The Hindu : Sport : India slumps to another defeat scoreboard

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Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
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India slumps to another defeat scoreboard

S. Dinakar

Ian Bell lays a solid foundation for England’s emphatic win

Birmingham: The Indians mismanaged the chase at Egdbaston on Monday. The 42-run defeat, pursuing an achievable 282 on a surface that continued to favour batsmen, reflected the wrong shots played at the wrong time.

The visitors were well-placed at 140 for two in 29.4 overs, with two set senior batsmen, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, at the crease.

Chris Tremlett forced Dravid to play on with an off-cutter at this juncture — the turning point.

Early blitzkrieg

Sourav Ganguly’s early blitzkrieg suggested the chase was on. The left-hander was all grace and timing as he straight drove, off-drove and square-drove James Anderson for successive boundaries. He continued to bat nonchalantly, drilling holes in the ring.

Tendulkar (8) pulled Anderson for a rounsing boundary, but moments later, played away from his body to be held at point off the same bowler. England had struck the first blow.

The move to promote Karthik to No. 3 was as much about his success in the top-order in Tests as having another left-right combination in the middle. Karthik, however, wasted the opportunity, playing Stuart Broad loosely square off the wicket.

Ganguly and skipper Rahul Dravid, who has regained his touch, added 104 for the third wicket in 115 balls. Dravid (56, 61b, 7x4, 1x6) drove majestically, flicked with panache and found the gaps to outscore Ganguly during this association.

Tremlett was pounded at Bristol and was fortunate to get a game here after the English team-management decided not to risk Andrew Flinoff and Dimitri Mascarenhas hurt his hand during the morning practise.

Here, his spell of 6-0-37-2 turned the match on its head. Apart from consuming Dravid, the lanky paceman forced Ganguly (72, 104b, 9x4, 1x6) to nick a rising delivery leaving the left-hander for the much-maligned ’keeper Mathew Prior to hold a brilliant catch.

The left-handed Yuvraj Singh (45, 39b, 4x4, 1x6) played some blistering shots but M.S. Dhoni cut James Anderson, who bowled with verve in his second spell, to be held square off the wicket.

There was little sting in the Indian tail. To make matters worse, Yuvraj was run out when Zaheer Khan refuced a quick run; even if the single was not possible, Zaheer should have sacrificed his wicket. The England fielding and catching was exemplary.

Collingwood managed the overs well, and picked up two wickets himself with variations of length and pace.

His counterpart Dravid was right in opting to field — apart from the prospect of some early life in the pitch there was more than a partial cloud cover — but the Indian pacemen pitched too short on occasions. This was reflected in the number of pull shots essayed by Alistair Cook and Matthew Prior.

But then, with the pitch not offering appreciable seam movememt, both Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh needed to pitch the ball up to achieve swing in the rather heavy atmosphere. Both, strove for movement off the surface instead.

Munaf was below par on Monday, bowling at a reduced pace due a lack of rhythm. He prised out Mathew Prior (34) when the opener attempted to hit against the line, but Dravid did not have the confidence to give Munaf another burst after his first five costly overs.

Good show by spinners

Once again, it was the spinners who bowled magnificently. A look at the Power Play overs, taken in succession by Dravid, makes interesting reading. The first block of ten yielded England 48 runs, the second, 34 runs, and the third only 16.

Significantly, Powar and Chawla, with only two men outside the circle, bowled three of the last five Power Play overs. Powar picked up a wicket - he snared Cook (40, 57b, 4x4) on the sweep - for two runs in two of these overs and Chawla conceded five runs in the 20th over. The spinners responded to the challenge. Chawla lured and consumed Kevin Pietersen with a delivery of flight, dip and deception; Dhoni whipped off the bails after the batsman charged out and missed.

The budding leg-spinner has heart and craft and does not suffer from stage fright. He is flighting the ball, getting his leg-spinners to turn more. And this has increased the efficiancy of his googly and top-spinner. He operated at the death and held his nerve. Powar is a smart bowler. He denyed the batsmen width and room.

England was off to solid start with the first wicket raising 76 runs in 13.4 overs, the highest partnership of the innings, with Cook driving pleasingly through the off-side and stroking off his legs. Then No. 3, Ian Bell donned the anchoring role.

Bell (79, 89b, 2x4, 2x6) displayed deft touch and sure footwork, rotating the strike better than he did at Bristol. He was later declared the Man of the Match.

Skipper Paul Collingwood (44,53b, 2x4, 1x6), extremely fortunate to survive a leg-before shout by Yuvraj Singh, played some firm shots, including lofted blows, before being picked up in the deep off Powar.

There were wickets for the hard-working R.P. Singh towards the end, but England gathered 81 runs from the last ten overs.

The Indian ground-fielding showed some improvement, however, catches were put down again. R.P. Singh floored the simplest of catches at fine-leg off Cook’s blade, and Dhoni muffed a stumping with Owais Shah yards out of the crease.

England: A. Cook c Yuvraj b Powar 40, M. Prior c Chawla b Munaf 34, I. Bell c Karthik b R.P. Singh 79, K. Pietersen st. Dhoni b Chawla 9, P. Collingwood c sub b Powar 44, O. Shah b Yuvraj 19, R. Bopara c Dravid b R.P. Singh 10, S. Broa d c Yuvraj b R.P. Singh 10, C. Tremlett (not out) 19, J. Anderson (not out) 0; Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-5, w-6) 17; Total (for eight wkts. in 50 overs) 281.

Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Prior), 2-92 (Cook), 3-118 (Pietersen), 4-193 (Collingwood), 5-226 (Shah), 6-246 (Bopara), 7-255 (Bell), 8-273 (Broad).

India bowling: Zaheer 10-0-49-0, R.P. Singh 9-0-55-3, Munaf 5-0-37-1, Powar 10-0-45-2, Chawla 9-0-50-1, Yuvraj 7-0-39-1.

India: S. Ganguly c Prior b Tremlett 72, S. Tendulkar c Collingwood b Anderson 8, D. Karthik c Cook b Broad 0, R. Dravid b Tremlett 56, Yuvraj (run out) 45, M.S. Dhoni c Collingwood b Anderson 13, R. Powar c Bell b Collingwood 5, P. Ch awla c Bell b Collingwood 1, Zaheer b Panesar 11, R.P. Singh (not out) 12, M. Patel b Anderson 1; Extras: (lb-10, w-3, nb-2) 13; Total: 239 (in 48.1 overs).

Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-36, 3-140, 4-149, 5-190, 6-210, 7-213, 8-214, 9-234.

England bowling: Broad 9-1-34-1, Anderson 9.1-3-32-3, Tremlett 8-0-57-2, Panesar 10-0-49-1, Collingwood 10-0-45-2, Bopara 2-0-12-0.

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