Dravid's brave gamble

Rahul Dravid has made some curious decisions against England this season - bowling first in the Mumbai Test, and using Gautam Gambhir for one over that cost 13 runs in the second ODI at Faridabad. Today, he made a brave decision to employ the second Powerplay in the 29th over. It was a move that could so easily have backfired but as it turned out, it was the masterstroke that swung the game India's way.

England were 59 for 2 in the tenth over and Kevin Pietersen's ominous form prompted Dravid to delay the second Powerplay. However, the runs kept coming and England added 50 runs in the next ten overs. Even when Paul Collingwood departed at 117 for 3, Dravid had several boundary riders because big-hitting Andrew Flintoff had joined Pietersen.

The overs ticked by and no wickets were forthcoming and Dravid could have waited and waited for a breakthrough. Instead he chose to gamble in the 29th over, when England were 148 for 3, by opting for the Powerplay. Flintoff slogged Harbhajan Singh's first ball to the long-on boundary and took a single off the next. Pietersen, having used the power-sweep so effectively, tried to repeat the stroke but the extra bounce resulted in a catch to square leg. Flintoff's wicket soon followed and Ramesh Powar produced a ripping offbreak to make it three wickets for India, and just 40 runs for England, in the ten overs of the second and third Powerplays. The following graphic shows England's progress between overs 19 and 38, the last ten of which were the final Powerplays.