Team India's official carrier
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a weakness-- bikes.
The Indian wicketkeeper has doubled up as a driver for Indian players, who have won man of the match awards in both the matches.
Confusing? The man of the match award during this series also includes a brand new motorcycle.
Harbhajan Singh won the man of the match award in the first match in New Delhi, and on Friday it was Raina. And both times, Dhoni took them on a ride around the ground on the brand new motorbike.
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Another experiment?
As Indian captain Rahul Dravid said in the press conference on the eve of the second ODI on Thursday, one of his main challenges was to try and give a few more overs to Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Virender Sehwag.
The obvious intention of the team management is to develop more players who can contribute both with the bat and the ball.
But what he actually did in the match was quite bizarre.
He asked Delhi left-hander Gautam Gambhir to roll his arm over ahead of Raina. The latter is a more regular bowler on the domestic circuit.
Gambhir has not yet bowled in his short international career of 13 Tests and 15 ODIs.
Moreover, Dravid came up with the ploy at a crucial juncture of the match: England were precariously placed at 151 for 4 after 37 overs.
The 24-year-old, who bowls leg breaks, started with a wide and a no ball, and was called off the attack after just a single over. Considering his experience with the ball, Gambhir was lucky to concede only 13 runs.
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The family Press box
The press box at the Nahar Singh stadium in Haryana was referred to as a 'family press box'.
The media was taken over by non-journalists and some reporters didn't find a place to sit as children and people with non-media passes watched the match in full glory.
It was only the previous day that authorities were refusing to issue media passes to outstation journalists on the pretext that they had limited number of seats in the press box.
It was only after the matter was brought to the notice of BCCI media committee member G S Walia that some action was taken and non-journalists were asked to leave.
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The Marillier effect
Suresh Raina's innings today had something in common with Zimbabwe's Douglas Marillier.
In 2002, Marillier smashed 56 from 24 balls at this very venue to lead Zimbabwe to an improbable victory over India. One notable thing about the innings was the 'peculiar' shot that he tried successfully, which left the Indian bowlers befuddled.
Marillier scored boundaries regularly with a fine chip between the wicketkeeper and the fine leg, something that Raina also used to good effect against the England bowlers.
Did Raina go through the archives at the Nahar Singh stadium?
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