England look to recover prestige, but how?

The beleaguered Eoin Morgan must be wondering what more his team need to do to beat India in the final ODI on Sunday. The series has been lost, of course, but there some prestige can still be recovered. The question is how.

In the earlier two games, England put up an admirable fight. In fact, their captain might have believed his side played well enough to win both before being cast aside aside quite ruthlessly by Virat Kohli & Co.

I will resist the temptation to say that a clean sweep in the ODI series looks imminent. We all know how fickle cricket can. But it wouldn’t be impetuous to say that India’s performances in the preceding matches have been near flawless.

The only area where India have been found wanting is at the top of the order. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and K.L. Rahul have both been short of runs though neither has looked badly out of form. Going by the ways things have panned out yet, who knows, Sunday could be their day!

It is conceivable that either Dhawan or Rahul may have to make way for some other player, possibly Ajinkya Rahane. Series won, the team management could want to try out someone from a bench though breaking up a winning combination is never easy.

All said, a sweet dilemma for the captain and coach as this establishes the depth of talent that is now available. This makes the interchange of players possible — if at all needed — without worrying unduly about the outcome.

But that is in the future. More significantly, what the recent past has shown is the strength of ambition in the Indian team. Neither of the preceding wins was easy. But any hardship was obscured by a gung-ho approach that is unwilling to accept defeat easily.

In the run chase at Pune and while defending a total in Cuttack, there were periods when India looked to have been put out of the contest. In both these matches, the situation was reversed with such aplomb as to leave the opponents frazzled.

In the first match, India were tottering at 63/4 at one stage before Kohli and Kedar Jadhav put together a stupendous double century partnership that ultimately made reaching a stiff target of 351 look a stroll in the park.

At Cuttack, the score read 25/3 before M.S. Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh too got associated in a brilliant double century stand. I would venture that the circumstances here were more critical considering the in-form Kohli had been dismissed early and the onus was on two senior players.

As it happened, India finished on a monumental 381. This became too big for England to overhaul despite Morgan’s heroics, but wouldn’t have been possible without the bowlers excelling at the ‘death’, adding up to a splendid team effort.

The accolades were largely reserved for `oldies’ Yuvraj and Dhoni not without reasons. Both were under some duress. The former’s selection over younger batsmen had been questioned and Dhoni’s zest for the game after giving up captaincy had been subject of great speculation.

It didn’t help matters that neither bothered the scorers too much in the first match. But with India in deep crisis in Cuttack, both returned to form in a breathtaking display that had fans in raptures and the England team on their knees.

Both Dhoni and Yuvraj have worked hard on their fitness and seem intent on seeing off the `home stretch’ to their careers on a high. How long this stretch lasts is unknown, but if both maintain their fitness and zest, they could continue till the 2019 World Cup.

It is pertinent to remember that a key factor in the West Indies’ triumph in the 1975 World Cup final was 39-year-old Rohan Kanhai. In 2007, 36-year-old Adam Gilchrist won the trophy virtually off his own bat, and in 2011, 38-year-old Sachin Tendulkar was India’s most prolific run-getter.

Too much is sometimes made of a player’s age. This may not necessarily have a bearing on performance. While a preponderance of youngsters brings zing, energy and enthusiasm to a side, the value of experience cannot be undermined.

Of course, this depends on how Dhoni and Yuvraj themselves see and respond to the challenges ahead.