India vs England 2007: Detailed Preview of Fourth ODI

India vs England fourth ODI will be held on 27 August 2007. The ODI series between India and England is going to see an exciting end as both India and England showed extreme competitiveness in the earlier matches of the series. It is easy to think that both the teams are trying rule over each other and win the series in order to increase their confidence ahead of the Twenty20 world cup which will be started from 11 September 2007.

Indian has lost the third ODI matches of the series and thus England has taken the lead by 2-1. Indian bowlers have failed again and batsmen were not impressive either. The most important thing is that lack of consistency. There is no bowler at this moment in the team who could perform regularly in the last few matches. On the other hand, England batsmen are continuing their superb performance in the ODI series. After the poor bowling performance in the second ODI match, English bowlers has come back and played very well in the third ODI. Now, the fourth ODI will be very vital for Indian team. There are still four ODI matches are left in the series.

Indian Batting Strength

Batting is always the strong side of Indian team. It is thought that India never lacks of batsmen. However, it is also true that many times India’s star batsmen could not live up to the expectation and thus they have been criticized. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid- these star trio sometimes can not prevent the breakdown of Indian batting line up. The most recent example of poor batting performance was in the last world cup this year.

I think, the main problem of Indian batting is lack of consistency. Though India won the test series against England recently, I do not think Indian batsmen were consistent throughout the series. In the first test at Lords India was on the verge of a crushing defeat because of poor batting performance. However, in the second test, Indian batsmen bounced back and could play some excellent innings and won the match. Then in the third test, Indian batsmen were really in good form and put on a huge total in the score board but India’s second innings batting made it really hard to believe that these same batsmen scored 600 plus runs in the first innings.

In the same way, Indian batsmen showed their inconsistency in ODI series too. In the first ODI, India suffered an embarrassing defeat to England. However, in the second innings Indian batting was up to date and with two 90 plus scores India could reach at 329 which was enough to win the match even though their ordinary bowling.

In the 3^rd ODI Indian batsmen could not continue their good batting performance of 2^nd ODI. Sourav Ganguly scored the highest 72 runs for Indian alongside captain Rahul Dravid’s 56 and Yuvraj Singh’s 45. Rahul Dravid is continuously playing well in the series which is a big relief for the team. However, the other batsmen of Indian team looked very ordinary in the team.

Actually, I am not satisfied with this batting line up. You can easily understand that the present Indian batting line up is not so deep. After wicket keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni there is not any batsmen whom Indian can rely on. It means that Indian batting line up has just 6 batsmen who can bat well and the others are tale ender. Having only six batsmen does not mean you have a good batting line up. Rather such a batting line up creates extra pressure on the top order batsmen.

England Batting Strength

England lost the test series against Indian at home soil after 21 years. To tell the truth, consistency was also a problem among the English batsmen. That embarrassing test series lose might have inspired English batsmen to play their best in the ODI series. That is why, England batsmen played excellent in the first two ODI matches of the series. Especially in the second match, I became astonished to see the deepness of their batting line up in second ODI. No. 8 batsmen of their batting order, Dimitri Mascarenhas played an excellent innings of 52 off 39 balls which and Stuart Broad, no. 9 batsman of English batting line up, scored 29 runs facing just 24 balls.

Having 9 batsmen (though not specialist) in a team is really something special for any team. However, still consistency is most important. I am hopeful that England batsmen will play well in Twenty20 world cup. Two English batsmen Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen have already earned fame because of their hard hitting. Now, two new players Dimitri Mascarenhas and Stuart Broad have joined in the list. Among the top order batsmen Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Captain Paul Collingwood will be vital during Twenty20 world cup.

England batsmen have showed again that they are in good form and they can destroy any bowling side at this moment. I again became astonished to see the deepness of their batting line up in the third ODI match of the series. One down batsmen Ian Bell scored a brilliant half century in the match. He scored match highest 79 runs just facing 89 balls with 2 boundaries and 2 over boundaries. Opener Alastair Cook scored 40 and Captain Paul Collingwood scored 44 runs. Actually except Ian Bell, no English batsmen could make a big score but could contribute with small score.

Indian Bowling

Earlier I said that batting is the main strength of Indian team. Well, it does not mean that Indian bowlers do not contribute in their performance or India does not have any good bowlers. What I want to mention here is that Indian bowlers can not dominate over the opponent batsmen that Indian batsmen frequently do against the opponent bowlers. Playing well and having dominance over the opponents, these two things are not same at all. For example, Indian batsmen could not play well in world cup but still India experienced their highest ODI score in the world cup as Indian batsmen could put on a 400 plus runs against Bermuda. I know that Bermuda is not a strong team but still a 400 plus score deserve some praise. That means, Indian batsmen has the capability to destroy any bowling line up at any day if their batsmen are in form whereas Indian bowlers, to some extent, have a boundary of success that they hardly cross.

To tell the truth, I was shocked to see the performance of Indian bowlers in the first two ODI matches. It is not so hard to understand that though India won the second ODI, their bowlers could not resist the England batsmen from scoring a 300 plus score and it was really a matter of worry for Indian team ahead of the Twenty20 world cup. I think, Harbhajan Singh should have been taken in the ODI series against England. Except Zaheer Khan no other Indian bowlers could impress me in the test series. I do not know why Harbhajan Singh is being overlooked by the Indian selectors now-a-days. I appreciate the selectors that they have included Harbhajan in the Twenty20 world cup squad.

Indian bowling was again poor in the third ODI match and they lack of consistency. Harbhajan Singh was badly needed in that condition. Ramesh Power and Piyush Chawla are promising but sometimes experience becomes vital. Rudra Pratap Singh took three wickets but were economical. Zaheer Khan could not continue his test series performance in the ODI series though he became sick during the ODI series and missed the second ODI.

England Bowling Strength

Except the first test, the performance of England bowlers was ordinary in test series. English bowlers also have lack of consistency. In the first ODI, English bowlers played very well. James Anderson was excellent in line and length but in the second ODI their bowlers could not resist the Indian batsmen. Though Andrew Flintoff took five wickets in second ODI, he was expensive and could not create pressure over the Indian batsmen. I do not know why left arm spinner Monty Panesar was not taken in the second ODI as he is the best spinner of England at this moment.

I know that Monty Panesar could not impress in the first ODI but to get something special you have to give some chances to your best bowler. To many, Monty Panesar is best for Test cricket. I agree that his performance in Test cricket is comparatively good but if you take him in one match and then exclude from the team in the next match then it becomes hard for a young spinner to prove his talent and skill. So, I think, the selectors of England team should give some chances to Monty Panesar thinking about the future of English cricketer. I think, Monty Panesar can be very vital during the Twenty20 world cup.

England bowlers bounced back in the third ODI and James Andersen performed well taking three wickets. Captain Collingwood and Chris Tremlett took 2 wickets each. I think, England bowlers also need consistency in ODI series in order to win the series.

Online Live Scores, Updates and Commentary

I know that most of you are now exited to enjoy the fourth ODI match of India vs England ODI series. However, some of you will not be so lucky to sick to the TV sets to watch and enjoy the every ball of the match because of personal and professional work. Thinking of the passionate fans of Cricket, I am giving some website links that provide online live score of any the India vs England ODI series below: