The Hindu : Front Page : India scores a 1-0 Test series triumph

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Tuesday, Aug 14, 2007
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Front Page

India scores a 1-0 Test series triumph

Special Correspondent

- PHOTO: AFP

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Some members of a happy Indian team walk back to the pavilion after Rahul Dravid's side achieved a 1-0 Test series triumph against England at The Oval on Monday. Team Manager Chandu Borde (right) is all set to greet the players. Chasing 500 for a win, England finished at 369 for six.

Chennai: India achieved a 1-0 Test series triumph with the third Test at The Oval ending in a draw on Monday. Needing 444 runs on the final day for an improbable victory, England finished at 369 for six.

Kevin Pietersen, who notched up his second hundred of the series, made an impressive 101 (159b, 18x4) marked by exemplary balance and decisive stroke-play. It was his 10th Test hundred. Ian Bell scored a timely 62-ball 67.

For India, paceman Santhakumaran Sreesanth claimed three wickets, and leg-spinner Anil Kumble, two.

Kumble was adjudged the Man of the Match. Pacemen Zaheer Khan and James Anderson were named the Players of the Series.

The Rahul Dravid-led Indian team escaped defeat in the first Test at Lord’s by the proverbial whisker and won the second, at Nottingham, by seven wickets.

This is India’s third Test series victory in the Old Blighty. Ajit Wadekar’s team defeated England 1-0 in a three-Test series in 1971, with leg-spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar producing a series-clinching second innings effort of six for 38 in the final match at The Oval.

In 1986, India scored a comprehensive 2-0 victory over England in a three-Test series.

Dilip Vengsarkar came up with match-winning hundreds in the first and second Tests at Lord’s and Leeds, where there was considerable assistance for the pacemen.

The Indian pace attack, spearheaded by skipper Kapil Dev, struck telling blows. Kapil, Chetan Sharma, Roger Binny and Madan Lal were all among the wickets as England was outplayed.

India’s last tour of England, in 2002, saw the Test series being drawn 1-1.