The Hindu : Sport : Yuvraj powers India to a huge total

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 20, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

Yuvraj powers India to a huge total

Nandita Sridhar

The left-hander clobbers six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad

England two down
England was 101 for two after eleven overs, with Darren Maddy (29) and Vikram Solanki (43) back in the dug-out. Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood are at the crease.

BLAZING KNOCK: With India in a must-win situation, Yuvraj Singh chose his moment perfectly. He became the first batsman in Twenty20 history to belt six sixes in a single over, the 19th of the innings from England's medium-pacer Stuart Broad. In the process, he also scored the fastest 50 in Twenty20 history to take India to 218 for four. - PHOTO: AFP

Durban: There is perverse humour in being clobbered for six sixes in an over. Stuart Broad had gone past anger, despair, disbelief and wryness, as Yuvraj Singh cleared the ropes six times out of six, in the 19th over of the Indian innings against England in the crucial Twenty20 super-eight match on Wednesday. He even managed the fastest fifty in any form of the game, scoring his 50 off 12 balls.

The left-hander struck the sixes across all parts of the ground. There was a flick off the legs, a thwack over extra-cover, a full-toss despatched over backward point and one that was packed off to the food stalls outside the stands. The crowds went berserk.

India had gotten off to a great start thanks to Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, with the duo putting on 136 for the first wicket. Sehwag had a slice of luck when Collingwood came in to bowl, and was dropped by Dimitri Mascarenhas after the latter’s futile run behind the ’keeper.

Quiet beginning

The Indian innings began with quiet dignity. No dirty slogs or madcap scoops. But the burst of activity that began sometime after the fifth over proved extremely productive for India.

Sehwag’s sixes over third man were a delight and so was the manoeuvred one over backward point while Gambhir’s slogs and slashes were the most fruitful.

“We wanted to see off the first five overs and then build the innings,” said Sehwag during the innings break.

Sehwag’s move to the off-stump to a Tremlett delivery proved costly, as the stumps went crashing. Gambhir continued improvising with his shots-making, but played one scoop-to-fine-leg too many and found Broad off Maddy. Robin Uthappa was embarrassingly, bowled.

But it was too little too late for England, as the openers had already done the damage.

India had replaced Ajit Agarkar and Dinesh Karthik with Rohit Sharma and Joginder Sharma.

scoreboard

India: G. Gambhir c Broad b Maddy 58, V. Sehwag b Tremlett 68, R. Uthappa b Tremlett 6, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 10, Yuvraj Singh c Collingwood b Flintoff 58, I. Pathan (not out) 0, Extras (lb-7, w-10, nb-1) 18; Total (for four in 20 overs) 218.

Fall of wickets: 1-136, 2-144, 3-155, 4-216.

England bowling: Anderson 4-0-25-0, Broad 4-0-60-0, Flintoff 4-0-33-1, Mascarenhas 1-0-15-0, Tremlett 4-0-45-2, Collingwood 1-0-13-0, Maddy 2-0-20-1.

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