India have found a good one in Suresh Raina. Not for the first time has he come in to bat when India have looked in trouble but with bold strokes and good common sense approach he has taken his team to a win. If the earlier efforts were as a junior partner to another well set batsman here at Faridabad, he was the senior player having come in to bat ahead of Dhoni and with the swashbuckling batsman also showing a very responsible streak by batting himself in rather than take to attack before he got set, the duo took India within sight of a victory when the keeper batsman was out.
Raina in the company of another good one Irfan Pathan, made sure that the team went two up in the seven-match series. What’s impressive about Raina is his bearing on the field. He gives the impression that he belongs in the arena and that sends a positive signal not just to his teammates but also to the opposition. His relaxed stance at the crease and no initial movement and a still head means that he does not play in a premeditated manner.
Of course at the highest level it’s temperament that separates the men from the boys, and today a 19-year old became a man at the One Day level. There’s no doubt that he has the goods even for the longer version of the game but we will just have to wait and see. He came in after his State Captain, Kaif had perished and with Yuvraj going soon after, the pressure was intense but he handled it with aplomb. I know it’s just his first season in International Cricket but am confident that India has found a real good player. He won’t be flamboyant like Sehwag or Dhoni but he will be there when the chips are down and India needs him if one goes by the way he has handled the pressure.
India’s problems are with the openers as Gambhir continues to let himself down with shots that would find most others out of the squad and getting out to another attempted pull shot, does tell that he isn’t learning or isn’t bothered knowing that he will get chance after chance which has been denied to others before him. Sehwag didn’t go on to a big score but he looked good while he was there and with the pitch playing slow and low the quicker bowlers couldn’t get the ball where they wanted for him. India need good starts to ensure there are no butterflies in the dressing room and that is not happening at the moment.
In the earlier part of the day Romesh Powar showed that he can fit in the One-Day scheme of things especially on these pitches as he got the ball to turn and bounce to cause problems to the top order. The ball that he got Flintoff out stumped was one that the old fox, Prasanna would have been proud of. He has the ability to get the ball to dip even as the batsman is down the wicket and it’s a top delivery as Strauss would testify. England have struggled to get their batsmen to keep going and with only Pietersen providing the shots, England knew that they were at least 20 runs short of what would have been a total to really test the Indians.
