Rain gods snatch away another one dayer from India's hands as they look set to register their first win in the England tour. Really luck has totally eluded India on this tour with everything going against them. All the glory India collected in the past 4-5 years in all the formats of the game is being lost very quickly in England. While not all of this can be attributed to luck but there have been many instances where luck spoiled the party.
1. ODI losses- The first and the fourth ODI of the India-England series could have been won by India but instead ended up as a no result match. The first ODI saw an inspired performance by the Indians after the drubbing in tests as they put up 274 runs on the board and had England in trouble at 27-2 but then the rain came down and the match was abandoned. The fourth one dayer saw another good performance by the Indian batters as they scored 280 runs. The match went down to the wire with England at 270-8 needing 11 runs off 7 balls. The rain came again and the Duckworth-Lewis method ensured that this time the match if not abandoned was tied. Again India were robbed off a potential win.A run less could have given the win to India but luck doesn't seem to love India much on this tour.
2. Trent bridge Test- After the loss in the first test at Lords, India came back strongly in the 2nd as they had England down at 124-8. But then Stuart Broad and Swann took the attack on India. They played wild aerial shots which on any other day could have landed in the fielder's hands but that day they all ended up in no man's land as England reached 221 which on a seaming pitch was enough to beat India. The next 2 tests were forgettable as India lost all 4 tests. Luck again was not on India's side.
3. Injuries- This can be blamed on the IPL and the busy schedule or player's fitness but injuries to so many players at the same time is definitely not a common phenomenon. The list includes Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Gambhir, Sehwag, Harbhajan, Rohit and not all of them picked up niggles, cramps or tears. Gambhir fell down taking a catch on his head while Rohit got hit on his finger. Tendulkar's old toe injury had to show up only when he was in England while Zaheer broke down just before the all important England series. All the injuries together have seriously hampered India's chances against England. That is one of the reasons why India has lost every match against England. Luck certainly is not on India's side.
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