The Hindu : Sport : India canters home

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2006

Sport

Sport

India canters home

S. Ram Mahesh

— Photo: S. Subramanium

TOE CRUSHERS: Munaf Patel gave Matthew Hoggard a taste of his own medicine, cleaning him up with an in-swinging yorker.

Mohali: The end came amid gathering gloom much like the start of this freaky second Test. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid knocked off the kind of target that has, in the past, turned India jelly-kneed. The pursuit of 144 required two decent-sized, calming partnerships, and the home side's top three responded admirably to wrap things up before tea on the final day and go up 1-0 in the three-match series.

Anil Kumble's three wickets late on Sunday evening after India's tail yanked a crucial 38-run lead had set the match up — a match that saw just 65 overs in the first two days. Skipper Andrew Flintoff — the side's best batsman, bowler and fielder — and Geraint Jones — the side's iffy keeper — resumed on Monday, 74 ahead.

Early dismissal

The pair has a history of sticking around when needed, and when Jones feasted on a Munaf loosener first ball, the tourists would have contemplated getting enough runs to buy precious time. But the speedster made the fifth ball of the day climb unpleasantly on Jones, who played on. The early dismissal got the crowd involved, and the macabre tattoo it conjured up added to the pressure.

Munaf, who by now was reverse swinging it at considerable pace, produced two beauties — both contenders for the toe crushers' hall of fame. The first stuck a hapless Liam Plunkett in front, the second (86 mph) roved in on Matthew Hoggard's dancing toes, which it partook of before heading for timber. And, in a blink England was 139 for eight — swerve at velocity more than spin rattling the Englishmen, as Munaf finished his first spell of eight overs for three wickets.

Nettlesome partnership

But as it so often happens, a nettlesome lower-order partnership took shape. The hulking figures of Flintoff and Harmison denied the Indians for over an hour — the sloppily dressed Harmison even pulled out the reverse sweep and the squeeze to third-man. Another hour of this would have frustrated the Indians no end, and more importantly chipped away at match time.

M.S. Dhoni did his side a favour by catching Harmison short of his crease as he splayed over a sweep off Kumble. Then cricket showed it moves in mysterious ways: Piyush Chawla who received a bit of tap from Pietersen and Flintoff in the first innings, went round the wicket to snaffle the England captain for his first Test wicket. Fellow debutant Munaf ran loose-limbed from fine-leg to hold the mistimed sweep.

The Indian openers walked out with about half-an-hour to lunch — Sehwag vigorously rotating his arms around his shoulders as if trying to unhinge them, and Jaffer considerably more sedate beside him. Sehwag's been in what pundits and physicists term a trough. His last eight innings dating back to the Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka in December have realised 316 runs — 254 of which came in one stint.

The last time he had played here, he hadn't exercised due diligence in the second innings against Pakistan — typically squandering a `not out' in a dead situation after making a marvellous hundred in the first. Monday saw a very different Sehwag. His record in second innings isn't great (an average of 22 before this) and it was crucial for him to get a streak started.

Diffident bat

The Najafgarh resident hung a diffident bat outside off-stump at times — the nervy fencing of batsman in desperate need of runs. His partner, Jaffer, made the early running, bending his regal mien into two straight drives before standing tall on his back foot and leveraging a drive through the covers. He was caught adjacent when Hoggard produced one that hinted in, but Dravid striding in at three was game over.

Sehwag (76 not out, 149m, 89b, 9x4, 1x6) showed signs of a return to form when he manipulated a full Panesar delivery to the third-man boundary off a horizontal bat. He took to Paul Collingwood, conking him straight to now-deafening cheers. India eased home on an excellent cricket wicket even as it began to rain 400 yards away.

SCOREBOARD

England — 1st innings: 300

India — 1st innings: 338

England — 2nd innings: A. Strauss c Dhoni b Kumble 13, A. Cook c Dhoni b Munaf 2, I. Bell c Dhoni b Kumble 57, K. Pietersen c Dravid b Harbhajan 4, P. Collingwood c Dravid b Kumble 14, A. Flintoff c Munaf b Chawla 51, G. Jones b Munaf 5, L. Plunkett lbw b Munaf 1, M. Hoggard b Munaf 4, S. Harmison st Dhoni b Kumble 13, M. Panesar (not out) 0; Extras: (lb-10, nb-6, w-1) 17; Total: (in 76.1 overs) 181.

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Cook), 2-50 (Strauss), 3-55 (Pietersen), 4-88 (Collingwood), 5-109 (Bell), 6-116 (Jones), 7-124 (Plunkett), 8-139 (Hoggard), 9-181 (Harmison).

India bowling: Pathan 6-1-16-0, Munaf 13-4-25-4, Harbhajan 23-5-52-1, Kumble 29-6-70-4, Chawla 5.1-2-8-1.

India — 2nd innings: W. Jaffer lbw b Hoggard 17, V. Sehwag (not out) 76, R. Dravid (not out) 42; Extras: (b-4, lb-5) 9; Total (for one wicket in 33 overs) 144.

Fall of wicket: 1-39 (Jaffer).

England bowling: Harmison 4-1-10-0, Hoggard 8-2-24-1, Panesar 11-0-48-0, Flintoff 5-0-11-0, Plunkett 2-0-22-0, Collingwood 3-1-20-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail