Fri, 14 Oct 2011 - India vs England, England Tour of India 2011-12, 1st ODI - Bulletin

Dhoni, spinners star in lop-sided victory

England’s winning streak over India was finally snapped, and, that too in some style.

The home team outclassed England in all three facets of the game to win first ODI of five match series by a big margin of 126 at Uppal, Hyderabad. The game followed the route as many cricket pundits had predicted.On a slow Uppal surface, English bowlers struggled to contain Indian batsmen as MS Dhoni’s unbeaten whirlwind knock of 87 off 70 balls powered the home team to 300. As expected, the visitors’ batsmen didn’t find it easy to cope Indian spinner in the run chase bundled out for sorry 174 in 36.1 overs to give India a comprehensive, and, most significantly, satisfying win. The win comes a month after England in their home conditions crushed India across all three formats of the game.

Suresh Raina’s supporting act of rapid 61 in the batting besides man of the match Dhoni’s was equally important in getting a huge total before Indian bowlers-spinners in particular-gave England batsmen a fair idea of things to come on the tour. Left arm spinner Ravindu Jadeja and offie R Ashwin took three wickets a piece without going for many runs to take stuffing out of England’s middle order.

Chasing a target of 301 was never going easy on the slow track with no dew on the field. England batsmen though made things very difficult by preferring high risk strokes over proper cricket shots only to be dismissed cheaply.

Barring England skipper Alistair Cook who hit a well paced 60 off 63 laced with seven fours, none of the batsmen could pose any problems for Indian bowlers. Praveen Kumar, as he does often, gave his side an early breakthrough inducing an edge off Craig Kieswetter’s for 7. Kevin Pietersen’s promotion to number three position didn’t work as the star batsman was run-out by a direct throw by Ashwin from mid-on to have the tourists struggling at 2 for 40 in the tenth over.

Cook wasn’t done, though. The left hander creamed some beautiful drives through covers and elegant strokes off the hip to keep England in the hunt. His partner at other end Johnathan Trot failed to keep up the pace and played too many dot balls.

Trot’s inability to get the big shots away got into Cook’s mind and England skipper skipped down the track against Jadeja to hit a six only to be caught at deep mid-wicket. He fell with score at 111 in the 23rd over. And this followed the tumbling of wickets at a blinking rate.

Trot missed an ugly slog to be bowled by Jadeja for a 42-ball 26 and Bopara offered a simple return catch to Ashwin as England’s slide began. Jonny Bairstow couldn’t repeat the show that saw him win a game when both sides last met playing against turn only for Jadeja to take an easy catch before Tim Bresnan was stumped off Ashwin.

Young paceman Umesh Yadav then castled Graeme Swann and Samit Patel to give good account of himself. Fittingly, it was a spinner to complete the comprehensive win disturbing jade Dernbach’s bails.

Earlier,Dhoni continued to have good run with the bat against England belting ten fours and a six in scintillating knock after Raina’s quickfire 61 had provided Indian captain launch for late innings blitz. After dominating first 35 overs with the ball, England bowlers were carted around to all corners of the park in Dhoni-powered bashing in the last fifteen overs. Dhoni and Raina put 162 for the fifth wicket and looted runs ever so easily as 150 runs came from last 15 overs.It all started in 36th when Dhoni decided to take batting powerplay. Having been tied down by England bowlers with score reading at 150 for 4 at the end of 36th overs, Dhoni and Raina made most of the fielding restriction as boundaries came thick and fast from either end. As many as 59 came from batting powerplay with Raina doing bulk of the scoring.

As usual, Raina was string through off-side hitting some well controlled lofted drives over off-side to get the innings going. The pair ran very hard between the wickets and made English fielders looked very poor in the process.The left handed batsmen succumbed in search of quick runs in 39th over when he was caught at point for Bairstow off Steve Finn’s bowling. Raina’s 55-ball stay yielded him five fours and two sixes.

Post Raina departure, run rot continued as Dhoni took it upon himself to take his side to a big total. It was Dhoni’s best innings for a long time for he got his trademark helicopter shot going. His only six of the knock had Dhoni hallmark written all over it. The Indian captain launched some fierce strokes down the ground and was very strong on the cut. His innings wasn’t all muscle. The deft touches and nurdles were there as Indian skipper collected singles and two’s to frustrate English bowlers. He found a willing allay in Jadeja as pair put on very brisk 65 with youngster playing his part by hitting a breezy 22-ball 27 laced with two fours and a six. Jadeja was run-out at team score 260 and from then it was all Dhoni show taking team to 300.

Opting to bat first, India didn’t have an auspicious start to their innings losing Parthiv Patel early. The left handed opener was unfortunately run out when Finn in his follow through deflected Ajinkye Rahane’s straight to stumps with Patel backing too far. Rahane, who was given a life by Trot of Finn, struggled to get the ball off square and tried all kinds of innovations but to no avail. His partner at other end Gautam Gambhir didn’t have such problems. Back into the team after recovering from concussion, the left hander played some silky off-side strokes to keep things going.

Rahane’s painful 41-ball stay for 15 finally came to end when impressive Graeme Swann got one to dip and beat the batsman in flight for Kieswetter to complete an easy stumping. Rahane and Gambhir put 35 between two of them before latter was joined by Virat Kohli. The Delhi boys added another 27 before Jade Dernbach bowled back of the hander to trap Gambhir leg before for 32 including four boundaries at team score 79.

Kohli and Raina took the score 123 in 29th over but Kohli’s went courtesy a well judged catch at long-on boundary by Pietersen. Kohli had done well to score 37 before he felt need to up the ante.His dismissal got Raina and Dhoni together and brought misery for English bowlers. With most of them suffering during Dhoni and co. assault, Swann held his own taking a wicket and giving away only 35 runs.