England pushes itself to the wall

An English approach that can be termed as toothless, was what witnessed during the 4^th One dayer giving the predictability of the outcome of the match during the 1^st 30 overs of the contest. Such was the motion and the mood in theEnglish dressing room that they were allowed to surrender meekly without a fight.

Knowing well that winning the toss and electing to bat on a track that will have a dew, still prompted Cook to bat first. The Alarm with which Ashwin and Jadeja turned, could not be seen with Borthwick and Samit Patel. It looked like there was no game plan from England – Surprisingly, Bell was still ommitted for this match, and knowing that this track will turn, Bell was joined by Swann in the bench. That Samit Patel was not used as a 5^th bowler, confirms the mood with which Cook and Fowler is in.

Indians grabbed this opportunity to some pressure tactics right from the beginning of the match lead by MSD. He brought in Ashwin and quickly accounted for Cook. And once, the partnership of Trott and Peiterson were removed, it was only a matter of time before the English innings folded. Though the setup of the disaster is in MSD's hands, I was happy to see the bowlers perform very well on this turner. Aaron (replacement for Umesh Yadav) bowled his heart out and he accounted for 3 batsmen. The ball did reverse a bit and his indipping yorkers were enough for English batsmen to succumb to this bowling. It was heartening to see MSD treating Aaron. Till the 40^th over, Aaron was seen bowling only for 3 overs and he was brought back to the attack after England has 7 wickets down with the batting power play completed too!!

The Indian fielding had improved leaps and bounds and bowlers like Jadeja and Ashwin had a great time in bowling to the English batsmen.

Indians while chasing were off-target a bit since top-three vanished while trying to force the pace of the ball. The first five overs produced only 17 runs, leading Parthiv Patel to whip across the line and lose his stumps to Finn. Finn struck again in his next over when Gautam Gambhir inside-edged onto his stumps.

Virat learnt how to play in these conditions -  He waited for the ball to come on to the bat to play some glorious off-drives and cover drives. Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina motored to a 131-run stand at close to seven an over, showcasing the difference between the sides and sparking another needless bout of words in the middle as England's frustration overflowed. Kohli and Raina continued almost unbothered, picking off the singles easily and finding the boundaries with crisp shots. The duo's approach was in sharp contrast to England's tottering line-up. Raina's 80 off just 62 runs won him the Man of the Match award.

Indians are just a win away to rout England with 5-0 win.