Indian spinners triggered an English collapse. Dhoni opined that the English batsmen have not yet mastered Indian conditions.
England were chasing a target of 272 and Cook and Keiswetter gave them a solid 120 partnership, but the visitors lost their way with the exit of these two formidable batsmen, as their ten wickets fell for 47 runs.
After Aaron achieved the initial breakthrough, Indian spinners Jadeja, Ashwin, Raina and Tiwary took the remaining wickets to send the visitors back to the pavilion for just 176 runs. Jadeja took 4/33 and Ashwin 3/28. This
brownwash made amends for the humiliation in England, where India were mauled !
Cook and Kieswetter were going great guns, when Aaron, arguably the fastest Indian bowler, dismissed Cook for 60 in his second over. Jadeja trapped Kieswetter lbw., Ashwin dismissed Ian Bell for two, Trott and Bairstow were removed in eight balls by Jadeja. Bopara was removed by Raina, bowled round his legs and Bresnan holed out ot Tiwary. Ashwin then picked up Meaker and Finn to complete the brownwash.
Dhoni was adjudjed Man of the Series and he smashed 75 not out off 69 balls to power India to 271-8, after India was sent in to bat by Cook. His last seven knocks now read 69, 78 not out, 50 not out, 87 not out, 35 not out, 15 not out and 75 not out.
Jadeja was adjudged Man of the Match for his 4 wickets. Earlier Rahane ( 42 ) and Gambhir ( 38 ) scored 80 for the first wicket. Raina scored 38 before being run out and Jadeja remained a good No 7, scoring a steady 21.
The rivals will meet again on Saturday for a lone T20 ! In this series, known as the payback series, India had to win. The Indian crowd was irate and everybody was blaming the busy schedule. When the team was announced, many were apprehensive that a second rate Indian XI may not hold against England, who beat India comprehensively in England. But the Indian team rose to the occasion and now India is third in ODI rankings.
Cook was dejected and said " We were in with a shout there, 120 for no loss, and then we were blown away at the end. It was very disappointing. We know that you can lose wickets in a cluster, we seem to have lost 10 there in a cluster. Credit to the way they bowled, and we played a couple of poor shots."
Indian spinners led by Jadeja and Aswin sealed the fate of the series. English batsmen had no clues to balls which kept low and they were routed. Indians will be thankful to the return of Jadeja, the pace of Aaron and Yadav ( who both clocked more than 145 kph ), the length of Vinay Kumar , the batting of Raina, Kohli, Dhoni and Jadeja. Now India has 118 points.
India had won 16 out of 18 ODIs played in India and their dominance in home conditions is alarming.
Dhoni was ecstatic.
"I remember them as a very strong side and they can give you the punch with a good bowling unit. But they need to click as a batting unit. It's just that they have not done well in India."
Indian bowlers could not use English conditions well. "I've not said anything different. We must realise our strengths and weaknesses. Of course, it's a great series win. But our pacers could not bowl 10 overs. But it didn't happen here. We have to realise where we have to go better. It's good to have bowlers. We need to improve as a team. Hopefully, we have improved but we still need to be consistent and not depending on the venue. We have to be more consistent with our bowling as well. These are the areas we need to emphasis upon so that we may not see a Raina bowling alongside Tiwary." said the whirlwind wicket keeper batsman.
As a No 6, 'Man of the Series' Dhoni said he had adjusted himself to that slot. "The last time I played up the order was in Pakistan and I could not capitalise on a couple of innings. I was supposed to bat at 5, 6 or 7 and got myself adjusted. Now the format of the game has also changed. Now with split of powerplays, the situations are different. We have to be good at slog overs and rotate strikes as well. It's about taking risks as well. I have changed my style of batting. At 3, you can be flamboyant but at 5 and 6 you have to be careful. Reiterating his stand on terming the series as revenge, he said, "It's not about revenge. In sport, you don't go for revenge. We are a good side. Our bowling did not perform to the extent in the series. For us, it's about to do well but not setting examples."
Dhoni said he is philosophical about the humiliation incurred in England.
"It happens in the world. You are appreciated when you do well. It should be taken in an open heart. I can also sit and criticise. I was not too worried about criticism. We know cricket is big in India. It's a part of our life."
Dhoni praised the youngsters. "It's difficult to replace the seniors talent-wise. But these youngsters have clicked as a unit. They are slightly better fielders. They may save 8-10 runs which matter in ODIs. They have reacted in the right way. They waited to turn the game in their favour. But we really can't replace Sachin, Sehwag and Yuvraj."
About the low turnout at Kolkotta, Dhoni said, "We played a lot of cricket in India. The World Cup, IPL and then the Champions League were held here. Big stars like Sachin were missing. This is one of the biggest stadia in India. So it's not easy to get a jam-packed crowd everytime. I remember them as a very strong side and they can give you the punch with a good bowling unit. But they need to click as a batting unit. It's just that they have not done well in India."
Dhoni wished his countrymen Happy Diwali. "I extend my best wishes to everyone for Diwali" said the formidable Indian captain.
In T20s, England is positioned at No 1 with 127 points, India is placed No 5 with 112 points, Australia with 111 points and Pakistan 97 points. Misbah condemend the ranking of Pakistan at No 7, saying that they were World Champions. He said his side will improve, even though the ranking is undeserved !
Said Misbah, "It was quite a shock to the whole team. We felt it quite a lot, all the players," whose shot, in the 2007 final, went straight into the safe hands of Sreeshant, giving India the Cup that mattered.
He said his players were eager to improve their rankings. "We've spoken about it as well. All the players have quite a lot of concern about it. All the players want to do well. We've lost quite a few of our last T20s, so all the players felt it and their thinking is that they need to improve it now." Pakistan start their second Test against SL on Wed.
"Next time we play a T20, our approach will be that this is a format that we have done really well in, it's a format that we've played a lot, and our performances in the three World T20s, runner-up, winner, then semis, we want to bring that ranking back" said the solid middle order batsman
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