By Anil - 5 July, '02
July 5 2002

Indian batsmen take bowling attack to the cleaners in the 5th ODI of the NatWest series at Chester-le-Street. However, England are spared another defeat thanks to inclement weather. A weak drizzle answered England's prayers: the 5th ODI was suspended due to weather reasons. India's massive 285 on a tricky pitch where runs were difficult to come by with the ball not coming on to bat, would have been difficult to chase down given England's initial response to India's pace attack and their main batsman Trescothick out cheaply. The result was that the two sides had to share the points, with India still undefeated at the half-way stage of the tournament, and the points leader.

A big partnership

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Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar had scored his record 32nd ODI century coming in at his new number 4. Ganguly was given LBW first ball, and Sehwag and Mongia gave their wickets away. Dravid started in typical fashion in a supportive re-building role until his 50 was completed, and thereafter accelerated rapidly and rotated strike quickly as he warmed up to his task, ending up with 82 with a s/r of 70. The huge 4th wicket partnership of 169 runs progressively broke ODI record after record, in the process also breaking the back of the hapless England bowlers.

This pitch was no batsman's paradise. Deliveries were slowing down and batsmen were confused. Thus, the most economical if not successful England bowler was Ronnie Irani, a mediocre if accurate slow-medium bowler, who bowled his quota of 10 giving away an astonishing 28 runs for such a big innings without taking a wicket, whereas a much better bowler like Gough was tonked around the park.

Master batsman in charge

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Sachin Tendulkar played a perfectly paced innings, starting steadily with the occasional ruthless, perfect 6 off journeyman Collingwood, and accelerating rapidly later treating each bowler with disdain. In combination with both Dravid and the incredible Yuvraj Singh, the best Test and ODI batsman in the world showed how an ideal ODI innings is played. His 105, which came off 108 deliveries, was surprisingly his first ODI century against England.

One of the most satisfying aspects was how Tendulkar dealt with left arm spinner Les Giles, who sought to tie him down as he has done before with negative deliveries pitching fractionally outside leg stump. Tendulkar classically swept his first delivery to the fence, and cheekily reverse-swept a later one to the boundary on the off side. Repeatedly, Sachin went on the offensive against defensive tactics, as Giles was the very picture of frustration. The spinner was twice chased out of the attack prematurely by a relentlessly attacking Tendulkar (and Dravid). Towards the end, classy new Indian batsman 20 year old Yuvraj Singh punished England with a stunning 40 off 19 deliveries, and showed again why Hussain is worried about him coming in at number 6 and why he feels India are favorites to win in England.

A weak response

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When the England innings started, they were pinned down by a pacy and accurate Nehra, and intimidated by an aggressive Zaheer Khan. Zaheer, in typical fast bowler fashion, had words for Trescothick at the end of his runup, a batsman who has proven to be India's main obstacle every time England has done well against it. Trescothick was furious at whatever Zaheer had to say, and instead of responding in the same subtle fashion, he chose to openly talk to Zaheer in full view of TV cameras. It seemed as if Tresco was unable to take from Zaheer what he has taken from bowlers such as McGrath and Gillespie many, many times, and what his own bowlers like Flintoff have dished out many, many times. Zaheer again said something and Trescothick charged down the pitch presumably for a run, but shoulder charging Zaheer aggressively in the process. The officiating umpire, Shepherd of England, turned a blind eye to it, although even commentator Gower was saying that the umpire should restrain batsmen who intentionally run down the pitch and charge batsmen. Batsmen are required to run outside the pitch and avoid bowlers while taking a run.

Trescothick was riled up enough to hit Zaheer for a couple of fours, and at the end of the over, Shepherd, who had not admonished the batsman who was clearly the one breaking the rules, had a few words with a surprised Zaheer. Next over up, Zaheer continued to talk to Trescothick, and a raging Trecothick tried to hit him for six and ended up missing completely, caught plumb in front, and declared LBW. At the end of the over, Shepherd spoke to Zaheer about running on to the pitch, which even the Eng commentators on Sky could not explain based on the replay. Shepherd continued to hound Zaheer, and in his next over gave him a formal warning for running on the pitch. He seemed to be giving an indirect message to Zaheer: don't talk to the batsman, you are not an Aussie fast bowler. Thereafter, Shepherd stayed off Zaheer's case, even though he was doing nothing different at all in his follow-through.. the umpire had apparently cooled off.

This is rain?

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A few drops of rain, which normally would not be enough to hold up play, and Shepherd walked up to South African umpire Orchard who was all nods. They came up to the batsmen to offer suspension of play, which was gladly accepted. A disbelieving Ganguly went up to talk to the umpires who ended up accepting their error and calling back Hussain and Knight from the boundary. However, one over later, with the conditions unchanged, they again suspended play and refused to listen to whatever Ganguly had to say to them again. Here again, even a jingoistic Botham said that according to the rules, there was no reason to stop play since the conditions were unchanged. Rollers continuously flattened the pitch, with England fearing that a lively pitch would increase India's chances of a win - however, to the disappointment of a packed crowd which wasn't even bothering with umbrellas due to a slight drizzle, the umpires called off the match prematurely. England had been saved from a certain second defeat at India's hand.

India is the eventual winner

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Although the two sides shared the points, India will be satisfied with the experience knowing that they virtually defeated England - a "moral victory" to use their terminology - and the Indan batsmen got valuable batting practice in the process, also demoralizing their only international class bowler Gough along with the clutch of medium-pacers. It is difficult to see why India will not be clear favorites going into the final.