Would India be Able to Take a Sweet Revenge?

The nation which was still basking in the glory of World Cup 2011 triumph got a rude awakening when the India team toured England. If the five nil drubbing in the test series was not enough, then came the 4-0 drubbing in the one-dayers. Though India missed many key players all through the tour and at a time the team looked like a hospital, with most of the first team players nursing some injury or the other, yet that was no reason for the number one team in the world to lose so heavily. Many comments flew in from the English press and the ex-English players and the Indian team had to contend with that.

Indian Team After Scalping an English Wicket in Hyderabad

Now it is time to take a sweet revenge. We are back at our home turf and in conditions that suit our players. Many English experts had started strewing the plot even before the English team arrived the Indian shores. They blamed India for preparing slow and spin friendly pitches. But my argument in this regard would be: when we visit England don’t we have green and seamer friendly pitches to contend with? So what is the issue, every team tries to reap home advantage. With the exception of Gautam Gambhir most of the other players are yet to recover from their injuries and thus it would be a second chance for the young talents to show their skills on the big stage. One of the things that baffled me with the team selection was the exclusion of Yusuf Pathan and Harbhajan Singh. We know both these players have under-performed over the last few months, but they are talents that can win you matches.

Dhoni on his Way to a Match Winning Innings at Hyderabad 

But the series has already got underway and you can easily name it the revenge series. Indian team is out to prove a point against a fiercely competitive English side. The series has started with the one-dayers which are being played under the new ICC rules. In both the matches India have mastered over their opponents. The first one-dayer played at Hyderabad was won by India by a thumping margin of 126 runs. India batted first and amassed a total of 300 for the loss of 7 wickets thanks largely to the crucial knock from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who top scored with 87 from 70 balls. He was ably assisted by Suresh Raina scoring 61 of 55 balls and Ravindra Jadeja who scored 27 of 22 balls. When England came in to bat they had very little to boast about apart from the innings of their skipper Alistair Cook who scored 60 of 63 before succumbing to Ravindra Jadeja. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin went on to claim 3 wickets each as England were bowled out for 174 in 36 overs and one ball.

Vinay Kumar after Claiming the Wicket of Trott

The second one-dayer at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi brought similar joys to the home team as well. India beat England by 8 wickets in this rubber. Opting to bat first England got to a total of 237 with forties from Kevin Pietersen and Samit Patel. There were no large partnerships all through the innings largely thanks to Vinay Kumar’s bowling heroics. Vinay Kumar ended up getting 4 English scalps. When batting Indian team got off to a dodgy start and at one stage they were 29 for 2. But this time around Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir washed out the English opposition with their master-class stroke play. They featured in an unbroken partnership of 209 runs. While Virat Kohli got his seventh hundred in ODIs (112 from 98 balls), Gautam Gambhir on the otherhand remained unbeaten at 84 of 90 balls. All the English bowlers were taken to the sword as the match ended in just 36.4 overs.

Kohli & Gambhir During their Unbeaten Partnership

During these matches I saw many fielding blemishes and even missed catches in the outfield from the English team. So whom does Nasser Hussain want to call a monkey now? Or does Michael Vaughan have some new conspiracy theory against the Indian team? We can only hope that India completes its revenge in style to silence all their critics.