England in India – Series Review – Part Three
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Punjab-c833 Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali in India for the third One Day International (ODI) of the five match series on Thursday, October 20, 2011.
The hosts managed to win the first two games of the series convincingly and were determined to seal the series by winning the third ODI. They proved to be an extremely difficult side to overcome on home soil and the opposition needed some special effort
to bounce back.
England’s skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 won the toss and opted to bat first in Mohali. The pitch was perfect for batting and the tourists had the opportunity to fight back after suffering humiliating defeats in the opening two ODIs.
The Poms were unable to bat out the entire 50 overs in their opening two games, but finally managed to pile a solid total in a must win game. They amassed 298 runs in their allotted 50 overs, courtesy a solid batting display from middle-order player Jonathan
Trott, who remained unbeaten on 98.
Cook and wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/C-Kieswetter-c1206 opened the innings for their side, but the former was unable to get going. He scored a half-century in the first game of the series, but struggled to perform from then onwards.
The left-handed opener managed just three runs in his short stay at the crease, as the visitors were one down for eight runs on the board.
However, Kieswetter decided to attack the opposition’s bowlers despite being under pressure after the early loss of Cook.
The flamboyant batsman scored 36 runs in quick time with the help of three fours and a couple of sixes. He failed to make most of the start to his innings and was sent back to the pavilion in the 13th over of the innings.
The innings was then carried forward by Trott and Pietersen, as the pair put on 101 runs for the third wicket partnership. The latter played attacking cricket and scored 64 runs off 61 balls with the help of nine boundaries.
Pietersen was widely criticised for his lack of form in ODI cricket, but silenced his critics with a few decent batting performances in India.
The flamboyant right-handed batsman was the third wicket to fall in the innings and he was followed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RS-Bopara-c2373, who collected 24 runs in an unimpressive outing.
The fall of wicket brought http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Samit-Patel-c2426 at the crease and he clobbered the opposition’s bowlers to all parts of the park. He put on 103 runs alongside Trott, guiding the team’s total to 298 runs.
Trott missed out on a ton by just two runs, but did a fabulous job for his side. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Huzefa-Mohammed-Patel-c63657 also batted extremely well, collecting 70 runs off 43 balls with the help of seven fours and a couple of sixes.
India’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/P-Kumar-c2143 picked up one wicket in the match and was the pick of the bowlers.
The Men in Blue started off their innings in a decent way, as openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajinkya-Rahane-c970 put together 79 runs for the first wicket. The former got out after contributing 38 runs to the total.
However, Rahane and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447 put on 111 runs for the second wicket partnership, taking the game away from the opposition. They scored 91 and 58 in their respective outings.
The tourists bounced back in the match with a couple of quick wickets, but skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 scored an unbeaten 35, guiding his side to a series victory.
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