England fought hard to assemble a respectable total on a cold, wintry day in the Punjab, but when the fog cleared the view was a familiar one: another defeat in a one-day series in India. India’s pursuit of 258 was far from trouble free, but a winning margin of five wickets with 15 balls to spare was emphatic enough and left them 3-1 up one to play.
Instead of a dead rubber in ODI in Dharamsala, in the foothills of the Himilayas, England would be forgiven for fancying a spot of skiing, but sadly for them the weather forecast is improving. Only the cricket is going downhill.
It might have been different had England not fallen again to the curse of Steven Finn’s knee. When Finn thought he had Suresh Raina caught by Alastair Cook at first slip, India still needed 80 from 89 balls with what would have been five wickets intact. But Finn’s recalcitrant right knee had collided with the stumps again and umpire Steve Davis invoked Law 23, ruling that Raina had been distracted. Cook’s protests that Finn was entitled to a warning went unheeded.
But the story of this series has been one of growing India dominance. MS Dhoni has looked as impregnable in one-day cricket as he seemed flawed in the Test series. After England’s win in the opening game in Rajkot, fuelled by a late batting assault from Samit Patel, India’s batsmen dominated in Kochi and Ranchi and when they got the benefit of an influentiual toss in Mohali, their quiuck bowlers accepted it with alacrity. As for Ravindra Jadeja, India will be more convinced than ever that they have a player who can balance their one-day side.
