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England were deserving winners

England did extremely well to win the one-off Twenty20 tie. The way skipper Graeme Swann shuffled his bowlers at the Eden Gardens showed he was prepared to take the lead. Ian Botham writes.

Updated on: Oct 30, 2011, 23:48:50 IST
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England did extremely well to win the one-off Twenty20 tie. The way skipper Graeme Swann shuffled his bowlers at the Eden Gardens showed he was prepared to take the lead.

HT Image
HT Image

England deserved to win especially because of the way Kevin Pietersen batted. But he got one of the worst decisions I have seen. Despite this, England remained the world's number one team by winning with time to spare.

With the return of Eoin Morgan and Stuart Broad, this T20 team could get even better. The future looks promising for England in this format. Pietersen's ability with the bat is well known. But what he showed in the T20 game was that he is primed for the No. 1 position in the batting order.

The look of shock on his face after the umpire gave him out was justified.

The ball pitched six inches outside the leg-stump. India can keep opposing technology, but the fact is that technology is here to stay. You can keep avoiding it, but if the rest of the world is okay with it, India will have to follow suit.

Had there been technology, KP would have been saved, and maybe, India would have got a few more decisions their way too.

TCM
(Ian Botham is former england captain and cricket commentator)

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