India v England, Match 6
Sunday, February 3, 2002

Andy Flintoff, who stripped off his shirt in soccer-style celebration after his team won the Mumbai one-dayer to square the series, exemplified England's combative spirit. The victory was a tribute to the energy and fighting qualities which overcame their limitations in ability.

The tone of aggression was set in the first session when Marcus Trescothick yet again led the way with a counter-attack that caught the Indian bowlers napping and, in the final analysis, proved to be the crucial passage of the match.

In the rest of the English innings, Harbhajan Singh gave more evidence that he is an emerging star in world cricket. The manner in which he runs through sides sets him apart from the other Indian bowlers. Once he gets a couple of wickets, the quality of his bowling shows a distinct improvement. It happened against Australia and it has happened now against England.

The other Indian bowlers cannot be faulted much. Ajit Agarkar got a bit of stick, but then he is not as gifted as Javagal Srinath or Zaheer Khan and will always have days when he will be collared.

The England target was very much an attainable one for India with a line-up that boasted the likes of Tendulkar and Sehwag and the advantage of home conditions.

Ganguly handled the pressure pretty well, till he was dismissed in a rather freakish manner. There was pressure on him to perform as a leader and win the game and he took up the responsibility by doing a good job with the ball and later with the bat. In fact, he gave the impression of playing one of his best innings in one-day cricket - except he failed to see his team through to the end yet again. He rarely plays the sweep and although he connected with a couple today, there were more misses than hits and the element of risk was always going to be there, as it finally proved.

Ganguly should also be criticised for not rallying around some of the younger players in the side. Dinesh Mongia got visibly restless just before he was dismissed and the captain should have walked up to the youngster and asked him to take it easy. As a senior partner and leader of the team, he failed to take stock of the situation. Once Mongia was gone, the pressure was always on India.

Mohammad Kaif may be new to international cricket, but he gave me the impression of being another Nasser Hussain with his penchant to get over-aggressive. His dismissal was extremely disappointing, as it had no percentage at all. And as wickets fell, a predictable panic set in in the Indian dressing room and once that happens, the end is equally predictable. England knew they had a good chance once India panicked and they worked their guts out.

A narrow win in the Test series followed by a 3-3 draw against a rather weak English side on home soil is a big setback for Indian cricket. Ganguly may have performed admirably in the last two matches and there is no doubting his credentials as a player, but the selectors are getting restless and could be questioning his leadership qualities. A change of captain should come as no surprise.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting a decade ago, was talking to H Natarajan.

More from Manjrekar
Ganguly should have won it
Sehwag made it easy

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