England in India – Series Review – Part Four
India gained an unassailable 3-0 lead against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 in the five match One Day International (ODI) series and aimed to avenge their whitewash defeat at the hands of the Poms.
Both teams were up against each other in the fourth match of the series at the Wankhede Stadium, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 in India on Sunday, October 23, 2011.
The tourists were playing for pride, but were under immense pressure as nothing seemed to be going in the right direction for them.
English skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 opted to bat first after winning the toss. He expected the pitch to be on the slower side, especially during the second half of the match.
However, the decision did not prove to be an ideal one for Cook, as his side was bundled up for 220 runs in 46.1 overs.
Batting remained the main problem for the visitors throughout the series, as they were unable to cope up with the spinner friendly conditions in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
Despite failing continuously, the Poms continued with the same opening combination of Cook and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/C-Kieswetter-c1206. Both batsmen failed to give a solid start to their side in the first three games and the trend continued in the fourth match as well.
Things were a touch better for the team, as the openers put on 39 runs at the top of the order, before the captain was dismissed after adding just 10 runs to the total. On the very next ball, Kieswetter was also sent back to the pavilion.
The flamboyant wicketkeeper batsman played aggressively and contributed 29 runs to the total with the help of four fours and a couple of towering sixes.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576 were once again under pressure to take their team out of crisis. The pair put together 73 runs for the third wicket partnership before the latter got out after collecting 39 runs with the help of five boundaries.
Just a few runs later, Pietersen was also sent back to the pavilion. He scored 41 runs and did not look in his flowing touch, as he got his runs in 61 balls.
This saw a collapse in the lower-order, as wickets started to tumble. However, all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Bresnan-c2711 batted really well, scoring 45 runs towards the end of the innings. He smashed six boundaries in an impressive outing and was the last wicket to fall in
the innings.
India’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Ashwin-c2228 was the pick of the bowlers for his side, as he dismissed three batsmen in the match and gave away a very few runs, pressurising the opposition’s batsmen throughout their innings.
Although England would have liked to score more than 250 runs, the team still had a chance of winning the match as the pitch had slowed down.
The start to the Indian innings was an unimpressive one, as three wickets fell within 50 runs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Parthiv-Patel-c2159 was the first man to be dismissed after collecting just eight runs. He had a poor series with the bat and did not impress the selectors at all.
Star batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajinkya-Rahane-c970, who contributed 20 runs to the total before being dismissed.
However, a century partnership between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SK-Raina-c2539 took the game away from the opposition. They scored 86 and 80 respectively, guiding their side to victory.
England’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566 picked up three wickets in the match, but lacked support from the other end, which resulted in his side’s defeat.
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