India lose to England again, this time in T20I

So here we go. After the abysmal performance in the Test matches, there was a clear cut improvement in the T20Is but the Indian side went on to lose that game as well. And dare I say it was a small matter of collapsing to the short balls from the quicker bowlers than led to the collapse.

The good things first though. The Indians had begun superbly through Ajinkya Rahane and the number three, Rahul Dravid, both of whom were making their debuts in this format of the game. Rahane began well with his ability to play all around the square, but it was the batting of Dravid that surprised most.

Dravid, at the best of times, it known not to enjoy this format of the game and to begin with, he struggled to get going. The slow and low nature of the pitch made scoring difficult for him but soon, he overcame those issues and slapped three sixes off three balls from Samit Patel to bring India close to what they would have termed as a match winning score.

At the other end, Rahane peppered the leg-side with his ability to pull and hook the ball with disdain but he went after the bowlers over the off side as well when they pitch it up to him. He was clearly a batsman for the future.

At 101 for one in 11 overs, a target of 180 should have been the bare minimum for the side; instead, the side capitulated to 165 all out thanks to some shoddy batting by the lower order. It resembled a glutton who had been kept hungry for weeks before being shown a banquet, where he has attempted to eat everything away, in the process of letting the food fall to the floor. The Indians hadn’t seen such a pitch on the tour so far and that meant that they went after the bowling when they should have rotated the things around.

Some of the shots that the likes of MS Dhoni and Raina, not to mention Rohit Sharma played betrayed panic in the ranks – you cannot hit every ball you play to the boundary even in this format of the game now, can you.

When England batted, it was clear that the Indian spinners were going to be the crucial cogs; instead it was the spinners who went for the runs. It must be said that the outfield became very wet because of the dew and the fielders began to have a lot of problems with the ball.

Where does India go from here? For one, they will be hoping for a much better performance from their middle-order in the ODIs. Secondly, they will need to look at their spin bowling; R Ashwin will need to be used smartly. Else, it could become even more difficult to beat England in the series.