warrant at least a couple of
sessions in the confession booth.
Sehwag's woes present a real conundrum for the management. Do they now
give him a rest for the meaningless games that follow, or do they keep the
faith in the hope that he won't keep squandering starts? The dilemma is no
less with Mohammad Kaif, who can't buy a run at the moment, and whose
attempt to hit his way out of a slump only resulted in a spectacular catch
for James Anderson.
Once you separate emotion and loyalty from cold facts, it's clear that
both Uthappa and Venugopal Rao need to be given their chances in the
upcoming games. With the exception of Dravid, Yuvraj and Irfan Pathan, no
man in this batting line-up is irreplaceable, and a break from the tour
merry-go-round will probably help both Sehwag and Kaif to get their head
around what's been going wrong.
In times gone by, the slump precipitated by Dravid's overeager swipe at a
Flintoff delivery might have been terminal, but this is a team that chases
without fear of failure. Yuvraj, who continues to bat like a dream, and a
slightly out-of-sorts Suresh Raina took the team to the doorstep, before
Mahendra Singh Dhoni - one of the prime catalysts of change, he was
serenaded to the middle by fans hankering for his thrill-a-minute antics -
finished things off. A year ago, India left Kochi triumphant, only to
lapse back into the losing habit against Pakistan. For this team, having
chased down a target for an
unparalleled 15th successive time, those bad
old days are now merely a cautionary tale.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo.