India flunk final exam

After the 4-3 verdict in favour of England, despite the surge of Thursday, Dravid simply said: 8220;England were a better side in the one-dayers, without doubt.8221;

After those two shock strikes by RP Singh in the second over of the England chase, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood wrapped it up in clinical fashion with an unbeaten 114-run partnership for the fourth wicket 8212; 71 for Man of the Match Pietersen, and 64 for Collingwood as England crossed India8217;s embarrassing 188 in 36.2 overs.

The Indian bowlers tried everything, but with nothing to fall back on, the fightback was never really on. India8217;s much-vaunted batting line-up had caved in at the decisive moment, and the series was lost within an hour after Dravid won the toss and batted first.

The decisive phase of the contest, if you can call it that, was from 13.3 to 15.4 overs when Andrew Flintoff, coming back with an 8216;injected ankle8217;, knocked out, controversially, Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. India were left struggling at 59-4 and never recovered.

Well, that8217;s what you would call the bend-and-hop theory in cricket. Bend your back as a bowler, and the batsman shall hop. The England seam attack had the firepower, and whipped out the short stuff at will on a wicket that was hard, but certainly not menacing. Clearly after all the power-hitting on the front foot in the last game, the tactical shift on the deciding day caught the visitors on the wrong foot.

In fact, things could have been worse had Mahendra Singh Dhoni not managed to rein in his aggressive instincts till very late. Dhoni, the Twenty20 captain, made a sedate, responsible 50 from 69 balls with four boundaries and a six but got out three balls later to a superb catch from James Anderson, who ran from long-off towards deep extra cover.

England8217;s fielding was superb, as usual, with young striker Luke Wright picking another excellent catch to dismiss Gautam Gambhir 8212;- Wright picked up the pull inches from the ground.

Then, unfortunately for India, umpire Aleem Dar came into play, ruling Sachin Tendulkar caught behind off Flintoff for 30 46 balls, four fours when it was clear that the ball hadn8217;t touched the bat. And again, skipper Dravid.

As for the rest, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa simply gifted their wickets 8212; the first two looking to glide the ball towards third man with two men at slip and gully.

Uthappa, hero of the last match, did try to raise the tempo of the innings. And there was even a 47-run partnership for the fifth wicket between him and Yuvraj Singh that hinted at a revival. But all that came to an abrupt end when the Karnataka batsman tried to get one over mid-off fielder with an extravagant shot. From then, the end was swift.

Still, looking at the series as a whole, Team India have got some positives to take home, or to South Africa, rather. The resilience, the intensity 8212; in parts 8212; and some all-round contributions will stand then in good stead for half of the lot who take-off for the Twenty20 World Cup starting next week.

Scoreboard

India

S Ganguly c Flintoff b Anderson 15

S Tendulkar c Prior b Flintoff 30

G Gambhir c Wright b Anderson 12

R Dravid c Prior b Flintoff 0

Y Singh c C8217;wood b Mascarenhas 28

R Uthappa c Anderson b Mascarenhas 22

M Dhoni c Anderson b Flintoff 50

R Powar run out Shah/Prior 10

P Chawla st Prior b Mascarenhas 0

Z Khan b Panesar 7

RP Singh not out 1

Extras lb 8, nb 4 12

Total all out in 47.3 overs 187

Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-52, 3-53, 4-59, 5-106, 6-119, 7-147, 8-148, 9-160.

Bowling: Anderson 9-1-28-2, Broad 10-0-44-0, Flintoff 8.3-0-45-3, D Mascarenhas 10-2-23-3, L Wright 2-0-11-0, M Panesar 8-2-28-1.

England

M Prior c Dhoni b RP Singh 0

L Wright c 038; b RP Singh 0

I Bell run out 36

K Pietersen no 71

P Collingwood no 64

Extras lb-8, w-9, n-b 17

Total 3 wkts in 36.2 overs 188

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-11, 3-74.

Bowling: Zaheer 9-1-40-0, RP Singh 7-0-40-2, Chawla 9-1-44-0, Ganguly 4-0-13-0, Powar 5.2-0-32-0; Yuvraj 2-0-11-0.