Bangalore tie

Looking forward to the game between India and England today should be a cracker.  My prediction a tie.

That was Shane Warne’s prediction about India versus England match on 27/2/2011 which came true.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat.  That was a good decision.

India scored 338 runs and were all out in 49.5 overs.  They did not bat 50 overs.   Two batsmen were run out at the end.  The score looked good enough for India to win the match.  Vivian Richards said if they can not win this match they can not win the world cup.

The match swung between England and India.  When Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell were batting I hoped India would win by one run as Australia had done against India twice.  Then wickets began to fall and when England had to score 42 runs off 24 balls to win the match India’s victory seemed assured.

In the 49^th over Tim Bresnan reduced the margin before being bowled by Piyush Chawla.

When the last over began England needed 14 runs to win the match.  India needed to restrict England to 12 runs to win the match.  There was hope for India.

Ahmad Shahzad hit a six off the third ball of the over.  The target for England was five runs off three balls.

When one ball remained England needed two runs to win and India needed not to concede any run to win.  There were many possibilities.  Batsman could be out.  He could score runs including hitting a sixer.  In the end England scored one run and the match was a tie.

What went wrong for India?  India’s batting line-up did not last 50 overs.  It fell short by one ball.

India’s bowling attack fell short by two wickets.

Andrew Strauss was dropped by Harbhajan Singh when on 22 and he scored 158.  There were fielding lapses and few extra runs were conceded.

The match also raised the question of the usefulness of UDRS.  Yuvraj Singh bowled to Ian Bell when on 17 and appealed for LBW.  When field umpire Billy Bowden did not rule Ian Bell out Mahendra Singh Dhoni went for UDRS.  The hawk eye showed Ian Bell as out.  He was on his way to pavilion.  But the ICC rule 3.3 stated that if the distance between the batsman and where the ball is 2.5 metres or more the decision has to be taken by the field umpire and matter was referred back to Billy Bowden and he stood by his earlier decision and Ian Bell was called back.  Ian Bell scored 52 more runs and was out on 69.  India had misgivings about UDRS and did not want it. ICC had imposed it.  If UDRS is there then all decisions on appeal should be taken by the third umpire.  Referring the matter back to the field umpire does not make sense.