Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory?

by Rohandevgan

For those fans who stayed up into the early hours of the morning(Indian Time), must have stared at their screens in disbelief as the Indian cricket team lost a match which they should have won with ease. In the fourth ODI of the Natwest Series, India won the toss and elected to bat. They got of to a dismal start losing their first 3 wickets for a mere 32 runs with 10 overs gone. Tendulkar(55) and Yuvraj(71) steadied the ship, and with help from Khan(20) at the tail they took the score to a modest 212. Broad was the pick of the English bowlers picking up 4 wickets.

England got of to a miserable start as well and were teetering at 114/7, with batsmen 8 and 9 at the crease. A hundred to win in 25 overs with 3 wickets in hand. Should have been India's game, right? Wrong. India have known to lose games from winning situations and this turned out to be no different. Ravi Bopara(43*) and 21 year old Broad(45*) played maturely and sensibily to take England all the way to victory. Earlier on Agarkar had demolished the England top and middle order scalping 4 wickets. Broad naturally was adjudged man of the match his first in a promising career. Its amazing how many times the Indian team disappoints its fans and how long can we continue to support such a team.

Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

821 days ago

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England should have won the game much easier than how they did. All they had to do was bat for 50 overs - they would have scored at about the rate to get to 213, give or take, anyway. If England had of lost that match, then they were the ones that would have been disappointed. India threw it away with the bat. India should be disappointed, though. Their running between the wickets lacks desire. England forced the issue, desperately trying to get singles, or add runs on to their total. Conversely, the Indians just strolled through for runs, and missed easy singles. In the field, they were awful, allowing England to steal the extra runs. Also, their overall fielding ability was shockingly bad. India needs to spend less time doing the pretty stuff (which they can do in spades), and more time grinding out the game with the less pretty stuff. Because when India play good teams, they will just keep losing. Heck, they're even losing to England, who are not a good team. That's what India needs to do to win this series.

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RohandevganAll-American

821 days ago

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Thats true with India electing to bat first and only putting up 212, they didnt deserve to win anyways. But fter fighting back and getting themselves into that position they can only blame themselves. Their fielding is absolutely atrocious. Any team that plays them knows they just have to stay at the wicket and India will give them atleast 50+ bonus runs.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

821 days ago

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That's the swing really. India gifted England 20 or 30 runs in the field, and they missed as many in the field that they could have got when they batted. If England were chasing 240 last night, and England were in the same situation at 114/7 when Broad walks out, India win, in my opinion.

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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer

820 days ago

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Now I know why that "customer service representative" was so damn depressed on the telephone today.

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