Ian Bell believes that England bowler Tim Bresnan deserved to be given the man of the match award after the thrilling tie against India.
India batsman Sachin Tendulkar chalked up his fifth World Cup century with a fantastic innings of 120 before Andrew Strauss bettered that with 158 as England equalled their opponents’ score of 338.
But Bresnan’s figures of 5-48, including three wickets in four deliveries during the 49th over, were crucial to restricting India at the end of their innings in Bangalore.
Bell thinks that the seamer’s performance on a pitch that heavily favoured run-scoring should have given him the nod over skipper Strauss.
“The wickets have been very hard to bowl on,” said Bell, who shared a third wicket stand of 170 with Strauss.
“It is difficult to have a go at any bowler who goes the distance on those kinds of wickets.
Outstanding
“To have a guy who gets 5-48 in 10 overs for me is the outstanding performance – not someone who scores at six an over or more.
“His was the performance of the day on that kind of surface. It was an incredible effort.”
England were without Stuart Broad for the contest after the star bowler was struck down with illness and Bresnan stepped up to lead the attack in his absence.
Bell added: “We were without Broadie, who has probably been our leading one-day bowler for a period of time now. It is a good sign for us that we still did so well.”
Zaheer Khan also earned the praise of Bell after the India paceman removed the Warwickshire batsman for 69 before his yorker with the old ball trapped Strauss lbw.
“I think Zaheer Khan has to take a lot of the credit. If there is a guy on 150 not out and he can’t get a bat on that, it’s a fantastic delivery,” he said.
