By Ashok Kumar:

Finally, there was something to smile for England and they go back happy. England reached the easy target of 121 losing only four wickets and 8 balls to spare, thanks to half century from the most popular player in the side Kevin Pietersen. And, frankly speaking, England rediscovered its touch for the first time, batted, fielded and bowled well right from the word go.
In fact, Kevin made a mockery of Yusuf Pathan’s bowling by getting into position before the ball was bowled and played a switch shot over long off. The next ball was dispatched to mid wicket boundary. Pietersen marked the gaps and would hit only in those areas with great ease but it was another attempted switch shot that cost him his wicket to Raina when only 14 runs were required. Also, Kevin was a bit lucky when Raina dropped a difficult chance at backward square leg.
India started badly after winning the toss when they lost two wickets in the first two overs with one run on board. Ajinkaya went without scoring while trying to drive a Finn delivery but edged to Kieswetter who jumped to hold on to the catch. Next over, Robin Utthapa edged a Bresnan outside the off stump ball into the slips. Both Bresnan and Finn and later Patel and Bopara choked the Indian batting. But thanks to some lusty hitting by Ashwin, India managed cross 100 and give a target of 6 an over to England. The ‘chopper’ (Dhoni) failed to take off to give the side an extra 15 to 20 runs that would have given the home team a respectable total to defend.
“We were 15 runs short,” said MS Dhoni at the presentation podium. “It was the sort of wicket where you’d aim for 150 odd runs. We didn’t get off to a good start. It was very slow, so it was very difficult. They used the slower ball very well. Ashwin played some shots, and that’s why we reached 120 odd runs. No point thinking about the Australian series right now, what’s important is the next few days off and then back for the Tests. It’ll be a good series for the youngsters, especially the bowlers.”

Samit Patel is presented with a motorcycle for his all-round effort

Kevin Pietersen was declared the Man of the Match for his half-century. “Tricky wicket,” he says. “It’s one of those wickets where the first six overs you’ve got to take a risk or two. Luckily I was dropped! It’s a good place to come and play as a batter, but a lot of us underperformed. But believe me, we tried our hardest. We’ve got a lot of work to do technique-wise here in the subcontinent. But we’ll continue to give our best and try to improve. We’ve tried really hard on this trip, although we came unstuck in the one-dayers.”
“It’s been a very tough month for us,” admits Graeme Swann. “We’ve played some abjectly horrible cricket, but it came together today. Finn has been the shining star for us for the whole month, I brought him on today when I needed a wicket and he provided. We know that we played some poor cricket for five games, and one swallow doesn’t make a summer.”

By Ashok Kumar:

The proverbial it’s hard to beat India in India has come true with a comprehensive win at the Eden Gardens,Kolkata tonight.
By the 20th over of England innings, the Indian total of 271 looked an easy one. Cook and Kieswetter were on a roll and for the first time in the series both the openers crossed three figure mark and in the process both scoring their first half centuries in the series. But what happened after that was unimaginable. England losing ten wickets for mere 47 runs! A cakewalk turned into a steep uphill climb and India triumphing by 95 runs.
Their wrecker in chief was Ravindra Jadeja, who made a superb come-back into the side after failing to get a call for the World Cup and England tour.
This series was more of surprises than expectations. The prolific run scorer in England against India, Ian Bell had been sitting out for four matches and by the time he got the call, he had rusted. There was no century from English batsmen and Jonathan Trott was the only one who came very close to the three figure mark when he remained unbeaten on 98 at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
For the Indians, Vaun Aaron of Jharkhand became the second bowler to clock over 140 kmph consistently. Now with the Australian tour round the corner, India can expect to match their rivals. And, we can now say India has the bench strength with Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar and Varun Aaron faring brilliantly, at least on home soil.
Another good news is that the chopper has started to fly again. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has rediscovered his helicopter shot in this series and made full use of it in all the matches.
This England team never in the series looked even a shadow of the side that beat India to embarrassment in England. India seemed to have forgotten that and picked up from where they left in World Cup finals.
India should not allow any complacency to set in as after England, the Australian tour will be the next test not that the West Indies tour is going to be of lesser consequence.

By Ashok Kumar:

Playing before the home crowd, Virat Kohli (112 from 98 balls) and Gautam Gambhir (84 from 90 balls) propelled India to a comfortable win over England in the second ODI at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi tonight. India overcame a moderate England total of 237 losing only two wickets and with 76 balls to spare. In the process the local heroes produced best ever partnership of 209 for any wicket against England. Virat Kohli scored his 7th ODI hundred and the second against England and also became the third batsman to score over 1000 runs in a calendar year.
England never looked in the game right from the beginning. They lost both the openers in the first two overs without a run on the board. Then came three partnerships between Jonathan Trott and Kevin Petersen of 48, Kevin and Ravi Bopara of 73 runs and lastly between Samit Patel and Jonny Bairstow of 86 runs that looked to put up a respectable total. Some fine bowling by Vinay Kumar (4-30) and Umesh Yadav (2-50) backed up by Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin saw the England side folding up for 237 in 48.2 overs.
Indian fielding was very tight in the beginning. Praveen Kumar initially bowled a tight spell but he came in for severe beating when Trott hit him for 4 boundaries in his third over costing him 17 runs while Vinay Kumar continued to bowl a tight spell of 6 overs picking up two wickets of Keiswetter and Trott.
Yadav who replaced Praveen too proved to be expensive and was removed after his first over. But he was effective in his second spell bowling at a speed more than 145 kmph. It was heartening to see someone from India match the likes of Finns, Bollingers and Bresnans. Jadeja and Ashwin took a wicket a piece but were not as threatening as they were in Hyderabad.
The Indian innings started on a flamboyant note. Parthiv and Rahane went for their shots and paid price. India lost both the openers by the score of 29. And then, Gambhir and Kohli build a solid foundation to surpass the English total. Bresnan looked menacing in the beginning when he had both the openers. He laid a trap for Rahane by bowling two bouncers at him. The first went for a six but the second straight into the hands of Dernbach.
The same Bresnan who demolished the Indian side on several occasions in England looked off colour in Indian conditions. He is the lead bowler for this English side. England fielding was sloppy dropping easy chances and unable to stop runs. India now lead the 5 match series 2-0.
“It’s a long way back from 0 for 2,” says Alastair Cook. “We got a lot of 30s and 40s but we know that doesn’t win a game. Virat and Gambhir showed us how it’s done. Credit to the way they played. There was one half chance off Jade, but apart from that they gave us nothing. We prepared well in the practice games, but we haven’t translated that to the main games. We need to score more runs, and our fielding wasn’t quite to standard.”
“I’m glad we’re the winning side, it’s really good,” says MS Dhoni. “Well of course the series in England wasn’t a good one for us, but the team showed their character not to lose their temper and still be sociable on the field,” he says pointedly. “We needed a good start, Vinay and Praveen gave us that with early wickets. We never let them get a partnership together. Gautam played brilliantly, Virat is a strokeplayer. Gautam’s innings at No. 3 was crucial, the ball was still moving a bit when he got in. The pitch was a bit too placid, I’d prefer a bit more turn. I think a turning wicket is a sporting track in India. But this was a good ODI wicket. For us it’s all about winning one game at a time, improving ourselves as cricketers, especially with youngsters in the side.”

By Ashok Kumar

Well, the payback has begun. India thrashed England by 126 runs in the first match of the Airtel ODI series played at the Rajiv Gandhi sports complex in Hyderabad today. India won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch was slow and the ball was keeping low.
Indian batsmen used to the conditions and played cautiously scoring at 4 plus run rate till the side went for the batting power play. Gambhir and Kohli stabilised the innings after Patel and Rahane fell cheaply. Then Suresh Raina and skipper Dhoni brought up the scoring rate to over five and in the process the former hit the first two sixes of the match. The duo brought the fifth fifty in 22 balls.
After Raina holed out to Peitersen at long on for 61 and a quick fire 26 by Jadeja, Dhoni could be seen in World Cup finals avatar, making full use of his trademark helicopter shot. The skipper was unbeaten at 87 and took the team’s total to 300.
For the first time in recent months, England looked vulnerable and beatable. At the nets, it was reported that coach Grant Flower shouted at one of the batsmen when he was unable to handle low delivery that you are going to face this kind of pitch throughout the series. And, England batsmen failed to handle low deliveries. Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann and Samit Patel were bowled by deliveries that kept low. Ashwin and Jadeja spun the web beautifully while for the first time, Swann looked ordinary. Both Jadeja and Ashwin struck vital blows, including caught and bowled by each one of them.
A late blitz by Finn was not enough to take England anywhere near India’s total. Once again, India displayed excellent team work and move closer to looking beyond Sehwags and Tendulkars. After Srinath, Umesh Yadav is the first bowler to have crossed the speed of 145 kmph.

David Hussey’s determined innings of 59  leading Australia’s recovery for a total of 6-147 notwithstanding England strolled to the trophy table after reaching 3-151 in 17 overs.

South African-born duo Kevin Pietersen (47) and Craig Kieswetter (63) added 117 for England’s second wicket in a match-winning partnership.

Kieswetter was named man of the match and Pietersen, who missed a game during the tournament to attend the birth of his son in London, was player of the series with 248 runs at an average of 62.00.

“Losing those three wickets early certainly didn’t help us and put a lot of pressure on our middle order,” Clarke said.

“But we did well to scrape to 140-odd. In the end we were probably 30 runs short.

“But in saying that, the way England came out and batted we were probably 50 runs short.

“That’s the way it goes. We got beaten by a better team today.”

After Shaun Tait removed Michael Lumb (2) in the second over, leg-spinner Steven Smith and left-armer Mitchell Johnson dismissed Pietersen and Kieswetter in the 14th and 15th overs.

But England settled with skipper Paul Collingwood unbeaten on 12 including the winning boundary and Eoin Morgan 15 not out.Collingwood had invited Australia to bat first and left-armer Ryan Sidebottom (2-26) claimed Shane Watson (2) and Brad Haddin (1) while David Warner (2) was run out.Clarke (27) chipped a catch to rival skipper Paul Collingwood at 4-45 in the 10th over.

Cameron White crunched 30 from 19 balls, adding 50 in a crucial fifth-wicket partnership with David Hussey who was dropped by Stuart Broad at mid-wicket on 25.David Hussey’s 54-ball knock included two fours and two sixes.

The right-hander was run out in the final over after a 47-run partnership with brother Mike who was unbeaten on 17.

Spinner Graeme Swann was economical with 1-17 from his four overs.

Australia would take little comfort in the fact this was a step forward for the team after failing to reach the final in two previous World T20 events.

It’s England’s first win in a major limited-overs trophy event, after making the decider in the Champions Trophy once and the World Cup three times.

The ICC later announced Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin had been fined 10 per cent of his match fee for a violation of the Code of Conduct.

Haddin pleaded guilty to a charge of showing dissent after an umpire’s decision.

He batsman was given out caught behind down leg-side for one off the bowling of paceman Ryan Sidebottom.

But the ball appeared to miss the bat and strike Haddin on the hip and the Australian stood at his crease and pointed to his hip after being dismissed.