In cricket, the player who learns from previous games is more likely not to repeat the mistakes from those games. By giving England first choice to bat after winning the toss, the Indians showed that they had not learned from the game at Southampton when they had asked England to bat after winning the toss. While it was understandable at Southampton because of the cold weather and the possibility of dew hampering the bowlers and fielders from getting a good grip of the ball, at Edgbaston, it seemed like a move to deny England’s bowlers any advantage of the dampness from an early start.
In the absence of Flintoff, England were not going to be the same force in bowling and take advantage of fielding first. India also have to be aware that with their fielding, they are going to concede at least 25 to 30 extra runs to the more athletic Englishmen. If it was Australia and India played with the same side, then the number would probably double. Then, there were the extras that were given away through wides and no-balls. In one-day cricket, with the umpires being quite strict on the leg-side wides, it means that a bowler has to be absolutely spot-on, but surely the no-balls can be cut down to a minimum.
The English bowlers, along with the bowling coach, mark out their run-ups after measuring them very carefully, and that is the reason they are bowling lesser no-balls, although they are taller bowlers with long strides at the delivery point. If that is not enough of a problem, the throwing of the Indians is also an area of concern and also means that India lose out on some runs.
Apart from Yuvraj and Dhoni, there are not many in the team who look to leave the crease and sprint for the extra run. When a team relies only on boundaries and sixes and comfortable ones and twos, then it is losing opportunities to steal runs. Despite playing together for years, there seems to be little understanding in running between the wickets, and worse, still very little confidence in each other’s judgment of a run.
Ian Bell has been the mainstay of the England batting in all the three games so far, and but for his innings, England may well have been contained for less. Dravid’s use of Powar and Chawla was good, and he also utilized Yuvraj’s spin well. India’s new-ball bowlers are still bowling length balls in the slog overs and getting carted out of the ground. The slower delivery and especially the yorker have been noted for their absence so far, and that is not helping in keeping the English batsmen quiet in the final overs. Even at Bristol, it was a close call, simply because there were too many length deliveries bowled to Mascarenhas. In this game, Tremlett was allowed to swing his arms for some big hits that not only took the England total to that healthy state but also buoyed the English team before they came out to defend their total. It is such little things that can turn the match around and also some luck.
Tremlett was looking totally lost after his first couple of overs, but then a lucky dismissal and that too of Dravid who was batting magnificently, turned it around for him and he got Ganguly too. India needs to use the next two days to practice against the weaknesses that have been exposed, else it may be a lost cause.
