There are times when bowlers single-handedly win you games. Who can forget Ravichandran Ashwin’s and Ravindra Jadeja’s exploits in the recently concluded Test series against England where they had the Three Lions on the mat for the most part of the series.
Now with England scheduled to play three One-Day Internationals against India after the Christmas break we look at some of the best performances with the leather in the format.
Here in the article, we look at five best bowling spells in an India versus England ODI.
5# Steven Finn 5/33
It was a tri-series in 2015 involving India, Australia and England. In the third game of the series, India locked horns against the English at the Gabba.
India won the toss and the then captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had no hesitation in batting first on a strip which was quite green in colour.
This is just the opportunity, the lanky England pacer Steven Finn wanted. After the departure of Shikhar Dhawan who was sent back by James Anderson, Finn joined the act and grabbed the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and the talismanic Virat Kohli in quick succession.
He then pocketed the prized wicket of MS Dhoni and cleaned up Axar Patel to bowl out India for just 153. He finished with figures of 5/33 from his 8 overs. In reply, England knocked off the target with 9 wickets in hand.
4# Harbhajan Singh 5/31
England were playing an ODI series in India in March 2006 the first of which was held at the historic Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi.
England won the toss and chose to field and the decision yielded great results for them. The new ball bowlers including Kabir Ali kept things tight and chipped away at the wickets. The hosts could last only 46.4 overs scoring just 203.
But in the second innings, it was the all Harbhajan show. The offspinner who was in his prime during those years ran through the England batting order like a knife through butter.
Among his prized scalps were Andrew Flintoff the captain and Paul Collingwood. He finally ended up with 5/31 helping his team bowl out England for a paltry 164 to script an amazing victory.
3# Ronnie Irani 5/26
It was the 8th match of the Natwest series in 2002. India were playing England at the Kennington Oval and the then Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly put England into bat.
After a solid start, England struggled a bit in the middle overs with the lower order contributing in 6,9,0,3,7 but India also bowled 30 extras which eventually helped the hosts get to a total of 229 after 32 overs.
After picking up Virender Sehwag at the start Irani accounted for the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, the youngsters who were slowly beginning to take giant strides in international cricket. Irani then with his slow cutters cleaned up wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra and Ajit Agarkar.
India eventually lost the game by a huge 64 runs and Irani was declared the man-of-the-match for his 5/26.
2# S. Sreesanth 6/55
Now, Sreesanth had always been the bowler who would go for runs but would always pick up crucial wickets. In the 2006 ODI series versus England Sreesanth produced one such performance. It was the 7th One-Dayer of the series which was being played at Indore.
India captain Rahul Dravid put England into bat but they got off to a solid start. All the Indian bowlers were taken for plenty but Sreesanth kept chipping away at the wickets. At one time it looked like the English will easily go past the 300-run mark. But then the paceman pulled things back in the end overs finishing with 6/55.
In reply, the Indian top order comprising debutant Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh contributed heavily to win the game with seven wickets to spare.
Sreesanth was declared the man-of-the-match for his efforts.
1# Ashish Nehra 6/23
This is a classic. It was a Pool A game of the ICC World Cup 2003 to be played at Durban. Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly won the toss and decided to bat. Half-centuries from Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid propelled the Indian cause as got to 217 in the 37th over.
But then a heap of wickets towards the end made sure India were contained at 250/9 after 50 overs.
In reply, the early damage was done by Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath who reduced England to 28/2 and then Nehra was introduced into the attack. What happened next was that Nehra shrugged off a pain in his ankle to give everyone a lesson in seam bowling.
He first sent back Michael Vaughan with an away going delivery caught by Dravid behind the stumps. And then did the same against rival captain Nasser Hussain.
He also accounted for Paul Collingwood, Craig White and Ronnie Irani to help India storm into the Super Sixes. The match is still considered by many as one of the best ever ODIs.
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