India Cricket

Ajinkya Rahane’s century guides India to historic win over England.

Variants of this headline would have appeared in the papers about a month-and-a-half ago after the Lord’s Test had Ishant Sharma not bowled the spell of a lifetime on the final day.

Rahane’s sublime hundred under pressure in that match had built the platform on which India would go on and claim their first Test win at Lord’s since 1986, ending a 24-year wait. However, it was Ishant who ran away with all the accolades, including the Man of the Match award.

But then such materialistic thoughts would hardly enter the mind of the tranquil 26-year-old from Mumbai. He had spent many a season on the fringe of the Indian XI, finally getting a long rope last year.

He was played out of position in both formats, hardly ever getting to show his worth in his preferred opener’s slot. But then it hardly mattered as long as the opportunities were coming along and he was making the most of them.

That is, however, more than could be said of his form in the limited overs. Since making his debut on these shores in 2011, Rahane had built up the status of being "The 40s man."

In 32 matches prior to Tuesday’s one-dayer, Rahane had been dismissed in the 40s five times; he hadn’t scored a single century, and four of his six half-centuries were hit against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.

Rahane was the guy who elegantly set himself up for the big innings, replete with gorgeous strokes and the perfect temperament for a one-day innings—not too flashy and not too languid—only for all his efforts to be cruelly washed away due to a brief lapse in his monk-like concentration.

Come Tuesday, he had the perfect platform to eradicate all those past memories. India had bowled brilliantly to set themselves a paltry 207-run target to clinch the ODI series.

Rohit Sharma’s broken finger meant that Rahane was promoted up the order to his favoured opening position, as he was for the previous match.

Back then, at Trent Bridge, he had scored a fluent 45 before edging Steven Finn to wicketkeeper Jos Butler. At Cardiff in the second ODI, after hitting a breezy 41 at No. 4, he had found a less commonplace way to get out: via a stumping.

And so at Birmingham, when Rahane began his innings at the top of the order by pasting James Anderson (of all people) for four boundaries in different parts of the park, it would have drawn a few loud cheers from the Indian fans but not a lot of optimism.

However, as Rahane moved along, he raised the level of delight and optimism with each passing boundary.

His straight drive was immensely gratifying, but not more than his swift swivel-and-pull. His cover drives and gentle pushes through the gaps in the off side brought out the “ooohs,” while the whips and flicks over mid-wicket preceded the “aaahs.”

On 38, he sent Finn sailing over mid-wicket with a graceful front-foot pull. Then, after eight watchful balls in the nervous 40s, he slog-swept Moeen Ali’s off-spinner for another maximum to bring up a much-coveted 50.

He wasn't the only Indian who would have breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Once he had bulldozed his way through that mental roadblock, he was in cruise control. He dominated and dictated to the English attack via his own passive-aggressive style of batting.

Yes, he waltzed down the track and launched Anderson over long-on for six, but could the opposition hate his guts? Not a chance.

Before you knew it, he brought up his maiden ODI century without breaking a sweat. And then, as if to show his generosity to his hosts, he punched a full toss straight to cover on 106. His first 53 runs had taken him 60 balls to get; the next 53 took just 40.

Finally, Rahane had his headline.

So uplifting was his innings that even Shikhar Dhawan, who was in woeful touch prior to this game, rediscovered some of his flair and started whacking the balls out of the park.

The low target helped with the pressure, but Rahane still brought that calmness to the Indian top order, whose opening batsmen had not recorded a 50 partnership throughout the tour prior to this game.

Rahane’s prowess at the top of the order gives India a selection conundrum when Sharma returns to full fitness. If Rahane can continue to thrive as an opener, it would elevate him from being the third choice to actually making Sharma and Dhawan fight to be his partner.

While Dhawan and Sharma are quite similar when it comes to their temperament and aggression, Rahane brings a wonderful mixture of being both watchful and pouncy.

Indian skipper MS Dhoni even admitted after the match that the opening slot suits Rahane’s game. He said, as quoted by the Indian Express: "Rahane was always someone who was third in line for the opening slot and he has made the most out of it. He is a good timer which makes it slightly easy for him. It’s a spot that suits him."

If all three openers maintain their form as the World Cup nears, India can also consider slotting Rahane at No. 3, but no lower. As flexible a batsman as he his, and as hasty a verdict this might seem after just one substantial innings, he brings forth that confidence that he will stabilise the top of the order.

Rahane is easily the most mature of India's three openers, and the team's think tank should work towards finding him a permanent spot in their batting order as soon as possible.

India massacred England by nine wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the one-day international series.

The hosts' batting yet again failed to sparkle, and they were dismissed for 206 in 49.3 overs after being put into bat at Edgbaston.

India polished off the total in just 30.3 overs as Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan made hay in the Birmingham sunshine.

After the first game in Bristol was abandoned due to bad weather, England had made 161 in Cardiff and 227 in Nottingham, as they failed to cope with India's slow bowlers.

This time, it was the seamers who did the early damage. Alastair Cook (9), Gary Ballance (7) and Alex Hales (6) were dismissed inside eight overs, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar removing both openers.

Eoin Morgan and Joe Root put on 80 for the fourth wicket, but they fell to the spinners in quick succession. Ravindra Jadeja had Morgan caught at leg gully for 32, and Root, on 44, failed to execute a reverse sweep off Suresh Raina and was caught at short third man.

The home fans had something to cheer about when a 50-run partnership for the sixth wicket came up off just 39 balls and the recalled Moeen Ali reached his second ODI half-century off only 37 balls after hitting three sixes.

However, he watched Mohammed Shami pick up his second wicket via a fortunate lbw decision to remove Jos Buttler (11) before Chris Woakes was run out.

Ali was bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin for 67 in the 47th over, and England were bowled out three balls short of their 50-over allocation as Shami finished with 3-28.

India's openers showed there were no devils in the pitch by dismantling the home attack.

They brought up a 150-run partnership at quicker than a run-a-ball pace, with Rahane's maiden ODI century coming up off 96 balls and including four sixes.

Their stand ended at 183 when Rahane sliced Harry Gurney to Cook after making 106, but Dhawan finished unbeaten on 97, sealing the victory by hitting Gurney for a six over mid-on.

A brilliantly paced century from Suresh Raina, half-centuries from skipper MS Dhoni and opener Rohit Sharma, followed by a sustained spell of attacking spin bowling, brought India a much-needed win over England in the second one-day international at Cardiff on Wednesday.

India's 133-run win was their second-highest over these opponents and also their sixth consecutive ODI victory on these shores, a run that began during last year's successful sojourn for the Champions Trophy.

And just like that, it appeared as if all of India's woes, miseries and failures over the last month in the longer format were wiped away with the swish of a wand.

Not only did the tourists outbat and outbowl England, they were also sharp in the field and held on to their catches, which is more than what could be said about their shambolic display during the Tests.

The words "rejuvenated," "revitalised" and "transformed" were tossed around in abundance on both traditional and social media.

Whether India's win and all-round performance merited those words yet is a debate for another day. But the protagonist who made that all possible was someone who was unscathed by his team's display in the Test series.

Suresh Raina flew into England as one of the more experienced members of India's young limited-overs squad following the 3-1 drubbing in the Tests.

During the lone warm-up game against Middlesex ahead of the ODI series, the middle-order batsman was bizarrely sent in to bat at No 11 by his skipper.

Raina scored just five runs in what was far-from-ideal match practice after more than two months out of the game.

After the first match at Bristol was washed out, India were put in to bat by Alastair Cook in overcast conditions and on a pitch that was certain to assist the bowlers early on.

Any hopes of a transformed India for the ODI series were all but wiped away in the first Powerplay itself, as India struggled to 26 for 2 in 10 overs.

A slow and scratchy but effective partnership between Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane took them past the 100 mark without further damage before the latter gifted his wicket via a soft dismissal.

In walked Raina at No. 5 with the score at 110 for 3 in the 24th over and more than half the innings ahead of him.

Phase 1: Balls 1 to 43

Raina got off the mark with a delightful whip for four through mid-wicket off Ben Stokes but then checked his strike-rate to chip along steadily.

He lost Rohit along the way but was joined by his skipper, with whom he had forged many prolific partnerships in coloured clothing for club and country.

Raina pounced on the loose deliveries, got lucky with a few inside-edges that went to the fence but calmly kept the scoreboard ticking along with Dhoni.

At the end of the 35th over, with India at a steady 156 for 4, Dhoni decided to take the batting Powerplay, as Raina flicked on the switch.

Phase 2: Balls 44 to 75

The diminutive southpaw began the Powerplay by making room and slashing Chris Jordan through the covers for four. In the next over, he recorded his first maximum of the innings via a handsome straight drive off Chris Woakes.

With confidence and adrenalin oozing through, Raina brought the cover drives, the pulls and the hooks out of his arsenal and launched into England. However, his most enjoyable stroke continued to be the whip off the legs, which he made his staple.

So good was Raina on the day that he struck James Anderson, England's man of the Test series, for three successive boundaries, each to different parts of the ground, to end the batting Powerplay.

After a couple more powerful straight and cover drives, Raina got to his first-ever century outside Asia and fourth overall by tapping a full toss down towards long-on.

He was out the following ball as he went to swipe Woakes over extra-cover for six, only to find the safe hands of Anderson.

Raina's 75-ball 100 helped India cross the 300 mark, which turned out to be more than enough for the bowlers to defend.

"I've seen a lot of the Test matches, I was looking forward to this game. I've worked really hard on my batting and fitness. We are looking forward to the next three ODIs," said Raina, after being awarded the man of the match, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.

Raina's exceptional innings has provided India with the right impetus and optimism to dominate this series and turn around their fortunes.

However, they should be warned, as everyone knows what happened the last time a stalemate between these two teams was followed by an Indian win.

All statistics via ESPN Cricinfo unless otherwise mentioned.

India warmed up for the one-day international series against England with a 95-run victory over Middlesex at Lord's.

The tourists, who lost the Test series 3-1 and subsequently appointed Ravi Shastri as team director, made 230 after being put in to bat. 

The English county could only make 135 in their reply.

Captain Virat Kohli found some form with 71, while Ambati Rayudu made 72, but the Indians were dismissed in 44.2 overs.

Kohli, whose highest score in a miserable tour was just 39 before Friday, hit eight boundaries and a six in his 75-ball innings.

He put on 104 for the fourth wicket with Ajinkya Rahane, and India were well placed on 156-4 when he was dismissed by Ravi Patel after 30 overs.

The game was classified as a non-List-A game, as more than 11 players took part. With that being said, only 11 were eligible to bat and field at any time, and Rayudu was retired out after 40 overs.

India were 211-6 with plenty of batting yet to come, but then Ollie Rayner proceeded to take four wickets in 20 balls. Sanju Samson (six) and Suresh Raina (five) were amongst those to miss out, having joined the tour for the ODIs.

However, no Middlesex batsman was able to get past 20 in their reply, and they were dismissed in 39.5 overs.

Openers Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan were gone inside the opening 19 balls, and England limited overs star Eoin Morgan departed for 16.

India used eight bowlers, with Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Dhawal Kulkarni all picking up a wicket on their first appearance on the tour as the hosts were reduced to 67-5 in the 17th over.

Karn Sharma then picked up 3-14 as the lower order failed to get anywhere near the modest total.

The five-match series against England starts on Monday in Bristol. 

Toward the end of his post-match chat with Sky Sports' Michael Atherton at the end of the fifth Test at the Oval, which India lost by an innings and 244 runs, one question brought out an instant smile on Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s face.

It was regarding the upcoming limited-overs series against England, including five one-dayers and one Twenty20 International, starting Monday.

The previous three weeks had hardly given Dhoni any reason to smile after his team’s abject and embarrassing surrender against England in the five-match Test series.

Following the 3-1 loss, Dhoni’s away record as Test captain went further south. He has now captained India to 14 losses and eight draws in 28 matches as skipper on foreign soil, recording just six wins over five years.

India have fared miles better under him on the limited-overs circuit, having won a Twenty20 World Cup, a 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy in eight highly successful years.

Even though India’s last one-day international win under Dhoni was more than a year ago in the final of the Champions Trophy, the flow of optimism through his tone when he spoke of the upcoming limited-overs games was understandable. Dhoni told Atherton:

We’ve got quite a few interesting cricketers coming in…a few more aggressive ones. Also the format, it’s not as taxing or demanding as the Test format. You get the result in one day. If you’re going through a lean phase, you have 5-10 overs and you can get back to scoring runs. It’s important we get into our grooves, be expressive on the field, leave the Test cricket behind and enjoy the ODIs and T20.

Hearing that latter part, you couldn’t help but think that Dhoni was reflecting on his own defiance with the bat when all his teammates were tumbling over one another, shot down mercilessly by England in the Tests.

His gutsy half-centuries at Old Trafford and the Oval saved India’s face from being blackened further. The long format meant that those knocks were not enough to affect the result of the game. Starting Monday, cometh the situation, they would well be.

However, the limited-overs squad is a tad different from the one that played the Tests. The “interesting” and “aggressive” cricketers Dhoni mentioned who are coming in include the likes of Suresh Raina, Sanju Samson and Umesh Yadav, with Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni and Karn Sharma completing the influx of the Indian Premier League batch of young Indian players.

That being said, the remnants from the Test squad are greater in number: Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Stuart Binny, Mohammed Shami, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, apart from Dhoni himself.

India will hope that the first four names in the above list, who are bound to be in the starting XI on Monday, magically turn around their form from the Tests. They only have to look back to their purple patch a year ago on these very shores in the Champions Trophy.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has tried to show some urgency by appointing former India captain and longtime board loyalist Ravi Shastri as team director for the rest of the tour.

Other former players—Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar—form his support staff, while bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding coach Trevor Penney have been given a break.

Shastri told ESPN Cricinfo that his role is to “oversee everything” and that even head coach Duncan Fletcher, who has retained his position, will be reporting to him. How Fletcher, who has come under considerable pressure from the Indian media following three largely unsuccessful years as head coach, takes to the recent developments is another story.

But right now, what is important for Indian cricket is how the team takes to these kneejerk, superficial changes in management.

Each and every player will know, or should know, that at the end of the day, they are the ones who go out and play, and not the support staff. Fletcher and team may have been ineffective mentors, but they aren’t the reason why India capitulated so badly. Shastri isn’t going to pull out any rabbits from his hat.

That being said, Shastri, for all his loyalty to the BCCI, has always been a spirited, no-nonsense, straight-talking person, at least in matters which do not concern his employers.

If any player is not performing up to his standards, trust Shastri to get the message through, which did not seem the case, at least to the outside world, with Fletcher, who has a rather somnolent tone.

Supporting Shastri are experienced men who have come through the Indian system as players and coaches. Bangar is the most well-known of the three names, as he is credited with the revival of IPL finalists Kings XI Punjab last season.

International cricket is no IPL, but the appointments have brought some positivity to the outlook toward the Indian camp ahead of the ODI series.

In 2011, following a 4-0 loss against England in the Tests, India failed to win a single limited-overs game as well.

The bright side is that it can’t get any worse this time. Surely.

A merciless England, led by Alastair Cook, wiped the Oval clean with MS Dhoni's visiting India as they recorded a massive innings and 244-run victory inside three days.

Twenty-seven days is all it took for the outlook toward the future of this young, inexperienced Indian team to change.

Following a historic win at Lord’s on July 21, capped by a spirited, enterprising performance in batting and bowling in hostile conditions, supporters of Indian cricket could sit on their couches with their feet up and a chilled one in hand, proud of how their team had performed, and be thoroughly optimistic of a testing six months ahead.

On August 17, they are more likely to be found in a dingy corner of the neighbourhood pub, trying to drown away all agonising memories of what transpired at the Ageas Bowl, Old Trafford and the Oval, after having given up trying to figure out just how it all happened.

The fact that would hurt the most is that Indian cricket has gone nowhere since three summers ago, when the team was last humiliated on these shores.

That India managed to win a Test match this time around hardly counts for anything, given the performance in the three Tests that followed the solitary win at Lord's, which seems like an unbelievable anomaly now.

If anything, this loss would hurt even more than the 4-0 loss in 2011, after how the Indians cruelly teased one and all at Lord's.

In 2011, after losing the Test series, India even failed to win a single limited-overs game that followed. The dagger was dug deeper into their spine by Michael Clarke’s Australians a few months later, who crushed the Indians by a similar scoreline.

India pay a visit Down Under again later this year for a four-match series ahead of the World Cup in February, where a charged-up Australia would be eager to avenge their 4-0 reversal in India from last year.

The pitiable part is that India have done nothing in these three years to offer some hope to their supporters of a better result.

India’s failures on the recently concluded Test series have been in two departments—batting and fielding—both of which have tried to outdo each other on a scale of farce.

The selectors won’t have it easy when they sit down to dissect this tour and plan ahead to Australia. The culprits in England have been the top four batsmen, who, apart from Murali Vijay in the first couple of matches, just refused to turn up.

This includes players of the calibre and reputation of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, of whom so much was rightly expected ahead of the series. Their past record and gushing talent is likely to save them the axe just yet, but then again do India really have able replacements?

Pujara and Kohli probably deserve another go in Australia before the selectors think about pressing the panic button. But then, is that the end of the story? Should no one, apart from Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan, get the axe?

There have been growing calls of asking Dhoni to step down, as he has been criticised for being overtly defensive and reactive as captain. However, that would be a risky, if not rash, move, considering the next six months in the buildup to the World Cup.

India need Dhoni’s experience and robust character as a player, which was evident in his two defiant knocks at Old Trafford and the Oval, when all around him were tumbling like nine pins.

If anything, the 33-year-old Dhoni could be asked to hand over his wicketkeeping gloves to someone younger, as argued in this piece. But India need Dhoni at the helm at least until the World Cup.

If there is anyone or anything in need of an overhaul, it is the coaching staff, primarily the head coach Duncan Fletcher and fielding coach Trevor Penney.

While Penney deserves the sack for this tour alone, where the Indian slip cordon could not catch a cold, Fletcher has long gone past his expiry date as head coach.

When he was brought in as Gary Kirsten’s replacement following the 2011 World Cup, he came with a fabulous track record and CV, being the principal figure in masterminding a turnaround in the fortunes of the England team.

His skill set included being an astute thinker and an excellent tactician, along with being vastly experienced and resourceful.

Three years later, it seems as if India have hired an impostor.

On the one-day circuit, India have performed reasonably well under him, having won the ICC Champions Trophy last year. However, it is the Test circuit, where his skills would have been most useful, where he has abysmally failed.

In the 33 Tests that India have played under the Fletcher regime, they have won 12 and lost 15. If you filter the results to just away games, it comes down to just the one win at Lord’s in 18 matches, including 13 losses.

Some might say that Fletcher would be nothing more than a scapegoat if sacked after India’s horror show in England, but this is not just about one series.

The plodding 65-year-old, who cuts a rather somnolent figure in the dressing room during games, has failed to inspire any hopes of engineering a revival in India’s fortunes away from home in the longer format.

In this dark hour, you can’t help but think that India need a dynamic, aggressive and perhaps home-grown coach to shake them up—someone like a Sourav Ganguly, who has recently retired from the game, knows the modern game and would not shy away from accepting the wheel of a sinking ship six months from the World Cup.

With almost three months to go before India set off for a long tour Down Under, now would be the best time to make the necessary changes.

The more conservative approach would be to wait until the end of the World Cup, but only if India are prepared to accept the high possibility of further humiliation.

Fletcher and team might have given their all for India, but it just doesn't seem good enough—almost certainly not if they are even thinking of defending their world title.

Slowly, and painfully, the five-Test series against England is finally drawing to a close for India. With each passing hour out in the middle, the Indians, none of whom have ever played a series so long, have been found out.

The great transition, which last November looked so promising and imminent, now is nowhere to be seen on the horizon. After disappointing series defeats at South Africa, New Zealand and, bar the miracle of miracles, England, India seem to have gone back in time.

With a tour of Australia coming up at the end of the year, perhaps that is the direction where they want to head.

The eulogies for the tour of England, which began so promisingly and eventually turned out to be a cruel tease, are not going to be kind. The famed batting line-up, on whose waves the Indian ship was supposed to ride towards glory, has been the primary reason for its sinking.

Playing in England, with its seamer and swing-friendly pitches and conditions, was never going to be easy, but not even the most pessimistic of Indian fans would have predicted the team not being able to cross 200 four consecutive times, with the odds of a fifth very high.

As ranted about in this column throughout the last three Tests, the resolve, application and character shown by India on the snooker table of a pitch at Lord’s has gone AWOL.

Instead, we have only seen batsmen who are hell-bent on giving catching practice to a welcoming slip cordon and, even more exasperatingly, the inability to catch even the scant few chances the opposition sent their way when the roles were reversed.

However, even the darkest of clouds always have a hint of a silver lining, and that for India has been, ever so surprisingly, their bowling.

Wanting to make the best out of the green tracks and helpful conditions, before going back and breaking their backs on the highways back home, the Indian bowlers have thoroughly impressed throughout this series and exceeded expectations.

Lord’s was a golden Test in the annals of Indian fast bowling, but the Indians have overall been quite inspiring considering the low expectations from them ahead of the series.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is turning out to be quite the find, with his relentless accuracy and ability to generate oodles of swing in either direction. He is the only bowler from the Indian camp to last all five Tests, albeit he looked tired at the Oval and was unable to maintain his high standards.

Ishant Sharma created headlines at Lord’s by bouncing England out of the game and has looked threatening in a few short bursts when the opposition least expected it. Most importantly, he has stuck to the right areas and managed to let his bowling answer his critics. The Indians can only wonder what might have been had he not missed two Tests due to injury.

Pankaj Singh may have had to wait 69 overs to get a Test wicket, but that was only down to shoddy slip-catching and rotten luck. His accuracy and consistency in the two Tests he played impressed his skipper and he was unlucky to miss out at the Oval after Ishant returned from injury.

Varun Aaron, whose tearaway pace was only read about in this part of the world, provided a generous glimpse of his tremendous potential at Manchester and the Oval. Not only was he genuinely and consistently quick, but his ability to generate lethal late swing had many English batsmen fidgeting. If India can manage and maintain his workload well, which they have a poor history of doing, they have themselves a future star.

Ravichandran Ashwin only got a game in the fourth Test, but is already making his team management wish he had played earlier. He reaffirmed his credentials as a sound and responsible lower-order batsman at Manchester and then, in unhelpful conditions, maintained a religious line and length and bowled intelligently at the Oval.

Only Mohammed Shami has been a disappointment from India’s bowling department. Stuart Binny is not even counted as he has barely bowled.

With this series now well and truly lost, all India can do is look ahead. While the first thing they may want to do fix is the gaping holes in the technique and temperament of their batsmen, with the World Cup coming up Down Under next year, it would augur well for India if they identify their best bowlers and groom them accordingly.

That Aaron has not been picked for the upcoming one-day series is an unforgivable crime, given the way he has performed. With Umesh Yadav, another genuine speedster, flying in with the ODI squad, India should highlight their top five fast bowlers before the tour of Australia and get them to play enough games before then.