For ten overs, it felt like deja vu. The ball was swinging, India were 26 for 2 and Virat Kohli had departed for a three-ball duck. India’s Test team had failed to go past 200 in their last five innings, lasting an average of 49.3 overs over that stretch. It looked like the ODI team was going to continue the trend.
The 50-over game is arguably India’s most comfortable format but there was still plenty to do after Virat Kohli strangely charged Chris Woakes, having been at the crease for just two deliveries. Kohli could only find Alastair Cook at mid-off and the England captain broke out into a grin after almost spilling the chance.
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By the end of the first innings in Cardiff, however, the smiles were on Indian faces. The visiting side not only lasted the full 50 overs, they had gone past 300 for the first time since Southampton a month ago. The transformation was in large part due to Suresh Raina, who smashed his way to 100 from 75 balls – his first ODI century in four years - after Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane had steadied the ship.
A lot had been said about fresh faces lifting the dressing room following India’s capitulation in the Test series and Raina provided plenty of evidence to support the claim. When Rahane fell with the score 110 for 3, India’s innings could still have gone either way. Raina had batted at No. 11 in the warm-up match, so any acclimatising needed to be done on the fly.
A whip through midwicket for four got Raina off the mark and turned out to be an early sign of things to come. There were some streaky shots initially, and Raina was lucky to survive a close lbw shout from James Tredwell, but he settled down and found his range in the final batting PowerPlay.
India plundered 47 runs from overs 37 to 40, and 62 between 35 and 40, with 42 of them coming off Raina’s bat from just 16 balls. He launched his initial attack against Chris Woakes, who had figures of 2 for 14 from six overs at that stage. One over later, Woakes’ figures read 2 for 34. Raina smashed a length ball straight down the ground to start the carnage before a single took him to his 50 from 49 balls. Two balls later, a top-edge had even meat on it to clear long leg.
Woakes responded by bowling it full but Raina picked the length early and sent the ball screaming to the midwicket boundary with a flick of the bat.
After that, it was open season on all of England's bowlers. Cook brought James Anderson back to stem the tide but by now Raina was playing with a freedom India were unable to display in the five-day game. He gave himself room on the legside and when Anderson followed him, deposited the ball behind square for four. A little luck saw a top edge sail over the keeper for four more but there was no doubt about the next shot. Raina once again made room, Anderson did not follow him this time and Raina swatted the ball through the covers; the bat arcing through the line of the ball like a scythe cutting a swathe through a field of wheat. Three deliveries, three boundaries.
England did try to exploit Raina’s weakness against the short ball but the bowling attack lacked the pace to unsettle the left-hander. Raina would end up adding 144 from 101 balls for the fifth wicket with MS Dhoni, whose contribution was 45. By the time Raina was out one ball after reaching his century, the damage to England had been done. He even chipped in with the wicket of Chris Jordan for good measure, as the home side were crushed by 133 runs.
India desperately needed to change the tone of their tour after the Tests. With his blistering century, Raina has done just that.
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