Kanpur: With their backs to the wall, the only option the Englishmen have is to fight tooth and nail, if they are to stay afloat in the series.
For that to happen, they will have to show a lot of spunk and a strong will to win. That was far from visible in the first couple of games, as Yuvraj rose from the ashes to thwart any hopes they may have harboured to gain the upper hand.
To start with, they have chosen the wrong team. They've left their best spinner Monty Panesar in England, and he will arrive in India to play only in the Tests. Then, they've failed to keep in mind that it's very important to get wickets in the middle overs, and thereby have the opposition under pressure.
That's precisely why India could wriggle out of a tight situation at Indore when they lost three early wickets. It can be said that this England side is losing games as they simply don't have quality bowlers who can bowl as the situation demands, from over 20 to over 40 or thereabouts.
For a formidable eleven, it's very important to have five solid batsmen, followed by dependable allrounders if any, and then quality bowlers who could bowl 40 effective overs.
The remaining 10 overs could well be distributed among the bits and pieces cricketers. But, expecting such bowlers to send down 20 good overs, is a sure recipe to playing into the hands of the opposition. That's what happened in the first two games, and from Kanpur itself England desperately needs to take corrective measures.
Then, England's openers ought to be a regular pair, and not a wicketkeeper who has the penchant to throw his bat around. They must not lose sight of the fact that its a 50-50 game and not a T20 outing. Wicketkeeper Prior may pull it off in a game or two, but to expect him to deliver the goods consistently against experienced bowlers like Zaheer, Munaf and Harbhajan is asking for too much.
Furthermore, maybe it's high time for their captain to lead from the front, and he'd be doing no harm in promoting himself to No. 3 to control the game. He could be followed by Collingwood or Flintoff.
It's the need of the hour to have the best batsmen in the team play as many overs as possible especially when chasing huge targets like at Rajkot and Indore. There's just no point in your star performers coming in when the battle is all but over.
As for India, they're on a hat-trick, and from here theyd do well not to grow complacent. Having struck two telling blows they must now pin down the opposition, and ensure they allow England no room whatsoever to claw back.
