It was a one-sided battle in the first one-dayer in Baroda till Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar put together a 84-run partnership that literally threatened to snatch the game away. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be fully aware that another loss will make the task of coming back into the seven-match series, that much more difficult and tedious.

The last couple of weeks have witnessed a lot of debate on the way former bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh been shown the door unceremoniously once again bringing to fore the infighting that exists in Indian cricket. The least that the Indian fans expect now is a comprehensive series win that will catapult them to the numero uno position in the ODI rankings.

For the Indians, their bowling towards the death in the first ODI was quite heartening as they literally came back into the game restricting Australia to a total below 300. On the other hand, MSD will not want to meddle with the opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and it will be interesting to see if the Indian captain tries to bat up the order. Dhoni is a kind of player who plays his best when he is given overs and time frame to hit. So, it becomes imperative for him to bat no. 4 which would mean Yuvi comes at 5 and Raina could come at 6. This necessarily means Ravindra Jadeja will face the axe. The management could even look at retaining Jadeja and dropping Virat Kohli but that looks unlikely as the team will look to go with extra batsman who is in form than a player who is a half-bowler and is struggling with the bat. The lesser said about the Indian fielding, the better. An ardent task awaits the Indians.

On the other hand, Australia will know that they literally had their hearts in their mouths when Harbhajan and Praveen were pummelling their attack which looked ordinary. With Midge, Hopes and Lee out of Wednesday’s match, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting will know that the bowling attack will lack the bite but knowing the Aussie attitude, Indians will know that a under-par Australian attack cannot be taken lightly.

However, the chase was kept alive, thanks a patience partnership between Virat Kohli who had  Gautam Gambhir for company. The 58-run stand helped giving a momentum for the hosts and skipper MS Dhoni walked in to the middle, Gambhir had settled down nicely.

But the Australian bowlers never allowed India to run away with the game, which meant that the asking rate touched eight an over and India took the batting power play, which saw the dismissal of Gambhir. Suresh Raina after striking a huge six off Peter Siddle was caught by Johnson off his own bowling. Dhoni mis-hit was taken by pacer lee as Men in Blues looked set to suffer the blues.
Earlier Australia started things on a bright note, much like the morning weather that had a bit of mist on it. The foundation was laid by 97-run stand for the second wicket between Ricky Ponting and Tim Paine. The hosts pulled things back admirably between overs 40-45. Australia employed the power play within that period but the fall of Cameroon White and Adam Voges did not help.

A total of 292 was always difficult but India will rue the fact that not a single batsman applied himself to play a long knock right till the end, so crucial if one has to make a match out of it.

The enigmatic skipper faces his toughest Test as a leader against a team which is coming back to the golden era when Australians literally muscled their way past any opposition. The world champions Australia are looking solid on paper and if there is one apparent weakness it could be the middle order’s inexperience against quality spin.

The Men in Blue would not risk Yuvraj Singh for the opening game. His value to this side is too high and in that interest it’s better he be rested. Dhoni, however, declared himself fit. He was hit on the back of the left knee by a Munaf Patel delivery during practice on Friday.
Ricky Ponting’s men might not have it that easy this time but have a definite edge. The conditions here might suit India better. The outfield looks fast and there will be full value for shots, that’s if the ball comes on well and the batsmen can play through the line.

Australia’s strength is their swiftness and their ability to find the stumps when it matters. Given their strength on the field and India’s lack in that department, Ponting and Co. start with a 30-run advantage even before the toss.
A strong individual performance at the start of the series is crucial to propel the hosts. The confidence of the side is not sky high and if Australia run away with early success, it would become extremely difficult to play catch up.
The Indian top-order has all the potential to match up and Sachin Tendulkar will have another reason to concentrate hard. The world record holder is 97 runs shy of reaching the 17, 000-run mark.

It should be a tooth and nail encounter at the Reliance Stadium and will be interesting to see who draws first blood in the lung opener.

Squads

India: M.S. Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, S. Raina, Virat Kohli, R. Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Sudeep Tyagi.
Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey (VC), Cameron White, Shane Watson, Tim Paine, Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Adam Voges, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Hauritz, Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Jon Holland.

Earlier, Tim Bresnan muscled his way to a career-best 80 as England recovered from a utterly dismal 101/6 in the 22nd over to post a reasonable 256 after opting to bat first. Bresnan and Luke Wright posted 107 for the seventh wicket to revive England who had lost their top order to some unthinking bowing. The fact that Andrew Strauss’ side were allowed claw their way back into the game also underlined the indifferent quality of the Australian bowling.
 The Aussies were guilty of bowling short, over-pitched after the top order had virtually gifted their wickets away. The fielding too was uncharacteristically sloppy, a black spot in the Australia’s otherwise solid victory.  
The end came swiftly. Going with established “wisdom” Strauss implemented the batting powerplay from the 46th over – and 16 balls later, it was all over. Shane Watson’s first and third overs produced a wicket and a runout, and in between Brett Lee took top-scorer Bresnan (80, 76b, 11×4, 1×6) out middle-stump.
 
England opened in terrible fashion. Strauss and Owais Shah were gone in the first three overs of the innings. The captain looked in aggressive mode, hooking a six off Siddle but tried it again in the same over to top edge a lob. Shah feathered the second ball he faced from Lee into wicketkeeper Tim Paine’s gloves. A mini-recovery between Joe Denley and Paul Collingwood followed with the latter blazing his way to 34 from 30 balls (5×4, 1×6) before he edged the wayward Johnson to Paine.
 
Denley, Steve Davies and Eoin Morgan followed soon after, setting the stage for Bresnan and Wright (80, 68b, 2×4, 2×6) to launch their recovery act with the former brutalising the ball around the Wright keeping his end going with smart running and punctuated by two massive sixes off Nathan Hauritz’s off-spin.

But the loss will not hurt England as much as their 1-6 drubbing at the hands of the Aussies in the recently concluded ODI series in England. Well done Aussies!

Will it be super start to the week for the Indians or will the Men in Blue go with a mundane Monday? Read this space for more tomorrow!

The 31-year-old underwent an operation after retiring from Test cricket following England’s 2-1 Ashes series win over Australia.

Flintoff, who has said he wants to continue his one-day international career, is expected to be out of action for at least six months. “Andrew Flintoff recently suffered a common complication of surgery, a minor deep vein thrombosis in his right calf,” the ECB statement said.

“This will require a simple course of treatment and will not complicate his recovery from surgery.” Fast bowler and hard-hitting batsman Flintoff’s career has been blighted by a succession of injuries.

England captain Andrew Strauss, speaking after England had lost the second one-day international against Australia by 39 runs at Lord’s  said: “You don’t want any complications, an operation like that is a big enough tribulation as it is. I just feel for him because he’s got a lot of rehab ahead of him, and you don’t want it to be slowed down in any way. Hopefully, it all will all go according to plan from here on.”

Well said Strauss. None of Freddie fans will want him to suffer from any trouble. Life can’t get worse for him!

Australia took a 2-0 lead in their one-day international series against England with a 39-run win at Lord’s on Sunday.  England had been progressing well in response to Australia’s 249/8 but Shane Watson’s introduction into the attack heralded a spell of four wickets in 33 deliveries that derailed the chase.
Skipper Paul Collingwood ran out of support after scoring 56 as the hosts were bowled out for 210. The teams head to Southampton for the third of the seven match series on Wednesday. Earlier, Mitchell Johnson’s rapid unbeaten 43 helped lift Australia to a total of 249/8.
Johnson faced just 23 balls, hitting five fours and, together with Nathan Hauritz, shared an unbroken stand of 41 in 28 balls after the world champions were in danger of being bowled out inside their allotted 50 overs at 201/8 in the 46th.
Callum Ferguson top-scored with 55, his second successive fifty after his man-of-the-match winning 71 not out in Australia’s four-run win in Friday’s first of a seven-match series at the Oval.
Changes of pace once more proved tough for Australia’s top-order to handle and, as Johnson showed when he teed off in the closing stages, runs were easier to come by against the frontline quicks.

Australia made a steady start after England captain Andrew Strauss again won the toss. But from 62 without loss, Australia lost two wickets for two runs in eight balls to be 64/2.
Pace bowler Tim Bresnan, one of two changes after coming replacing Yorkshire team-mate and leg-spinner Adil Rashid, broke the opening stand.
But it needed a fine catch by a leaping Luke Wright at short extra-cover to dismiss Shane Watson for 34, featuring five fours, off a hard-hit drive. Tim Paine fell soon afterwards. Wright then captured the prize wicket of star batsman Michael Clarke for four.

It now fell to Cameron White, who also made a fifty on Friday, and Ferguson to repair the damage. They did so with a stand of 69 before occasional medium-pacer Ravi Bopara, struck first ball when White, on 42, trying to run him down to third man, got an edge which was well held by Prior, standing up to the stumps.

Ryan Sidebottom at the crease who was given the arduous task of scoring the maximum (something which he has not done till date) and he only managed to score a single off Bracken giving huge cheers in the Australian dug-out and some sombre faces in the Pom’s side. The Australians scored 260 for 5 with Callum Ferguson top-scoring with a patient 71 and receiving good support from skipper Michael Clarke who made 45 and Cameron White who scored 53.

For the Englishmen, the spinners Adil Rashid and Graeme Swann bowled well in tandemn and gave away little. Rashid in particular bowled a well-scripted 10 overs for a miserly 37 runs and impressed all and sundry with his guile and drift. The spinner kept the faith shown by spin legend shane Warne on him. When Australians came to bowl, Brett Lee was spitting fire from his end and ran and bowled just to prove a point.

His nine overs for 65 runs for a solitary wicket might not tell the true story but his line and length were negated with no-balls and wides and harsh edges that really took the sheen of his bowling figures.

Australians fielded well but England survived most of the times because of those unintentional stroke-making which saw Lee and Shane Watson bleed runs. Clarke on his part was in control of the situation but looked worried when those thick edges were going towards the third-man boundary. But Australia will take this win as it will give them the required confidence before the second game at Lord’s on Sunday.

“Honestly speaking, I was too busy with my new house (in Jalandhar) and did not see much of Ashes. But it’s great to see other teams dominating Australia. England clearly played better and deserved to win,” said the off-spinner.

On a more serious note, Harbhajan said Australia were struggling to adjust to a life without Warne and McGrath. “They are clearly missing players of the calibres of Warne and McGrath. You have to remember that bowlers win you Test matches and you have to take 20 wickets to win a Test. “Warne and McGrath were the biggest pillars in Australian cricket and I think it would take time before Australia find their replacements. They will struggle till similar wicket-taking bowlers break into the scene,” explained Harbhajan after unveiling the Compaq Cup, which will be given to the winner of next month’s tri-series in Sri Lanka.

When asked if he felt even Symonds too was missed, Harbhajan side-stepped the provocation. “See, Symonds, as long as he was part of the team, did well for Australia. He is a very, very good player. But I think more than Symonds or even (Adam) Gilchrist, Australia sorely missed Warne and McGrath,” he said.

Harbhajan and Symonds were the main protagonists of the 2007 ‘Monkeygate scandal’ that threatened to rip apart world cricket. Harbhajan was accused of calling Symonds a monkey before Justice John Hansen exonerated him of the charge. Harbhajan said The Oval, venue of fifth and final Ashes Test, offered enough turn and Australia made a mistake by leaving out off-spinner Nathan Hauritz.

“Had I been there, I would have taken 10 wickets and prevented Australia’s defeat,” he quipped before adding “there was enough turn on the track.” England on Sunday pulled off a sensational 197-run victory over Australia in the fifth and final cricket Test to regain the Ashes urn after a four-year gap.

After the defeat, Australia slipped to number four in Test rankings while captain Ricky Ponting suffered the ignominy of being the only the second Australia captain in 132 years of Ashes history to lose two series on England soil. The other was Australia’s first touring captain Billy Murdoch a century ago. Murdoch lost his second series in 1890.