Super Sunday did not turn out to be that great for defending champions England as they crashed to a 90 runs defeat against India in their last group league match up at Colombo. It was England’s worst ever defeat in terms of runs.

The match which was hyped as one of the best matches of the tournament, however, ended up as a lopsided affair with India displaying a clinical all-round performance to emerge as the group A winners.

Indian batting first put up an imposing total of 170 and then in reply bundled out England for 80, their lowest ever total in this format of the game.

The result did not have any implications as both teams had already qualified for the knock-out stages. The teams will not carry any point forward in the Super Eight round but then a huge victory over one of the title contenders is sure to do world of wonders to Indian teams’ confidence.

Let us have a look at few of the performance that determined the course of the match:

India:

Hits:

Gautam Gambhir: The out-of-form batsman finally got back to his touch in style. The opener played as an anchor in the match and was not seen in his usual aggressive form. But then his innings was very important from India’s point of view as it saw him come back to form. Gambhir is a key man in this squad and his knock surely did bring smile to the Indian camp. He scored 45 off 38 deliveries including five fours and was involved in two important partnerships with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Virat Kohli: It seems like there is nothing that can stop Kohli. The dynamic Indian batsman was again amongst runs and scored a breezy 40 of 32 deliveries laced with six boundaries. He did not score at a blistering rate but then kept on rotating the strike which eventually worked out well for India.

Rohit Sharma: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s persistence with Rohit Sharma finally paid-off as he scored a brilliant half century to help India to the score of 170. Sharma under fire for quite some-time now, started off slowly and was happy rotating the strike and took off very late in the match. At a point of time it looked like India will find it difficult to cross 150, but then he upped the ante at the right moment and took India beyond 160. Sharma scored 55 off 33 deliveries and his knock included six fours and a six.

Harbhajan Singh: Harbhajan Singh back in team after almost a year made the most of the opportunity yesterday and made a comeback that will be remembered for very long. He was lethal with his bowling yesterday and every delivery he dished out was stamped with conviction. He ended with figures of 4-13 in four overs including two maidens and his performance has surely shut all his critics up. Bhajji was named the man of the match for his brilliant spell.

Flops:

Ashok Dinda: Dinda bowled woefully in the match and was wayward with his line and length. On a day when Indian bowlers were making merry in the middle, he was busy leaking runs. He gave away 26 runs in two overs and took a wicket.

England:

Craig Keiswetter: One of the finest batting talents in the English side made amends to his duck against Afghanistan in the last match and was the only batsmen who could take the challenge on to Indian bowlers. He played beautifully under pressure and when wickets were tumbling at the other end he was busy carting Indian bowlers. He scored 35 from 25 deliveries and his knock included four boundaries and a couple of sixes.

Graeme Swann: The most successful English bowler in this format bowled beautifully to Indian batsmen and never let them get off the hooks. It was largely due to him that England were able to contain India during the middle overs. He ended the match with figures of 1-17 in four overs.

Flops:

Jade Dernbach: Indian batsmen were particularly hard on this tattooed bowler. Dernbach who is one of the key members of the side bowled irresponsibly and was punished for that. He was the most expensive bowler for England in the match with figures of 1-45 in four overs.  

Eoin Morgan: Morgan who is the heart of this English middle order, after a disappointing performance against Afghanistan failed again yesterday. He scored just two and being an experienced campaigner his team would have wanted him to show more responsibility.

By Indian Sports News Network