Dhoni, Jadeja steer India to respectability

Half-centuries boost visitors to 234/7

The green-tinged surface, overcast conditions, and the swinging and seaming ball coming at an uncomfortable pace formed a deadly cocktail to extend the visitors’ batting miseries to the third one-dayer here at The Oval on Friday.

With the overhead conditions ideally suited for the English attack, the Indian batsmen found it hard to negotiate the moving ball, slipping first to 25 for four and then 58 for five inside 20 overs as James Anderson came up with an inspired first spell of 7-1-24-3, besides effecting the run-out of Rahul Dravid.

India were in real danger of being shot out for less than 100 but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (69, 103b, 5x4) and replacement all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (78, 89b, 10x4) produced battling half-centuries and shared 112 for the sixth wicket to guide the World champions to a more than decent 234 for seven after being asked to bat first again.

Impressive in his first three international innings, opener Ajinkya Rahane tasted his first failure, bringing up a three-ball duck. With the ball jagging around, Anderson (3/48) ripped through the Indian top-order, Rahane setting the tone for the parade that was all too familiar during the Tests.

On the evidence of the first few balls, it was obvious that batting wasn’t going to be an easy task and India couldn’t have had a better batsman than Dravid coming in at number three. The run-out of the veteran, however, triggered the rot. The 38-year-old was slow to respond to Parthiv Patel’s call and failed to beat Anderson’s direct hit.

In the next over, Anderson knocked Parthiv’s out off-stump as the left-hander tried to whack him out of the park. Short on runs, this was an opportunity for Virat Kohli to underline his credentials but the Delhi batsman frittered away the chance after an unconvincing stay in the middle.

India managed just 25 for three in the mandatory Power Play, their lowest ever in ODIs. A brief resistance ensued between Dhoni and Suresh Raina but ended with latter’s dismissal by Stuart Broad, leaving India in a state of crisis.

It was time for Dhoni to step up, and the Indian skipper did so admirably well. Since his counter-attacking innings in the third Test at Edgbaston, the Jharkhandi produced his most significant knock yet of the tour while Jadeja, joining the team only on Thursday morning, showed exemplary attitude and character to lift the Indian innings out of the woods. Building the innings brick by brick, the two slowly but surely got India out of jail as the conditions too eased up a bit. They ran hard between the wickets and weren’t chary of take an occasional swipe at a loose delivery.

Jadeja, who played his last match for India against New Zealand in Vadodara last year, bettered his previous best of 61 not out during a measured knock.

He placed the ball well and picked the right ones to punish to make a stirring comeback to the side. The right-left combination raised 112 for the sixth wicket before Dhoni perished in the second over of batting Power Play.

Jadeja built on the good start. Asked to play at short notice, the 22-year-old responded to the challenge in style, pacing his innings in fine fashion. The Saurashtra batsman was complemented well by R Ashwin (36 n.o., 19b, 5x4) as India looted 51 runs in five overs of field restrictions, the last two yielding 34 runs. In fact, the last 10 overs produced 84 runs as the Indian bowlers had something to defend.