Carlton Tri-Series Cricket: India Beaten Out, England-Australia Final On Sunday!

England have entered the final of Carlton Mid Triangular Cricket Series played in Australia beating a listless India by 3 wickets with 19 balls to spare in the 4^th ODI of the Series in Perth today. England now face unbeaten Australia in the Final to be played in same city on Sunday, the 1^st of February 2015. For a change a better performance by Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan (38) and a half century by Ajinkya Rahane (73) gave India a good start and with Virat Kohli coming at No.3 for the first time in this Series India looked to be in a sound position to push for a formidable total. But, the ‘Calypso’ collapses that seem to have become a part of Team India reduced the team to 136 for 5 from 102 for 1 and then 165 for 9. Mohammed Shami, the last man standing, hit a lusty 25 to make India reach 200 at least; else India would have done exactly the same as they did last time against England. This is despite the presence of two confirmed all-rounders in the team. The famed batting line-up of India could not even utilize full 50 overs. For England all their pace bowlers shared the wickets with Finn capturing 3 scalps.

The total of 200 was never going to be enough. However, a 3-wicket burst by Stuart Binny put England under a lot of pressure at 66 for the loss of 5 wickets. But well known for their inability to apply and go for the kill India let the situation slip out of control and the way Taylor (82) and Butler (67) played it seemed there was never any pressure. The two match-winners finally got out, but then it was too late. England have emerged the deserved winners and they were the only second team that looked to stop the Australians.

The Scorecard:

India have finished the tournament winless and before that they have lost the Test Series against Australia. If you talk of the run-up to the ICC World Cup 2015 which will played in Australia and New Zealand India have prepared disastrously with hardly any positive coming out for the team. The Srinivasan factor is also looming large over the scenario and the ‘dirt’ of Indian cricket needs to be finally thrown out. While Srinivasan reportedly wants to exercise the option of giving up IPL franchise CSK so that he could still fight the BCCI elections for President the ICC has so far done nothing to him and in fact announced that the next ICC World Cup T20 would be hosted by India in 2016. How Team India recoups and regroups from here only time would tell. And, time is really running out.

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