India reign after rain

From the England dressing room,Bopara had watched his top order disintegrate,as England lost their first four wickets for a pittance. When he had walked in during the ninth over,at the fall of Ian Bell to a contentious stumping,England were 46/4 and the target of 130 seemed light years away.

Bopara,though,had different plans.

Once already in the day,the Indians had gotten away from his stranglehold. With the ball,he had left India reeling. In his very first over,Bopara had dismissed Shikhar Dhawan — quite easily the best batsman in this event — just when he had begun to look dangerous. And during his third over,Bopara scalped the wickets of both Suresh Raina (1) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (for the first duck for India in the tournament) to finish with a double-wicket maiden and leave India at 66/5 in 13 overs.

Back then in the first innings,the Indians had gotten away at the end of Bopara’s spell,with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja scoring 43 and 33 respectively,taking India to a below-par total of 129. Now,Bopara displayed the intent of a man who didn’t trust anyone else to do his job,clouting two sixes en route to 30,England’s highest score.

The 18th over began and Ishant Sharma — a bowler Bopara had smashed for a six the last time they had faced off in the 15th over — was to finish his spell of four overs. But on strike was Bopara’s more than capable partner,Eoin Morgan,who had scored a run-a-ball 27 in the half-century stand. Second ball,Morgan flicked Sharma for a six,disrupting the tall man’s poise. The fast bowler bowled two consecutive wides to take England’s score to 110/4. This was getting a little too easy for the hosts.

Then Morgan caved.

Trying to swipe a length ball,Morgan found the only fielder in the inner circle on the leg side,Ravichandran Ashwin. Running hard to his right and sliding towards the dropping ball with a dive,Ashwin held on and the crowds went up in unison. But on noticing that it was Bopara on strike,they hushed into a silence. With Bopara still out there,England were favourites.

Next ball,Sharma pitched it short. As it rose to his face,the England all-rounder tried to pull. Only,he ended up finding the only fielder inside the circle square on the leg side,R Ashwin again. With his second sharp catch in as many balls and Bopara gone for 30,the match had turned.

In the following over,the penultimate one of this very long day,England needed 19 runs from 12 balls. It would have been simple had Bopara stayed out there for a ball longer,considering the last two overs were the batting powerplay ones. And the only man who used them to his advantage,as he has done all tournament long,was Ravindra Jadeja. He drifted the first one straight,Jos Buttler missed his swipe and the stumps shattered behind him.

And when Tim Bresnan was run out a couple of balls later,the match was all but over. Seventeen required from eight balls eventually became six from one and James Tredwell could not get bat on Ashwin’s loopy off-break. India had won their second Champions Trophy (their first conclusive one),yet again on a heavily rain affected day. But the crowds had got just what they wanted. The rains had stopped,a contest was played out and the real ‘home side’ had hoisted the trophy.

Six hours after the national anthems were played,the Indian players waded out on to the Edgbaston field for a round of football,much to the delight of the paying public. Play,despite the worst of conditions,would resume at 4:20pm local time,with the match length reduced to a Twenty20 match. During the prolonged delay to the start of play,these spectators had shuffled uneasily in their seats. So now,as the emcee on the ground began a roll-call of the playing elevens,the rather partisan crowds cheered hard for one team.

That one team,here in Birmingham,was India. The call of each name was followed with a bellowing ‘Yeah!’ And when the England players streamed out of their dressing room,they were,believe it or not,welcomed with roaring boos. They had spared Bopara for obvious reasons,his ethnicity,but ended up spending the rest of the match nearly wishing they hadn’t. Bopara had done everything in his powers to silence them. Yet,on Sunday,it just wasn’t enough.