From opposite ends
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Not for the first time, a fantastic bowling performance was ignored and the Man of the Match was given to Virender Sehwag in Bangalore when it should have gone to Zaheer Khan. Suresh Menon in his column on Dreamcricket.com says Zaheer's spell, 5-0-20-2 would have been spectacular in a full match, but was incredible considering the game was reduced to 22 overs.
A bad opening spell could have turned the match, but Zaheer allowed no liberties to be taken. It was a wonderful example of accurate bowling in a one-day game, allowing the ball to do just enough to command respect.
It was good to see the authority with which he set the field for Ishant, who, in an interview after the match gave the senior man full credit for instilling in him confidence.
While India have embraced the new challenges of one-day cricket, David Hopps in the Guardian believes England have remained stuck in the past. England seem to have been embroiled in very English discussions about bureaucracy which didn't address the core challenge of producing powerful, aggressive players fit for a rapidly-changing game. A study in contrasts which has led to a horribly one-sided contest.
India replaced Rahul Dravid as captain and Greg Chappell as coach, judging both to be resistant to change, appointed Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an inspirational captain armed with considerable power, and brazenly flaunted their economic power with the advent of the Indian Premier League. England appointed from within to prove that their system was working, shuffled chairs in the corridors of power, and as far as their own Twenty20 league was concerned, lost focus and ambition.
It is not just the series scoreline which has put a strain on Kevin Pietersen at the top. It is the sniping and the second-guessing that habitually surround English sport, which has seen him get a taste of what the England captaincy was like for so many of his predecessors. Simon Briggs has more in the Telegraph.
This winter, England have failed at Twenty20, failed at 50-over cricket and last week they even failed at 49-over cricket. In Bangalore, however, they had an excellent chance to turn their luck around in a Twenty-two22 match. King Cricket in his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website outlines a three-point plan to help arrest the decline.