LONDON: If there was cricket in the ground, bedlam was the name of the game in the stands at The Oval. Taken over by India fans in blue and other colours, the normally quiet area in South London was a cauldron of noise all day and no marks for guessing who were making most of it. When told there was someone waving an Australia flag, a scribe quipped it must be the wife of one of their players!
It was not as one-sided on the field of play, but there was no question about India’s domination either.
Once Virat Kohli called correct and elected to bat, his batsmen called the shots for the first 50 overs of the day. The total of 352 was the result of a collective effort, where Shikhar Dhawan stood above the rest for making most of the runs.
Being the fighters that they are, Australia hung in there for a long time during the chase before succumbing to the pressure of the scoreboard.
After a standout show by the bowlers in the first match, batsmen set up the win in the second. Living up to their reputation, the top three dished out as professional a performance as one can see.
Slow off the blocks, Dhawan and Rohit Sharma accelerated gradually. Dhawan and Virat Kohli preserved wickets and raised the tempo in the middle overs, before Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni provided the final push.
It was one of those rare days when all the plans of the batting unit worked.
Fans made sure the batsmen were not short on encouragement. Beer and champagne were flowing in the stands and the effect was audible. The beating of drums was incessant, the dancing rarely stopped, while songs and chants of a myriad kind filled the air.
Loud all day, this reached the crescendo when Dhawan completed his century and Pandya cut loose. The only ones sporting a serious look were the security persons, who faced the unenviable task of managing thousands high on cricket and other influences.
Such has been the pattern of India’s batting of late that one of top three invariably comes good most of the days.
Sunday saw the rare occurrence of all three getting past fifties, with Dhawan making the most of the good start. Living up to his reputation of excelling in ICC events, the left-hander was the aggressor and anchor rolled into one. Due to him, Rohit didn’t feel the pressure in the early overs, when he was unable to hit boundaries.
Dhawan’s 17th century also laid the foundation for the rest to step on the gas in the last 15 overs, which produced 146 runs.
If the plan to preserve wickets for late acceleration worked, so did the ploy of attacking the weaker options in Australia’s ranks. Glenn Maxwell, Adam Zampa and Marcus Stoinis went for 157 runs in 20 overs combined.
Having said that, even Mitchell Starc was not spared as Kohli hit him over long-on and wide long-off for sixes. The left-armer, who took five wickets against the West Indies, was actually the most expensive of Australia’s frontline fast bowlers.
The crowd went quiet for a while when Glenn Maxwell hit a few fours towards the end. They must have got tired as well, but found that extra bit of energy when India finally completed the win.
Chants of ‘Indiaaaa, Indiaaaa’ filled the air once again. There was also a Mexican Wave.
Two in two and seven to go before it gets to the business end, expect the blue army to swarm the grounds in all the venues wherever the Indian caravan halts over the next few weeks.