Silly M(a)id-on

Perhaps deservingly.

India lost this match on all counts IMO...bowling, fielding and batting.

First up, bowling. A team at 100/3 at the end of 15 overs should not have been allowed to get to 153 in the first place. Let's see who gave how many runs in the last 5 overs -

16th over -Ishant - 13 runs
17th over - Jadeja - 8 runs
18th over - Bhajji - 10 runs including 5 wides
19th over - Zak - 12 runs
20th over - Bhajji - 10 runs including 5 wides again!

I had a very bad feeling about those free runs given away as wides, as I am sure did a lot of other people. It helped England cross the psychological 150 run mark and ultimately proved decisive in the narrow margin of victory they got.

Fielding now. Was it just me or did England seem to score 1s and 2s with a lot of ease? Again, there seemed no urgency in India's fielding. It looked like they were just going through the motions.

The batting. Oh, the batting. Perhaps there was a grand plan in sending Jadeja in at 4. That did not work out all that well. He was looking so lost out there. His mom should give him with lots of milk and almonds to build up his strength 'coz his shots seemed to go nowhere. He undid all his good bowling effort with that innings. And got a lot of abuse from me in the process. I have never wanted an Indian wicket to fall so badly. By the time Yuvi, and then Pathan came to the crease, perhaps there was just too much to do.

One thing England need to be commended on is their bowling effort. They picked up on Indian batsmen's weakness with the short ball and exploited it to their full advantage. They were the better team out there today and they won. It is indeed a shame that India did not work on this aspect after their last game.

One thing that kept coming back to me was how everyone seemed to agree that the reason why India won the cup in '07 was because they were fearless. They were extremely confident in themselves and backed each other up to win from improbable situations. That quality seemed missing in this tournament.

Life as an Indian cricket fan is never easy. For me it is more difficult 'coz my next favourite are the eternally choking South Africans. Sigh. It's not looking so good for me....