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India made to
work hard by England in chasing a paltry 125 |
October 15, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
 A
packed house at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium has
been treated to an India win which was followed
with stunning fireworks in the sky. India have
started their Champions Trophy campaign with a
four-wicket win over England. Although they had
to chase just 125, they lost six wickets in the
29.3 overs they took to reach the target.
England bowlers fought well during the last
stages of the match to make the Indians work
extremely hard to earn their runs. Overall India
would be happy with the day’s work out and it
definitely wasn’t the best pitch where the
batsmen could feast on the bowling, so a
four-wicket win should be satisfying enough.
It was a good decision early on from Rahul
Dravid to put England to bat first. The Indian
side was packed with five specialist bowlers
which included three medium pacers and two
spinners. The idea was to get the spinners to
make full use of the dry wicket with a dry ball
as they would struggle to grip what would become
a wet ball under lights because of the dew.
England were happy to bat first according to
Flintoff had they won the toss. A new opening
combination was put up by England with middle
order specialist Ian Bell coming in with Andrew
Strauss. A bad lbw decision from Daryl Harper
saw England lose its first wicket with Ian Bell
getting dismissed as early in the 4th over with
Munaf Patel being the lucky bowler as the ball
might have gone over the stumps. Irfan Pathan
looked to be a different bowler adding up half
yard of pace or more and most importantly
getting the ball to move in both directions. His
confidence went sky high as he rapped Andrew
Flintoff leg before the wicket with his
trademark inswinger. Freddie who was playing as
a pure batsman in this game was out for a duck
having lasted just 7 balls.
England struggled all the way through as the
ball was keeping low and the danger of the
batsmen getting out lbw looked inevitable. Munaf
and Pathan took a wicket each again that of
Michael Yardy and Andrew Strauss and England now
were in tatters at 27 for 4 in the 13th over.
Yardy was out shuffling way too across and
getting himself out lbw to Munaf whereas Strauss
was induced in playing a cover drive to an away
going delivery from Pathan that bounced higher
than anticipated. Pietersen was one man who
could have launched a counter attack on the
Indians so that it lays a platform for England
to get to atleast 200. Pietersen did look good
in patches along with his partner Collingwood
but soon his patience gave away and he got out
driving Munaf Patel recklessly. Pietersen scored
27 which had come in 39 balls with four
boundaries. Finally England got a partnership
rolling as Collingwood and Dalrymple played with
their heads down and respecting the good balls.
India were using spin at both ends at this stage
through Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar. The
sixth wicket stand was broken in the 31st over
with Powar finding an inside edge off
Collingwood’s defensive push with his turn and
bounce that popped up to Dhoni down the legside.
Collingwood by then had scored 38 in 54 balls
with five boundaries.
The partnership between Collingwood and
Dalrymple (24) was 49 runs worth and that
happened to be the highest one in the English
innings. Harbhajan Singh and Ramesh Powar both
with their bowling and their fielding didn’t
waste much time in rapping up the innings.
Harbhajan had taken a difficult catch running to
his left and then backwards to complete a catch
just before the boundary ropes to help Powar
dismiss Sajid Mahmood. Ramesh Powar was smart in
getting a hand to Harmison’s straight drive
deliberately to deflect it back to the stumps at
the non striker’s end to run out Anderson.
Ramesh Powar was taken for just 24 in his 8
overs which saw him take 3 wickets. The other
off spinner Harbhajan Singh was slightly quicker
in the air and had the doosra along with his off
breaks and was scored for 27 in his 8. Harbhajan
got the wicket of Chris Read, the wicket keeper
batsman who had gone for an almighty slog. The
damage for India was done in the first 20 overs
itself with Munaf Patel picking up three and
Irfan Pathan taking two. Munaf had figures of 3
for 18 in his 8 and Pathan had 2 for 20 in 8.
Agarkar was the other bowler used who was scored
off well by Pietersen.
India’s chase had to be in two parts as England
got all out in just 37 overs leaving about 45
minutes of batting before the dinner break.
Harmison who opened the bowling with Anderson
started off with a shocking delivery down the
legs that pitched almost onto the adjacent pitch
resulting in five wides. Sehwag then got a
couple of loose deliveries which he dispatched
to the boundary but fell playing an erratic shot
to an erratic delivery from Harmison to be
caught at first slip by Strauss. Harmison
finished his first over conceding 20 runs.
Tendulkar was joined by Irfan Pathan who again
found himself at no.3 and the going for both
batsmen was easy with the bowlers not really
controlling the white ball well enough. Harmison
was taken off the attack after bowling just two
overs and was replaced with Sajid Mahmood who
got things to slow down along with Anderson.
Both bowlers were quick to have the batsmen
playing with some caution. India went to the
dinner break at 55 for 1 after 8 overs.
After the break, Anderson gave the breakthrough
with Pathan not able to clear Pietersen’s head
at covers after making 19 from 34 balls with 4
boundaries. Skipper Dravid, the next man in
couldn’t last long as he was caught in the slips
off Anderson after playing away from his body.
India who were still looking to finish the match
off soon were shocked by the wicket of Tendulkar
who was lbw to Harmison after getting an
unplayable delivery that kept low. Tendulkar had
good stay in the middle though having scored 35
from 41 balls with 5 fours. Jamie Dalrymple who
was introduced into the bowling got the ball to
turn sharply and he delayed the inevitable
Indian win by removing Dhoni and Suresh Raina in
space of two deliveries. India finally got to
the target with Harbhajan Singh hitting the
winning boundary off Sajid Mahmood through a
stylish flick shot in the 30th over. Yuvraj
Singh was the not out batsman along with who
made 27 from 61 balls with four sweetly timed
boundaries. Jamie Dalrymple for sure will
remember his figures of 2 for 5 in 4 overs
against India for a long time.
The Man of the Match award went to Munaf Patel
who was all about line and length today. The
Indians now take a long break of 11 days before
they play their next game which is against West
Indies at Ahmedabad. England’s next match is
against arch rivals Australia on the 21st.
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