Indian captain Rahul Dravid admitted that he gambled by playing two spinners on a flat pitch and a small ground but it worked as Piyush Chawla picked three crucial wickets to lead India to series-levelling victory against England.
“We took a bit of a gamble there,” said Dravid, after India beat England by nine runs in the second ODI.
“We knew there were small boundaries, but it was one of the areas we had suffered when we did not have wickets at the Rose Bowl in the middle overs. I think we took crucial wickets. We needed them (bowlers) to defend even a total like 329 in this ground,” he said.
Dravid, who was declared Man of the Match for his superb 92 ahead of Sachin Tendulkar who scored a majestic 99, lauded the efforts of young Chawla, who removed Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and England skipper Paul Collingwood.
“He is a young kid. He played all his cricket outside India where the pitch and conditions do not suit his kind of spin bowling. He’s got a terrific attitude for an 18-year old, he always wants the ball and looking to bowl to good batsmen, looking to set aggressive fields,” Dravid said.
On the fitness problems to some of his key players, Dravid conceded that things were not as serious as they were made out to be.
“Sachin was fit enough to play the game. He spoke to me in the morning and he felt comfortable. Only Zaheer Khan we felt was not fully fit for the game. There was a bit of doubt about Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) as well, but he went through the training in the morning and felt good.”
Asked why Tendulkar was missing from the field when England batted, Dravid said it was because he was feeling a bit giddy.
England skipper Paul Collingwood also had words of praise for Chawla, who had removed him with his googly.
“He mixes up pretty well actually. He kept really tight. But he has got plenty of energy and looks very much a typical ODI player you get these days.”
Collingwood, however, justified dropping their star spinner Monty Panesar by saying that there was bounce aplenty at the wicket while Indians also batted creditably.
“There was some grass on the wicket. It still had plenty of pace and carry for a Bristol wicket. I think it (the ball) went through OK. It was obviously a small ground so that came into the equation as well. There was plenty of bounce and the seamers had done so well at the Rose Bowl so we decided to go with that kind of balance. To be honest, let’s give credit to the Indian batsmen. When you’re bowling against a line-up like that they can make any bowler look average.”
On his batsmen’s inability to tackle spinners in the middle overs, Collingwood said, “I think we had to keep going on them (spinners) constantly. When you’re chasing a total like 250 or 260, it looks OK but when you’re going to be chasing seven or eight an over you’re bound to lose some wickets in the middle. The fact that we came close proves that we can knock big totals off.”
The England captain made light of the stiffness in the knee of all rounder Andrew Flintoff, who has just recovered from ankle surgery.
“He’s pretty much OK. He’s got a bit of stiffness in his knee, but I think he’s pretty happy with getting a five-for and looking forward to the next game. He knows exactly what he’s doing with ball and hopefully the other seamers learn from him,” Collingwood said.