Saurav Ganguly will remember his 300th One-Day International for India with happiness, for not only did he win the man-of-the-match award but also saw his side keep themselves alive in the series with a much needed win. It was a do or die situation for India and they came out fighting and with an intensity that has rarely been seen in the one-day series so far. For most of the series, the Indians have looked lackadaisical especially while fielding, which has prompted many an England player both current as well as former to question the team’s desire to win. One player who has retired from one-day cricket and who is known not to enjoy traveling outside his beloved county, leave aside the country, has called them homesick but then maybe he sees signs in the team, which he can identify himself with and maybe he is right. It’s been a long time on the road for some who have been out of India since the third week of June and some are not going to be back till the World Twenty20 is over in late September.

The Indians raised themselves for a big effort and the lead was taken by that experienced pair of Tendulkar and Ganguly. Taking full advantage of the invitation by the England captain to bat first, the pair after seeing off two maiden overs opened their shoulders to play some exhilarating shots that brought the stadium to life. Tendulkar got another fifty and looked set for real big innings. Ganguly too was not far behind as he too took to the England bowling. Paul Collingwood, the England captain would have been wondering if his decision to field first was correct but like Dravid had done earlier in the series, the early start and the overcast conditions, make it very tempting to insert the opposition in to bat. England strangely gave the new ball to John Lewis when the seamer was making a comeback to the team, instead of Stuart Broad who after his heroics had won him the man-of-the-match in the previous game would have been high on confidence and adrenalin. Lewis did get Tendulkar out but not before the little champion had got the team off to an electric start. Surprisingly Dravid sent Gambhir in at the fall of the first wicket and Gambhir to his credit showed a lot of character by playing positively and keeping the tempo going. Yuvraj has been in excellent touch and he showed that with an impressive range of shots and made Monty Panesar look like an ordinary bowler, which he is not. The final score was a good one but with one bowler short there was a bit of a worry too particularly after the previous game. It is here that Ganguly showed what a useful bowler he can be in these conditions and his wickets of Prior and Bell turned the game India’s way. With Ravi Bopara injured, it was a big mountain for England to climb after rain had brought in the D/L method in contention and India knew that with Collingwood at the crease it was not yet over for England. The England captain played as if he wanted to make his intention of winning 6-1 true but it was just too much of an asking rate with only the tail left to bat.

The match was a must-win game for India and it shows that when the top order clicks then India get to a big score. The fielding though is a major worry as the runs are easily taken from under the noses of the Indian fielders, when the bowlers come under the cosh if the fielders don’t support them then its so easy for the team to get demoralized. On pitches that have not given them much life in them the bowlers can do with an added edge that good fielding provides. In the present squad that looks perpetually in slow motion that maybe too much to hope for but then what is life if there’s no hope.