By Ian Botham
It was a good way for England to end the tour.
A win was the apt way to end a tour that they would be quite proud of. They used the conditions to their advantage as the bowlers did the job. Tim Bresnan and Steven Finn did a good job, and Ian Bell with a hundred ensured a convincing win. It was good to see Eoin Morgan hit some form as he is a very important member in the limited-overs unit. Also what will please England is the fact that they won it without Kevin Pietersen firing, as the team relies a lot on him.
England will be happy with their pool of players, as once the likes of Jimmy Anderson, Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad come in they will be a much stronger outfit and will once again set sights on the number one ODI spot.
Their bowling has been successful and this team consists of some really good bowlers. They have a bunch of very good seam bowlers and along with Swann and Monty Panesar, England have found another good spin bowler in James Tredwell.
With a comprehensive win in the Test series, drawing square in the Twenty20 series with a very young team and then losing 3-2 in the ODIs with a weaker side, England would be happy with what they have achieved.
The ODI series win will bring some relief to the Indian camp. They haven’t played really well and often looked out of sorts throughout the winter. The top order has been a concern.
In the past few years Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have been dominant at the top but with both of them out of form, the worries have begun to grow for India. Gambhir is in his early 30s and that’s when many batsmen are at their best but he has looked very uncomfortable against the moving ball.
India’s batsmen have to sort out the problem of being able to successfully counter seam and bounce. They aren’t going to get tailor-made conditions everywhere.
Suresh Raina has impressed in the ODI series and over time he has shown how important he is to this Indian ODI side especially in the home conditions.
Many do wonder why he hasn’t been able to translate this to Tests, but then Test cricket is a different ball game. The bowlers in the Test format feel it’s pretty easy to bounce him out. He is a fine all-round batsman and it’s only him who can sort out his issue with the short-pitched stuff.
It’s a rebuilding process for the Indian team and I hope the Indian fans are patient with the transition. Every team goes through that and I am sure that this Indian team can definitely bounce back.