Change of emphasis boosts India (105)
- 2 Sep 07, 06:29 PM
A chilly, damp day at Headingley with a howling gale did little to encourage good cricket, but in a match littered with fielding errors to keep their interest in the series alive.
Both teams were guilty of missing chances, largely because the white ball dipped and swung on its way to the slip fielders, while Yuvraj Singh received a crucial reprieve on 10 when umpire Nigel Llong failed to detect an edge to the wicket-keeper off the bowling of Monty Panesar.
Yuvraj then played some magnificent shots to reach 72 off only 57 balls which pushed India's total beyond 300.
Ian Bell and Matt Prior got England away to a flying start in reply before both fell to Sourav Ganguly, but Kevin Pietersen’s poor trot continued with a third ball duck and England quickly slipped to 104-4.
Only Paul Collingwood, with a superb unbeaten 91 kept England even remotely in the hunt while Mahendra Singh Dhoni equalled the record number of dismissals - six - in a limited overs international.
Both teams were forced into making changes. India decided on a change of balance by dropping RP Singh, who has bowled superbly on this tour, and replacing him with a top order batsman, Gautam Gambhir. This was an inevitable decision reached because India simply couldn’t continue with their tail starting at seven.
Of course, it could be argued that the front line batsmen should be scoring the runs, and I wonder if it was merely a coincidence that with the comfort of an extra batsman in the team, Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly, Yuvraj and Gambhir all passed 50.
England, meanwhile, must be sweating over the with his left ankle. He has now had three operations, and it was clear watching him bowl at Old Trafford on Thursday that he was struggling.
I know that Flintoff, himself, is starting to have nagging worries about his future, and he will be desperately hoping that the medical opinion he sought today offers some measure of reassurance. If that is not the case, Flintoff’s winter plans, starting with the Twenty20 championship in South Africa in nine days’ time - will be thrown into confusion.
Flintoff’s obvious replacement, Ravi Bopara, meanwhile, has dislocated and fractured his right thumb. He was able to bat, but fielding and bowling will be a different proposition, and faces a race against the clock to return to fitness.
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Got to admit the series has been exciting..hadnt had much faith in englands abilities to play one dayers..and had been thinking of a through spanking of england by india.
its good to see sachin back to his old self and england improving in the one-day game..the new bunch are definitely a better lot!!
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When is the ECB going to drop Pietersen - it is not a question of poor form but more a matter of impatience; he doesn't give himself time to judge the pace of the ball but is trying to score immediately. Hismissal today was pathetic - waving his bat at a ball way outside his offstump.
Pietersen needs the shock treatment of being dropped !
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Saurav Ganguly is a born leader. He lured the charismatic Prior and later silenced the well performing Bell. Two important wickets that put pressure on England for the rest of the evening. His two for 26 from 7 overs was outstanding indeed.
Ganguly played his 300th ODI in style. A hundred runs partnership for the first wicket with Sachin provided a fine platform for the the rest of the match. His 70th half century in an ODI with sweetly timed boundaries and massive sixers was gorgeous. He has brought back Team India into the reckoning. Sachin too has been in top form. What a commitment by these two dynamic and experienced world class cricketers ! They keep playing, hitting fours, sixes, bowling their stuff and sending younger batsmen back to the pavilion.
It was nice to watch Yuvraj and Gambhir playing important innings and adding valuable runs to the total.
For England Paul Collingwood was outstanding with the bat and the ball.
Congratulations to Team India for keeping the ODI series alive.
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"When is the ECB going to drop Pietersen..."
Don't be ridiculous. Pietersen is one of the best batsmen in world cricket. He has had a poor series but history shows that his slumps in form are very short-lived. Dropping our best batsman is a ludicrous suggestion.
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Today's result (5th ODI) reveals the absurdity of the D/L method. How on earth could England's target be reduced by a mere 14 runs in 5 less overs (yes 5 overs less !).
When rain stopped play, England needed 83 runs in 11 overs, to get the original target - easily achievable, with Collingwood set.
I try to teach kids Maths - what sort of mathematicians were, (are ?), Duckworth & Lewis ? The match should've been void ! John Macdiarmid
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Dropping Pietersen would be silly.
Form is temporary, class is permanant, it now means he's due runs.
Shock treatment works with some, with others, it will destroy them.
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Is it only me or would England's batting order look more balanced with Pietersen dropping down to 5 and Collingwood batting one position higher at 4.
Many critics believe that your best player needs to bat the most overs, I don't particularly agree with that in Pietersen's case because he is the one player that can hit balls in areas other players would dream of and KP is a man who enjoys the pressure of the last ten overs and losing him early like we have done over the course of this series is both a waste of his talent and unfair on the weaker lower order who could do with the brashness of Pietersen to make their own games flourish
Simon
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Flintoff's injury problems are looking increasingly serious. With this ankle, it is hard to see how he could hold down a place in the test team as a bowler - batting at no.7 or 8. And if he wants to reinvent himnself as a batsmen then that is looking rather difficult given his present form. Maybe the Ashes 2005 really was as good as it got for Freddie.
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Pietersen's dismissal today was entirely forgivable. He got a cracking ball that would have troubled him if he'd been at the crease for a couple of hours, and, of course, he'd only been there 2 minutes. It was excellent bowling again by the underrated Zaheer Khan.
Earlier in the series Pieteresen has got out against the spinners, once getting bogged down for several balls trying to fiddle the ball to square leg and twice misjudging Chawla's leg spin variations.
He might have moved his feet a little more to counter the ball from Zaheer but batsmen to get stuck on the crease early in their innings, especially when they've been short of runs.
The man still averages 50 in ODI's despite a thus far disappointing series. Collingwood, by comparison - who was extremely effectively late in the game when the writing was, however, already on the wall - has an average well short of 40, although it is improving.
This is not to completely excuse Pietersen, though. A few slaps to mid-on, quick singles etc and instead of trying to settle himself with perfect shots he could just get down the other end and accumulate himself back into some form. I wonder if there might have been a single available from his second ball today and, if so, he wouldn't have been facing the jaffa that ended his innings...
But once he get's to 30 you'd back him to go on and start putting together match-winning innings again.
Drop him? Load of rubbish! That's the sort of selection policy that made England rubbish in the late 1980s and the 1990s.
Great series, let's hope for 2 more close games. ODI's have been getting predictable recently so it's good to have had some that have gone to the wire and 2 others where England have kept trying right until the end to chase down scores that ultimately were out of reach. England are showing more self-belief in this series than I've seen in ODIs for a long long time and that's making a big difference.
The series scoreline hinges on decisions made by the captain who has won the toss. India lost twice when inserting England, decisions that were a little negative. And England lost today by inserting India, a more attacking decision which was easier to understand given the conditions but which, with the benefit of hindsight, was wrong. 3 games effectively decided by the coin and the scoreboard pressure of chasing.
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The D/L method uses all the variables, most importantly wickets lost to work out what a team would need to be on in order to get to the 50 over target. England needed to be ahead of were India were because they had lost more wickets and therefore were less likely to be able to score quick runs.
(Not sure I explained that well but basically the small reduction in the total England needed was due to the fact they had lost plenty of wickets)
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India deserved to win as they showed lot of commitment,batting first. The final 2 games will be very interesting to watch. Piterson seems to have a mental problem with his approach. He looks dangerously suscptble while playing good balls and he is defnetly not out of form. England has been waiting for a big innings from him and alas it is not coming. The indian bowlers have sorted him out and they seem to know his weaknesses. It was beautiful ball bowled by Zaheer a la Wasim Akram. It just did enough to confuse Pieterson to commit into a shot and moved a bit. Way to go Zaheer and India.....
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Well played India!
Great batting performance - All the batsman made good contributions. I'd think about bringing in Uthappa for Kartick though.
Bowling and fielding still an issue - India seriously miss an all rounder like Pathan and a livewire fielder like Kaif. Powar and Chawla continue to impress but Agarjer is way to erratic.
England made a slight error in bowling first (though it could have gone either way)
I'd bring in RP Singh for agarkar at the oval.
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Normally for an England v India series I would be neutral, but after the World Cup and a series of adject and ridiculous performances by India, I did not want to support a bunch of players with not committment to the cause. Today was different and should be a blueprint for future games. Players like Dhoni are finally realising that they are not all that and are grinding out performances. Zaheer still needs to sort out his attitude but it was good.
The D/L method is ridiculous and completely ruined the runchase (same with CWC final in barbados). Perhaps a fairer method would have been tell Eng, you have 45 overs and now chase what India got after 45 overs.
Oh well, Oval should be a cracker and I wish I had a ticket. Come on England.
PS - umpiring is still poor like the caught behind not given when india were batting but unlike Indian fans on Thurs, I glad the English are congratulating the opposition on winning instead of crying like babies
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India played superbly today to make the series 3-2. It shows that they still can play after being demoralised becos the series cud easily have been 3-2 to India, sans the magnificent partnership of Broad and Bopara.
I haven't seen the top order play this well in a long time. Maybe the comfort of having an extra batsman allowed tendulkar and ganguly to play their natural game. Tendulkar deserves a century!!!
The spinners were flawless and didnt lose their mind wen Collingwood was smacking the ball to all parts of the ground. However, I think Agarkar is still a waste of space and that the Indian team are virtually playing with 10 men as Agarkar hasnt contributed with the bat, the ball and not even fielding in this match as he dropped a relatively simple catch of jon lewis.
Anywayz India for 4-3!!!!!!!!!!!!
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team selection should be done on performance not on past recods i think peterson should be given a rest and make way for good one day bats man..let kevin get his form back for srilanka.this odis means nothing who ever wins the series means nothing.
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India deserved to win today but once again qa captain on winning the toss inserted his opponents only for his bowlers to let him down
Persinally I would have stuck with the Broad/Anderson opening attack rather than entrusting the opening overs to Lewis who is patently short on international class
India are a bowler light at the moment with Agarkar in poor form - Bell and Prior took full advantage early on but gave Ganguly far too much respect
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Agarkar is a vegsarkar protege, and a Mumbai forced error. We have to live with it, we Indians, as long as BCCI is run by Mumbai and Punjab.
We have kaif and Pathan rotting in India, while Agarkar, with his wastrel spell, gross fielding and exaggerated all-rounder status is masquerading as his better part.
Pathan with the bat will hammer a few and field well in outfield, and can also bowl at Mohinder Amarnath pace to take wickets in ODI.
Kaif is a batsmen in disguise, as his fielding saves 30 runs, which is his default contribution. Any batting from him is a bonus.
So, there's room ofr improvement. If Harbhajan can improve his temparament then, we have an addl. bowler as well.
Good tidings India
Ruava Buleskywitz
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I have to say India have made this England team look a lot better than it actually is.
If India had a captain that could read pitch conditions better ie win the toss 4 times and bat 1st 4 times then the series could be 3-2 or even 4-1 to India right now.
The Indians have done everything possibly unprofessional to lose this series by dropping so many catches, fielding badly , running poorly between wickets and mind bogglingly keep selecting Ajit Agarkar !
Yet they are only 3-2 down really explains why England is only above Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the ODI rankings.
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Mr. Ravi Bala, please keep your cricketing knowledge to yourself. You seem to have very short memory. I am not a big fan of Agarkar but dont forget his bowling from the 4th match. Dont even talk about including Kaif in the team. He saves maximum of 10 runs but doesnt score at all. Pathan should be back in side if he is in form.
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England has a wobble but will win the series well in the end. England to win the series 5-2!
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Ahh Duckworth and Lewis, those famous Indian Mathematicians !
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Fitness is a post on which I have commented before.
Players are getting regularly 'crocked', is it more so now? I think it is. Is it that people are less fit or not fit enough? Or are the demands of the modern game too high? Footballers do not have the same intensity (frequency), but they too are suffering. The problem is that to raise a relatively localised sport (cricket), in world terms, new and more inovative forms need to be invented by the marketing people to stimulate a wider public interest, and thus generate more revenue. Unfortunately the downside of this is extremely punishing schedules at the top level. I guess the 'players league (union)', needs to know when to say 'no more'. Is there one?
With the advent of the modern game, what chance the Ten/10? Just tongue in cheek!
We/you speak of commitment of the current crop of players, viz a vie comments about Indian commitments in the field, and also English batting.
However maybe Ravi Bopra went for something he would not have gone for in the longer and historically more lengthy and laid back version of the game. It is all well and good saying that teams now consider strike rates far in excess of those previously accepted, when does the point come when we are demanding more commitment and performance than the human body can regularly accept even in committed professionals, which I understand from everything I have heard Ravi Bopra certainly is.
Conversely Paul Collingwood/ Belly do not seem to have injury problems. Your views on air would be appreciated, for me and many others, I suspect also. I used to play at club level so do not have the experience of county and country level, and in a very different era. I understand your comments on 'too much cricket', I suspect the argument needs much more 'focus' for 'the powers that be, money makers', to start listening. They are wasting and burning out tomorrows money makers, for them and them.
It would be interesting for someone in the know to produce statistics about the amount of time spent per annum in career, competion and training by international sportsmen/women in all the major disciplines. This would provide a realistic comparison of the associated pressures, and whether complaints within each sport are justified. I am also beginning to wonder about the effectiveness of 'Central Contracts' although I was a great believer to start with. I wonder whether it is destructive because it 'elevates' players beyond 'normal commercial pressures'. Thus they become unrealistic about their abilities, aspirations, capabilities and their 'position' in the world. It would seem the biggest egos descend very quickly if they loose touch with reality. It is, as the Moody Blues' used to say, a 'Question of Balance'. For example Pieterson has not performed since he became a 'natural selection'. The guy is a mental oaf. His suggestion in the press saying England are unbeatable is the sign of an ignorant, arrogant, innarticulate child buffoon. Good PR is one thing, bad PR is embarassing and completely negative, he can not see the difference. Apart from which it will wind up the opposition, make them want to prove him wrong.
Colley needs to manage these egos. Colley looks as though he can be a Ricky Ponting, however he needs to be much more assertive over his colleagues, I know it early days yet for him, however he needs to progressively assert himself, step by step, match by match.
Drop the ones with attitude problems who are incapable of doing what they are requested. Easy, it is called management, something the PC world has forgotten.
The answer is somewhere between Fletcher and Moores. I suggest a steadier hand on the 'tiller'.
Contracted players should have any 'press release vetted and vetoed', if they are something is wrong. I agree that we are going in the right direction, however more control needs to be exercised. I think Colley is doing a good job, he is growing into the job, he does not seem to be influenced adversely by his elevation, I was concerned that he lacked charisma, but he seems to thrive on the challenge. His performances seem to improve with each match where predecessors didn't. He enthuses people with his quality and work ethic and commitment, but I supect he lacks charisma. England seem to have more 'fire in their belly' when Flintoff plays, even if he currently does not know what a bat is for, likewise Pierterson. These guys need telling and dropping.
Maybe some top level cricketers are too interested in 'partying', no names no pack drill!
It is a fine dividing line between being an international star and being an embarrassing idiot, I suggest keeping your head down until you are a national icon, with a regular history, like Sachin Tandulkar, even now he does not shout his mouth off, he has nothing to prove, he is judged on his performances, not his mouth. Please publish some of this stuff, even under your name. Pietersen is in danger of going the same way as Graham Hick, for different reasons, why? Is it the English system?
Their total commitment is crucial, some don't seem fully committed 'cake and eat it', comes to mind.
Regards
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Good game once again. I for one do not complain about umpiring, because in international cricket, the umpiring mistakes mostly even out. Secondly, teams winning the toss and putting the other team in and then losing the game, is also a load of rubbish. At Bristol, England managed to lose and at Old Trafford, India couldn't force the win. These are but two instances, the remaining are very much one sided contests...like today.
I think it is the absence of Flintoff that lifted India up more than having another batsman. He was the only bowler who was constantly troubling batsmen. Also, having him in the eleven works as a catalyst on other English players and you can see the difference in attitudes. That attitude is sadly missing today in England players. And the results showed. Unfortunately, young Broad suffered his first real thrashing at world class batsmen. I sincerely hope and pray that he looks at this as a learning experience.
Having said that, time and again, I keep reminding people that the Indians are a class apart when they are in form. No other batsman in the world can provide so much joy of watching one bat, than (save for Lara) when Sachin/Saurav/Dravid are in full flow. You can see other batsmen clubbing the ball than the majestic caresses these gentlemen conjure up for the best of the balls. Sachin's straight drive, ondrive, Dravid's six off Broad kneeling down, and Ganguly's off drives....yummm!
It was a great treat for pure cricket lovers. Young English bowlers, hopefully, learned something today..i.e. when bowling to a great batsman/batsmen, just say a prayer before you bowl a ball and let things happen. There is nothing anyone can do really, when these gentlemen decide that enough's enough.
I read some calls for dropping KP. Why? Who are you going to replace him with? Do you think Sachin/Dravid/Saurav became such great batsmen because they kept scoring in all of their 300+ ODI innings? Ups and downs are but natural.
Dropping KP is the most ridiculous thing I heard so far. His batting order also should not be tampered with. Let him continue batting at 2nd down. The big innings is just around the corner. Opposing teams always pay special attention to the best batsman of your team. So, no wonder Indians seem to be charged up and are working on different plans to unsettle him the moment he walks in. For example, one would have thought that Dravid would bring on Piyush, the moment KP walks in to bat, just to score a psychological point. But, surprisingly, Dravid kept him waiting for Piyush and had his medium pacers take KP out. I call it good Captaincy rather than KP's mistake. Also, the ball(s) he got in these two games were real beauties. They would have gotten any one out.
Fielding...even considering the windy conditions, Indian fielding is pathetic at best. I have never seen a bunch of international cricketers trying to stop a ball with their feet. That shows their mental state. They are afraid to dive (so as to not look foolish on the big screen TVs?) and are unwilling to bend (that is genetical...I think.). Unfortunately England seemed to catch this misfielding bug too, today. However, I did see some good stops by Indians today. Definite fours stopped by diving fielders. Good sign.
About Agaarkar, I agree he is an enigma. Also calling him an all rounder is like insulting the specialists that go by the tag of all rounders. Considering the options left for India (RP - economical, but not pentrative. Munaf - I will be surprised if he plays another game without being a fill in for an injured player), India are better off to stick with him. He does bowl a wicket taking balls every so often. He almost had Bell with an absolute beauty. Cook's dismisaal was very well set up too.
If anyone needs a talking to, it should be Ian Bell. His role needs to be to buckle down (especially coming in at 6-1) and graft the innings than throwing everythign he has, at the first ball he faces. He is riding a high this ODI series so far, and seemed to think all he has to do is to throw his bat at the ball. England cannot affort that, as it was shown in these two games, after him, the batting can crash.
Looking forward to the next two games. Oval will be a nightmare game for the bowlers. Very high scoring game. I just can't wait.
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An important breakthrough for Panesar, taking out 2 top order batsmen.
Or at least it would have been if the umpire hadn't been daydreaming.
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Some puzzling things about this match.
1. Why did India resume their innings after the first rain break? Is the policy to give one team fifty overs and then adjust the other team's target by DL? I would have thought it was more sensible to give both teams a fair shot by having the same number of overs.
2. On the subject of DL. 14 fewer runs in five fewer overs as a target seems ridiculous. I remember a similar 'adjustment' in the world cup. I forget the match, but one team had an adjusted target of exactly the same number of runs in two fewer overs. (or something like that)
However, the result was the correct one in the end. India deserved their win.
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So India are playing five specialist batsmen, one wicket-keeper, four specialist bowlers and one specialist fielder who is not that special in the field. I'd really like to know Dravid's explanation of why he is persisting with Karthik in stead of playing Uthappa or RP Singh who can fill a role.
What can you say about Agarkar? I'd like to see his birth chart as to how the stars are aligned. That must be a real lucky chart.
Powar has bowled well and should play the next match. However, in my opinion, it is not wise for the long term to have a player in today's game who is such a liability in the field. We need to find someone with better potential or bring Harbhajan Singh back.
Good win for India. If we bat to our potential, there is a good chance of winning this series. Good to see Gambhir making some runs too along with the usual suspects.
There was a time when Prior and Bell were batting, the Indian fielding looked scared. Credit must be given to Dhoni to keep his composure and make some good plays. Made the difference in the field.
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It was noticable that the England batsmen walked when they edged to the keeper, whilst the same cannot be said of Yuvraj. Surely he knew he edged it??
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No comment that England lost five overs, but only
12 runs were knocked off required score.
Quite barmy.
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I can't believe people on this forum are complaining that Agarker is a poor fielder. He was outstanding in the 2004 series against Australia and has one of the strongest arms in the indian team. You people are so narrow minded, obviously you people don't follow indian cricket as religiously as I do hence the you judge players on the basis of 1 or 2 games. India will come back and win the series and that will shut all the critics of the "supposed weak links" in the indian team up!
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Another problem with English cricket is the scheduling. The ODI series with India finishes on 8th September, and then the players bearly have time to breathe before flying to SA for the Twenty20 - Our first game there is on the 13th, so there's less than a week to recover, acclimatise, and train for a different type of cricket and challenge. It's a farce, and yet another reason why English cricket is suffering. It would have been better to extend the test series, and reduce the ODIs, say 3 ODIs and an extra Test - would have been far more entertaining than this worthless charade - 7 matches in a series? Foolish to say the least.
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Am a indian fan.. however all this talk of dropping pieterson... trust me.. as a fan of the opposition, I get a chill down my spine seeing kp come out to bat.. he is easily the best batsmen england have and without him.. they have a very medioacre line up.
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I watch most cricket as a cricketer from past.Indian team has selection problem.it is going on from long time,there filding is very poor,they could have won edgbaston match easily as well as oldtraford if they hold all the catches and field,some time i think tere fielding is wors then normal park player,if they wants to compet they have to improve their fileding and image.there is a quite a number of goog youngster in different state of india but they are not getting threr chances.if they do then indian team could be far better then what it is now.
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For once an umpiring error has gone in India's favour and not England's--- Yuvraj's reprieve.
England need not moan Flintoff's absence through injury. They must find replacement.
It is amazing that India won the game inspite of shoddy ground fielding and poor catching.
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Lewis short of international class?? he didn't bowl as well as he could BUT got Tendulkar out and his 10 overs went for 20 runs less than Broads!!
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Maybe it's time Andrew Flintoff took the time he seems to need to allow his injury(ies) to heal completely. Perhaps he should forget about t ss="singleline" /> Required (not displayed)