By Anil - Jun 29, 02
June 29 2002

This was the first match for India in the Natwest, playing favorites England (at least according to the bookies). India pulled off an excellent win, putting up the 3rd highest total to win an ODI in all matches ever played at Lord's. In the first ODI in England, India has sent a clear message out: not only is our batting lineup star-studded, our bowling attack is probably the best of the 3 teams in the Natwest series.

Not a great start

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Ganguly lost a crucial toss, and he knew it. On a flat, dead pitch at Lord's chasing is a huge disadvantage, and his spinners would have preferred to come in later too. Trescothick, in great form, punished both Agarkar and Zaheer and the spin twins both came in within the first 15 overs. The pitch was as flat as any in Delhi or Madras. A great throw from Tendulkar finally broke up the partnership, and Nasser Hussain was out LBW first ball, plumb LBW, but Steve Bucknor denied it. Incidentally Bucknor asked for a replay of Knight's runout too, and I have no idea why because it was clear as day and the Indian team was celebrating even as the 3rd umpire was looking at the tapes.

But it didn't last for Eng

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Thereafter it was mostly Yuvraj taking apart the English lineup with intelligent variations in his left arm spin, and Ganguly finally sent back Tresco caught behind. England never recovered from that, Bhajji prospered, and when Zaheer and Agarkar came back during the late stages of the game, their fast, accurate yorkers kept batsmen very quiet indeed. 271 runs after a great start was underwhelming. The Indian team were getting lots of cheering and support from a packed Lord's stadium.

Indian innings

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After the lunch break, Sehwag shone. His brilliance in dealing with every one of the English bowlers was awesome to watch, and it's clear why he is rated the best young batsman of the world. Ganguly was more circumspect and gave support to Sehwag who got most of the strike. Giles was introduced into the attack, as Hussain chose to copy Ganguly by bringing him in inside the 1st 15 overs, and Sehwag greeted him with a towering six first ball. Giles started bowling a negative line, unbelievably getting away with bowling a couple inches outside leg stump consistently with only 2 wides called. Just as Gavaskar was inexplicably criticizing Sehwag for his tendency to get out before his century while India were going along swimmingly at 7+ an over, Sehwag got out to an excellent catch from Trecothick which was headed for 6. Thanks for the jinx, Gavaskar. Ganguly too was out to an unbelievable catch by Kirtley off what should have been a very good boundary. England fielding was top class.

Yet again Tendulkar got out when you least expected it - to a journeyman who bowls at 65 mph, Ronnie Irani. Giles was bowling just outside leg and Tendulkar was probably thinking just how good it would be to rip him into pieces but it was the other slow bowler who got him. The best part was when Irani was felled as he was backing into Sachin while appealing and blocking him from taking a single. It was a close LBW but Sachin was beaten by a very average bowler yet again in his career.

Yuvraj takes it away

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Mongia was bowled by a delivery from Giles which spun in startlingly to the lefthander off the rough which was in the exact right spot for a left arm offie (possibly also the reason why Yuvraj bowled so well). With Dravid his usual self, hitting balls firmly to fielders and unable to rotate strike, and Yuvraj looking tentative, the game looked like going away. Gavaskar chipped in with some more negative comments about how the English had taken the game away (he can be a drag sometimes). But Yuvraj had other ideas.. he put his foot on the gas and hit out at bowlers who started looking clueless, whose shoulders started sagging. Dravid allowed Yuvraj to do much of the work before suddenly realizing that India could win the game, and then stepped up his rate to play a genuine one day innings. Once again, Yuvraj had played a crucial role under pressure to win India an ODI, and won the Man of the Match award. The stadium exploded just like any in India. This was only the third time in history that a team had chased 270+ successfully in the second innings to win an ODI at Lord's - the model of a successful run chase.

Soapbox on the World Champion Whingers

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• Interestingly, the English commentators said little about two very plumb LBWs: Hussain was LBW right in front of middle stump off the first ball he faced from Kumble, a straight one. Ganguly also had one of the batsmen out LBW and looked shocked at being denied.
• Strangely, the England commentators kept harping on any LBW denied the England bowlers. They uncorked missile technology which showed one of the LBWs clipping outside of legstump, and another which was missing leg by quite a ways to their embarassment. Surprisingly, the two LBWs denied India were not projected by this technology. Perhaps they didn't want to embarass the umpires when the batsman was English.
• Hussain, with the luxury of fielding second, took plenty of time setting his field, often changing fields in the middle of an over, to loud boos from the stadium. However that did not seem to bother him in the least.
• Sky television was very careful never to show Kirtley delivering the ball in any sort of detail, or in any replays. Kirtley is a confirmed chucker who has been in trouble, and the hypocritical media who crucified Lankan bowlers were reluctant to put their own through any scrutiny.
• Ronnie Irani, who was placed in an illegal fielding position by Hussain inside the first 15 overs, was asked to change his position to conform with the rules, by the neutral umpire West Indian Steve Bucknor. He refused to budge, and Bucknor called Hussain, who proceed to argue with Bucknor. Then Hussain demanded that the English umpire adjudicate, and he did so. Result: Irani stood his ground and umpire Bucknor was overruled by the England umpire and captain. Bucknor looked very annoyed.
• In the late stages of the game, Dravid asked the umpire to change the white ball, which had become muddy and hard to see by now. The umpires called for a box of replacement balls. Flintoff, who was then bowling, along with Hussain, went to the umpires while they were picking out a replacement, gesticulating wildly and arguing with them. After much heated discussion, the box of replacement balls was sent back unused, and the dirty ball unchanged. The English commentators opined that this was probably because there was no replacement ball which was in the same exact condition as the ball being used. The Indian batsmen looked unhappy and asked about it, but decided not to argue. Yet again, the English had bent the rules by dissenting an umpires decision, and even won the argument, putting the opposition at a significant disadvantage with a ball that was hard to see.
• At the presentation ceremony, Yuvraj spoke in English that was less than completely fluent. Afterwards, all that Gower and Botham could do was criticize his English instead of giving him credit for a fantastic performance. They would stop with "oh, but his English is a lot better than my Hindi", laugh, and then continue criticizing him. Perhaps they are paid for reviewing grammar instead of cricket?

Hopes for the next match

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• Bhajji is dropped for Nehra
• Tendulkar gets cracking
• Mongia puts a bigger price tag on his wicket
• English commentators are dropped for Bhogle and Sidhu (not gonna happen, but let's pray the comms for Tests are better)