Riding on some fantastic performances from Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma, India not only beat England by five wickets, with 15 balls to spare, but also an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match ODi series. Here we bring before you the hits and flops from the match.

Hits

Suresh Raina: Raina is ‘Man of the Moment’. His third half-century in his last three innings has made him a cornerstone of lower middle order. He has also ensured that apart from Dhoni and Yuvraj, he can also be a match-finisher for the Indian team. His sensible batting and ability to mold himself according to the situation has made him a regular face of Indian ODI squad.

Rohit Sharma: Rohit was not in best of form before this ODI but he did what other openers failed to do in this series. He showed the character and lived up-to the expectation of his captain and scored 11 boundaries and one six. He scored his 13th ODI half century and made sure that Indian team doesn’t lose the plot. He departed after scoring well deserved 83 off 93 balls.

Ishant sharma: Apart from picking up two crucial wickets at crucial time, Ishant bowled an awesome spell of seam bowling and again proved his worth for the team. He kept one end tight with Bhuvneshwar Kumar till the 25th over. He ended up with a figure of 2 wickets for 47 runs.

Alastair Cook: Captain Cook lead from the front and again played a very steady innings for his team in which he smacked 13 boundaries and most of them he hit to Shami Ahmed who was either drifting to leg-side and sometimes bowling a bit too wide. He ensured that before he departs England should be in a respectable position and the batsmen who come next will be available to make most of the remaining overs.

Kevin Pietersen: Kevin has again proved that he can very well adapt to the situation and can deliver when his team asks for. Two months back in Mumbai Test match he showed great temperament and he was in same gear today. He took his time to get settle down and then started scoring boundaries. He scored even fours and one six but his innings ended at the score of 76 when he got yorked by Ishant Sharma.

Ravindra Jadeja: Jadeja again proved his worth by bowling an excellent spell of spin bowling and kept it tight, which kept a big-score off the cards for England. He ended up with the figures of 3 wickets for 39 runs in his quota of 10 overs and he did some sensible batting and scored 21 runs at the end of the Indian innings.

Joe Root: This young man from Yorkshire has lived up-to the expectation of his team and played a cameo of 57 runs from 45 balls in which he scored eight fours and one huge six. His gear-shifting ability ensured that England surpass the total of 250 which was looking out of context till he came on the crease to bat.

Flops

Eoin Morgan:  He has failed in last three matches to give England that much needed momentum so that they can put on a big score. Most of the time he has played shots that was not the need of the hour. He has not only disappointed his captain but also his fans.
Shami Ahmed: He started well in his first two overs but after getting thrashing from Alastair Cook in his third over it turned out to be his bad day at Mohali. He lost his rhythm altogether and wasn’t able to bowl that effectively which forced Mahendra Dhoni to introduce Raina to fill in his quota of 10 overs. He gave away 58 runs in 8 overs

R Ashwin: He is not in best of form from past two months. He has not only failed to pick-up wickets in middle overs but also unable to restrict the opposition batsmen and that has raised question on his place in this team. Today also the script didn’t change much for him. He bowled 10 overs and spent 63 runs for picking two wickets.

Jade Dernbach: He bowled too wide outside the off-stump and Rohit sharma gave him the treatment for bowling the wrong line. He never looked like he is looking for picking up wickets or trying to contain the runs. His statistics have gone from bad to worse and now he is the most expensive bowler in world cricket with an economy of more than 6 runs per over.

By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network