he Ashes 2009  - 1st Test

Australia vs England

Morning Session: England got off to a solid start with Andrew Strauss looking in good form but not so for Alistair Cook. Cook looked out of sorts right from the start and gave his wicket away 10 runs (off 25 balls), courtesy of an athletic catch by Michael Hussey. Ravi Bopara, most consistent English batsman in the recent past, arrives at the crease and straight away he is attacked with the “short stuff”, with Peter Siddle hitting him on the face with a bouncer. The same was being delivered at Andrew Strauss. And all of a sudden, it seemed like that Indians weren’t the only one who struggled with short pitched deliveries. After living dangerously for most of his innings, Bopara gave his wicket away to Mitchell Johnson’s excellent slower delivery. Mitchell Johnson also got the wicket of Andrew Strauss through a quick and well directed bouncer caught by Michael Clarke in the slips.

At Lunch: England – 97/3 in 27.0 overs (KP Pietersen 6, PD Collingwood 5)

In the after lunch sesson, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood were starting to build a partnership and runs were starting at a fast pace. Both went on to make half-centuries.

Played at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff – Wales, 8-12 July 2009 (5-day match)

Fall of wickets: 1. Alastair Cook 21 (8), 2. Andrew Strauss 67 (20), 3. Ravi Bopara 90 (24.4), 4. Paul Collingwood 228 (65.3), 5. Kevin Pietersen 241 (70.5), 6. Andrew Flintoff 327 (86.4), 7. Matt Prior 329 (88.3)

Though our spinners bowled well in restricting South Africa to 130, I still can’t fathom why we kept Pragyan Ojha out on a spinner-friendly track. By and large, our batting followed the same disappointing pattern as in previous games. The top order failed in varying degrees. Not one player crossed 30 runs. With five runs off 12 balls, Dhoni’s horror story reached its climax. In the end, we weren’t even close, losing by a comfortable 12 runs. With India having played its last game, I am skipping the player by player analysis today. Let me try to put our defeats in perspective. Seven of the 11 cricketers who played and lost against England on Sunday were the ones who had vanquished Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup final: Dhoni, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan and RP Singh. So why did the team capitulate so dramatically in the crunch games this time? Here are seven reasons why we triumphed in 2007 and were humiliated in 2009:

1. Couldn’t handle the pressure of expectations: Before the 2007 World Cup, T20 was just a sideshow in the eyes of the cricket world, especially India. Going to South Africa, M S Dhoni and company were one of the least experienced sides in the tournament. Till then, India had played just one T20 international. That Sachin, Sourav and Dravid had opted out had further devalued the tournament in the eyes of the Indian fans who were still looking at the format with a degree of cynicism and suspicion. Remember this is life before IPL. Dhoni and company had no burden of expectation on their shoulders. The guys played without a care in the world and with a spirit of fun. When Robin Uthappa hit the stumps in the bowl-out against Pakistan, he doffed his hat to the crowd.

3. The IPL fatigue: When I blogged, Is IPL2 hurting India’s World Cup chance on May 14, I was denounced for being a pessimist. The fact remains that for BCCI making money is more important than winning World Cups. Which is why nobody objected to the fact that there was absolutely no gap between IPL2 and T20 World Cup 2. After six gruelling weeks, the IPL ended on May 24 in South Africa. Within a week, the team was playing practice games in London. Which is why the team looked jaded. Now coach Kirsten is talking on similar lines.

4. Crucial injuries: It wasn’t just a case of mental fatigue. Let us not forget that injuries sustained in IPL2 to Sehwag and Zaheer badly hurt the team. While Zaheer’s efficacy in T20 hasn’t really been proved yet – I know he is India’s best Test bowler — Sehwag’s exit was a big blow to India’s chance. This is for two reasons. First, the wise men had not selected a back-up, third opener for the squad. Which meant that Rohit had to be converted into a makeshift opener. This hurt our middle-order badly. Second, Sehwag scores at a blistering pace. In 2007, he fired an electrifying 40 off 17 balls against a Kiwi attack that included Shane Bond. In six overs, India had smashed 76 runs. Who was really going to do that at the top? With Sehwag’s exit, the chances of doing that diminished.

5. The flopping of Dhoni: In 2007, most of the high-risk moves taken by Dhoni had paid off to a greater or lesser degree. Sending debutant Yusuf Pathan to open was one such step. Asking Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over, ahead of Harbhajan in the final against Pakistan, was another such move. Both paid off.  On the contrary, his off-beat moves such as promoting Jadeja flopped this time. Simply put, it was a terrible mistake. Wasn’t Dhoni watching the practice games or what? Yuvraj has a good bowling record against Pietersen. But on the day this move too flopped. There were other on-field mistakes by the captain too. RP Singh was the best of the three fast bowlers on the day. How come he is the only paceman who didn’t finish his four overs?

While coach Gary Kirsten had blamed an overdose of Cricker and Indian Premier League as the cause for the World Cup fiasco, Dhoni continued to differ with his coach on IPL issue though he admitted some of his players were not 100 per cent fit.

M S Dhoni

Coach Gary Kirsten had yesterday asserted that too much of cricket by his team and the timing of Indian Premier League were the main reasons behind India’s failure to defend their title.

“We were not as energetic as we were in New Zealand. We were relatively tired when we arrived here. We have been on the road since end of January. A lot of our cricketers also carried niggles in this tournament. We picked up niggles in the IPL and lost contact with them,” Kirsten has said.

But, Dhoni had a totally different view, saying his team’s early exit had nothing to do with fatigue factor.

“Sure very few were 100 per cent fit. Some had ankle, some shoulder injury. That’s why they were not in their best in the field. But I am not sure if fatigue is the reason for it. These days you have rehab and can quickly come back to 100 per cent fitness,” he said after his side’s 12-run defeat at the hands of South Africa last night.

“I never felt I was very tired. You have to play 20 overs and you can’t manage that! It wasn’t like Sri Lanka where I thought I needed break and I opted out. That’s what when I was tired. Here I wasn’t even close to it,” Dhoni said.

He said his side failed to click as a unit in all three departments of the game, though he picked batting failure as the most disappointing aspect.

“We never performed as a team. We are used to team performing collectively to 80 per cent level. Here it wasn’t even up to 60 per cent,” he said.

“Key players, including me, were out of form. Our batting struggled and that hurt as we are always known for batting. If three bowlers were on target then others were not; if some batters clicked; the others failed. Few individuals did well but as a unit we didn’t,” said Dhoni.

Commenting on Kirsten’s idea of suggesting players to pull out of IPL if a serious preparation is to be done before important tournaments or series, Dhoni said, “You can opt out. Each individual has the right to do it.”

Dhoni foresaw a situation where cricketers could take a break for a month and then return to the game they love.

“You have to frame yourself. Cricketers will take out for fitness for if they are forced out of team, it could take up to three to sixth months’ time. Take a month’s break instead of three months’ time, and you would be up to the game.”

Ramnaresh Sarwan is the Man of the Match for his 9 ball 19

Windies qualify to SemiFinale

Batting: England Innings

Batting: West Indies Inning