And the way the England team has performed they did not deserve to lose the series. Infact if we analyse the entire series England have outperformed India except for one day at Mohali that saw them losing the second Test.
England were almost down to their third string team when the Mumbai match began. They had already lost their skipper Michael Vaughan before the series began and the skipper's mantle fell on Flintoff.
The second Test hero Cook and Harmison were ruled out due to injury and all of us thought that the final match would prove to be a cake walk for India.
I had never ever imagined that Flintoff would prove to be such a great motivator and leader for such an inexperienced squad. His positive attitude and aggression has radiated on to the other members of his team and every body has rallied around him.
He has led by example batting beautifully and bowling with aggression.
In him England have got a winner who can not only take his team to the victory podium at home but outside too.
He is proving to be a worthy successor to the great Ian Botham. But there is one big difference between Botham and Flintoff.
While Botham was not able to give his best when he was made the skipper the opposite is true of Flintoff. He is really enjoying the captaincy and that makes Flintoff even better than Botham.
On the fourth day of the match I had written that Shaun Udal could be the surprise weapon for England. And it came true.
Indians are consdidered the best player of spin but right from my days we have never been comfortable when there is an uneven bounce and turn in the wicket. We have struggled against Greg Matthews (1986), Tausif Ahmed (1987), John Bracewell (1989), Saqlain Mushtaq (1999) and now Shaun Udal in 2006.
I have spoken about England first because I was very impressed by the way they approached the game I convey my hearties congratulations to Flintoff and his team for a well deserved win.
Coming to the Indian team I can just say that it was an atrocious display by them. There is no shame if a team loses a match after putting up a fight but in this match India looked a club squad. Fielding was, to put it very mildly, of the worst quality that I have ever seen. Batmen had no clue how to approach the target.
India have been disgraced in the defeat.
At lunch it looked that India would try to go for the win but to lose seven wickets in just over an hour is something that I had not imagined in my wildest dreams.
I think the big mistake of the match was that India decided to field after winning the toss. Greg Chappell has a reputation a bieng a very serious student of the game. Then how did he lose sight of the fact that the Wankhede pitch becomes a batsmen graveyard on the fifth day.
If we had batted after winning the toss then the result would have been the opposite.
Chappel must share a big part of the blame for this loss as he is the most experienced in the team management.
One more thing that I must add that for the last couple of years our performance in the Test arena has not been up to the mark.
This has been masked by a good record in the One-Dayers. But the time has come for us to analyse this trend and take the corrective action.
All the players must share the blame for the loss and should be ready to take the flak from the fans. Afterall these very fans give them all the credit for a win. So one must take the bad with the good.
Now the ODIs will be starting in a few days and with no Tendulkar in the team the other must share the responsibility. Moreso Sehwag who must fire to justify his place in the team.
(Krish Srikkanth is a former skipper of Indian cricket team. He maintains a regular blog on IBNLive. His website is www.krishcricket.com)
About the AuthorKrishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth was one of the most destructive batsmen who could decimate the strongest and most fearsome attacks in the world by his vast r...Read Morefirst published:March 22, 2006, 20:07 ISTlast updated:March 22, 2006, 20:07 IST
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Before the start of the Mumbai Test match Andrew Flintoff had said that it would be very unfair if his team would have to go back after losing the series.
And the way the England team has performed they did not deserve to lose the series. Infact if we analyse the entire series England have outperformed India except for one day at Mohali that saw them losing the second Test.
England were almost down to their third string team when the Mumbai match began. They had already lost their skipper Michael Vaughan before the series began and the skipper's mantle fell on Flintoff.
The second Test hero Cook and Harmison were ruled out due to injury and all of us thought that the final match would prove to be a cake walk for India.
I had never ever imagined that Flintoff would prove to be such a great motivator and leader for such an inexperienced squad. His positive attitude and aggression has radiated on to the other members of his team and every body has rallied around him.
He has led by example batting beautifully and bowling with aggression.
In him England have got a winner who can not only take his team to the victory podium at home but outside too.
He is proving to be a worthy successor to the great Ian Botham. But there is one big difference between Botham and Flintoff.
While Botham was not able to give his best when he was made the skipper the opposite is true of Flintoff. He is really enjoying the captaincy and that makes Flintoff even better than Botham.
On the fourth day of the match I had written that Shaun Udal could be the surprise weapon for England. And it came true.
Indians are consdidered the best player of spin but right from my days we have never been comfortable when there is an uneven bounce and turn in the wicket. We have struggled against Greg Matthews (1986), Tausif Ahmed (1987), John Bracewell (1989), Saqlain Mushtaq (1999) and now Shaun Udal in 2006.
I have spoken about England first because I was very impressed by the way they approached the game I convey my hearties congratulations to Flintoff and his team for a well deserved win.
Coming to the Indian team I can just say that it was an atrocious display by them. There is no shame if a team loses a match after putting up a fight but in this match India looked a club squad. Fielding was, to put it very mildly, of the worst quality that I have ever seen. Batmen had no clue how to approach the target.
India have been disgraced in the defeat.
At lunch it looked that India would try to go for the win but to lose seven wickets in just over an hour is something that I had not imagined in my wildest dreams.
I think the big mistake of the match was that India decided to field after winning the toss. Greg Chappell has a reputation a bieng a very serious student of the game. Then how did he lose sight of the fact that the Wankhede pitch becomes a batsmen graveyard on the fifth day.
If we had batted after winning the toss then the result would have been the opposite.
Chappel must share a big part of the blame for this loss as he is the most experienced in the team management.
One more thing that I must add that for the last couple of years our performance in the Test arena has not been up to the mark.
This has been masked by a good record in the One-Dayers. But the time has come for us to analyse this trend and take the corrective action.
All the players must share the blame for the loss and should be ready to take the flak from the fans. Afterall these very fans give them all the credit for a win. So one must take the bad with the good.
Now the ODIs will be starting in a few days and with no Tendulkar in the team the other must share the responsibility. Moreso Sehwag who must fire to justify his place in the team.
(Krish Srikkanth is a former skipper of Indian cricket team. He maintains a regular blog on IBNLive. His website is www.krishcricket.com)
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