The plan was to come out guns blazing against England and play Sunday’s final of the tri-series. But, England’s middle-order did what the Indians couldn’t. Chasing an easy target of 201 to win in tough Perth conditions, England got the better of MS Dhoni’s men, qualifying to take on Australia for the title. This was incidentally India’s best performance on Australian soil, in the ODI format, after losing the Test series 2-0.
There was a time the match could have gone anyway, when India had its moments. But any glimmer of hope eventually faded and the British opponents ran away with this match. After this loss, the men in blue remain winless blokes in Australia. The biggest contest of world cricket looms on the horizon, and the pressure must be weighing heavy on MS Dhoni and his brigade, two weeks to the World Cup in the same conditions that have deprived this side of a single victory. And yet, believe it or not, there are positive takeaways for the team.
To start with, we must be relieved for the way the openers didn’t deliver a sedate start to the innings. This was a welcome change. Ajinkya Rahane, who was on the verge of making it really big on the WACA track by scoring a hundred, still carried the burden of scoring right at the top of the Indian batting order.
He was ably supported by Shikhar Dhawan, who has not been among big runs in recent days. It was a perfect start to the Indian innings, as the openers were not in a rush to score. They took their time in the middle and played with a very cautious approach. After all, the need of the hour was to put the best foot forward, and the openers complied.
With regard to the results of this particular match, the duo’s good work stood for not when the middle order failed to support them. It was rather shocking how the Indian middle-order faltered to use the pace and bounce of the Perth pitch. It was England’s James Taylor and Joe Buttler who used the pace of the Indian bowlers well and also negotiated Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja to perfection. Ultimately, it was their partnership which helped England romp home after turning the tide.
For India, the biggest positive was the bowling performance of the team. The regular pacers – Mohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami – were quite impressive with the new ball and kept the England top-order guessing. Uncharacteristically, Shami was economical and so was Mohit, who is an ideal candidate to be a part of the World Cup team. The biggest morale booster for India was the way all-rounder Stuart Binny bowled in the match. He got three wickets while Mohit got two scalps. Over all, it was the best bowling effort but sadly there weren’t those many runs put up to defend.
At one stage of the match, India had England on the mat, but Taylor and Buttler had other plans and shared a match-winning stand between them. It is also kind of sad that India didn’t deserve to play the final because they were the most inconsistent side in this tournament compared to the other two teams — Australia and England.
In any case, the track record of playing tri-series in Australia isn’t great for India. So the way India played and lost may not have surprised many. That is because India never went in to a World Cup in 2003 and 2011with a win under their belt. They lost to New Zealand in bilateral series just before the 2003 event and went on to play the final.
Again before the 2011 edition at home, they had lost to South Africa in a bilateral series and eventually became the world champions. Perhaps, in this match, the story could have been different if India had scored another 40 to 50 runs. Despite all this, the implication is not that India will carry this form into the World Cup.
