LIVE SCORE

November 14, 2008

Yuvraj Singh took out all his frustrations on the English attack at a small Madhavrao Scindia Ground in Rajkot. The left hander belted 16 fours and a half dozen sixes in his ninth ODI hundred which was instrumental in India rocketing to a massive total of 387. It was the second fastest century ever from an Indian and the Englishmen just surrendered to the onslaught from the Prince. England as a result of that crashed to a morale-shattering loss of 158 runs in this first of the 7 ODIs. It was not one man’s brilliance that had done in England; it was infact an all-round dominance from most of the Indian players that set up this dominating victory. Overall, it was a spectacular day for the paying public in the stadium and also millions of viewers as 22 sixes were smacked by both sides!

Toss : Kevin Pietersen had won what was looked upon as a crucial toss as both teams were looking to bowl first on a wicket that would have some juice considering the 9 o’clock start. On paper, India looked like a powerful side in both batting and bowling while the English four-men pace attack was expected to pose problems with the new ball. They had the depth in their batting, but the side has been known to be consistently inconsistent in One Day Cricket over the years.

Indian batsmen create havoc to bat England out of contest

The early half an hour was supposed to be crucial against the new ball. A bit of conservative approach was to be expected from the openers but the pair of Gambhir and Sehwag had other ideas. Gambhir, in particular looked at total ease and batted as if he hasn’t missed any game recently, although he was out of cricket for a week or so. It was the left hander who imposed himself on the English bowlers while Sehwag was happy to take the back seat but yet scoring at a brisk pace. England’s new ball pair of Anderson and Broad didn’t find any movement and often strayed on the pads to give away free runs. Kevin Pietersen had to bring on his two experienced seamers – Harmison and Flintoff, who could bring in some normalcy in play with their extra bounce and movement. But it was just matter of time before Gambhir and Sehwag got the better of them to continue their assault.

England’s lone spinner Samit Patel got an early bowl as well and he was put under pressure straightaway. In the 20th over though, it was the left arm spinner who could bring some joy for his team as Gautam Gambhir lofted him straight to long on. Gambhir by then was batting freely with an 8-four studded 51 from 63 balls in an opening stand of 127. The same bowler would go onto take the wicket of the other opener as well in the 24th over when Ian Bell took a splendid low diving catch at mid wicket to foil Sehwag’s attempt to get a 10th ODI century. Sehwag scored 85 from 73 balls with 10 fours and three hits out of the ground. Those two wickets however had little impact on a batting side that was sending one after another clean striker in the middle. Now it was the pair of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh looking to carry the innings forward. Both batsmen kept the momentum going with calculated big shots and by the time Yuvraj got into his 30s, he was struck with a back problem all of a sudden. Yuvraj struggled with his back from that stage and continued batting with a brace around his waist and soon got the luxury of Gambhir running in for him. The left handed pair of Raina and Yuvraj took the third powerplay during the 35th over and complete freedom was there to unleash their lethal strokeplay. The tactics of the Indians were clear, it looked as if they wanted to get a boundary very early in an over and thus sustain the pressure on the bowler while giving due respect to some good bowling from Flintoff and Harmison.

The carnage from the two left handers was brought to an end when Suresh Raina squeezed a wide full toss from Flintoff straight to the point fielder. Raina by then had scintillated in his 43 which came in 44 balls with 3 sixes. His strokeplay was breathtaking and often asks the question whether he is going to be one of the great players in the future? Raina’s shots were as good and perhaps a lot more magical then some of the left handers who have played the game. The only Indian batsmen who had to fail was the rookie Yusuf Pathan, who was sent in during the third powerplay but unfortunately got hurried up by a short ball from Harmison. Yusuf departed for a two-ball duck but certainly has the potential to become a devastating batsman at the international level as well. Meanwhile Yuvraj was keen on converting his knock into a big one and along with MS Dhoni took the team to the slogs. Yuvraj narrowly missed Azhar’s record of the fastest century by an Indian by just the two balls. Yuvraj could just beat Suresh Raina’s 66-ball century against Hong Kong by two deliveries. India finished the innings at 387 for 5 with Yuvraj unconquered with 138 from 78 balls while MS Dhoni, who had put on 105 with him for the 5th wicket made a quick fire 39 from 32 with 3 fours and a six. Andrew Flintoff was probably the best bowler with figures of 10-0-67-1.

English batsmen just have no answer to the 387

The English innings never got going at all and the batsmen gave in without any fight. Zaheer Khan took three wickets with the new ball to reduce England to a hopeless 38 for 4 by the 11th over. One of his three wickets included that of Freddie Flintoff, who was unlucky to be given out lbw to a delivery that pitched outside the leg stump. Zaheer’s partner Munaf Patel complemented him very well at the other end to suffocate the English batsmen totally. Paul Collingwood, the no.6 tried to do some repair job with his skipper Kevin Pietersen but that lasted only for a while before he edged RP Singh. Pietersen was the only batsmen who was looking at par and stroking the ball freely. He was now joined by a talented batsman in Samit Patel and once spin was introduced, both right handers took some liberty to free their arms. Harbhajan Singh though put an end to a small English party by having Samit Patel (28 from 28 with 2 sixes) stranded out of his crease with a doosra in the 27th over. Six balls later, Kevin Pietersen was run out because of a bad call from Ravi Bopara and that was an end to a fighting knock of 63 from 56 balls (from 7 fours and 2 sixes) from the Engish Skipper.

England were bowled out in the 38th over itself to a respectable 229 thanks to Bopara’s unbeaten knock of 54 from 38 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes. The four frontline bowlers for India did a tidy job and all the six bowlers used by MS Dhoni chipped in with the wickets. The Man of the Match had to be only Yuvraj Singh. The teams now move onto Indore for another day contest which is on the 17th.