Monday, April 17, 2006

India deliver knock-out punch in style

Indore, Apr 15: Indore: India discovered a new opening option in Robin Uthappa who slammed a scintillating 86 on his debut as the hosts hit the final nail on England's coffin to wrap up the 7-match one-day series with an emphatic 5-1 margin here on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Karnataka opener showed no signs of nerves in his 96-ball effort to not only help India record a comfortable 7-wicket victory in the last match but also put enormous pressure on a woefully out-of-form Virender Sehwag.

Chasing a stiff target of 289, the home team had the game in control right through the chase as they surpassed the total with five balls to spare through useful contributions from Rahul Dravid (69), Yuvraj Singh (63 not out) and Suresh Raina (53) on a good batting strip at the Maharani Usharaje Stadium.

Young Kerala speedster S Sreesanth was India's bowling hero with career-best figures of 6/55 which was largely responsible for restricting the tourists under the 300-run mark.

The hosts, who opted to rest their struggling duo of Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif for the match, put up a clinical display to ensure that the beleaguered Englishmen left the country with their morale and reputation in tatters.

The Indians also continued their stupendous run of 16 consecutive wins while chasing, having broken the West Indies world record of 14 wins in the fourth ODI in Kochi.

Put in to bat, England raised hopes of yet another face-saving win by scoring 288 built around a blistering 56-ball 64 by the in-form Kevin Pietersen while Paul Collingwood (64) and Geraint Jones (53) were the other notable performers.

But a solid start, which had been evading India throughout the series, by Uthappa and Dravid ensured there were no jitters for the home team.

The new opening pair unleashed delightful strokes in their stand of 166 runs to enthrall the strong crowd of 25,000.

Uthappa, who virtually struggled at the domestic level this season barring a century in the Challenger series and a 70 in Baroda, hit 12 boundaries and one six to ensure the fans did not miss Sehwag even for a moment.

Uthappa, gained in confidence with each ball in the presence of Dravid but his inexperience showed in the way he was run out. He showed no urgency in scampering back home for the second run after driving Ian Blackwell to the long on, to gift away his wicket.

James Anderson, who saved a four there, threw the ball towards the wicketkeeper's end and Geraint Jones removed the bells with Uthappa failing to ground the bat.

Dravid, who looked composed in the middle, perished soon after as he was trapped leg before by Sajid Mehmood to leave India at 166 for 2, the hosts losing their openers on the same score of 166.

Yuvraj and Raina then steadied the innings with another entertaining 115-run partnership for the third wicket which sealed the fate of the visitors.

Raina was dismissed when just 8 runs were needed for the win, clean bowled by Kabir Ali. The Uttar Pradesh batsman hit two fours and one six in his 64-ball knock.

Yuvraj, declared the man of the series, remained not out and hit six fours in his 58-ball knock. The Punjab left-hander also crossed the milestone of scoring 4,000 runs in what was his 148th ODI appearance.

It was only apt that the winning runs were scored by Yuvraj, a delectable four off James Anderson, to bring the crowd on its feet.

Earlier, England relied on half centuries from Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones to make merry on benign pitch and could have taken the score beyond the 300-run mark but for a late burst from Sreesanth who was later named as the man of the match.

The hard-hitting Pietersen extended his rollicking form in the series, smashing 11 fours and a six in his 55-ball 64.

Collingwood was his usual solid self, making 64 from 84 balls with two fours and as many sixes while Jones provided the lower order thrust with a 50-ball 53 that contained seven fours and a six.

England, at 257 for four after the 45th over, were prevented from crossing the 300-mark by a flurry of wickets in the closing stages of the match.

The visitors were given a reasonably good start by their stand-in captain Andrew Strauss (25) and Ian Bell (32) who put on 43 runs for the opening stand inside the first 10 overs.

But two quick wickets, of Strauss and Matt Prior (2) pegged back the visitors somewhat.

The arrival of Pietersen to the crease, however, changed the complexion of the innings.

The South African-born player found the Indian seamers to his liking and repeatedly whipped them off his legs.

After putting on 63 runs for the third wicket with Bell, Pietersen added another 55 with Collingwood before falling while trying to slog sweep, as usual, with Uthappa taking the catch in the deep off Yuvraj Singh.

While Collingwood kept the scoreboard ticking, Jones picked up the scoring baton handed by Pietersen.

England were cruising at this stage and seemed set for a 300-plus total when the seamers returned to put the brakes.

Jones fell to a superb low catch behind by Dinesh Kaarthick off Sreesanth while Collingwood holed out to Rudra Pratap Singh off Irfan Pathan.

Kabir Ali then became Pathan's third victim before Sreesanth cleaned up the tail off the last two balls of the innings.

Earlier, England relied on half centuries from Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Geraint Jones to make merry on benign pitch and could have taken the score beyond the 300-run mark but for a late burst from Sreesanth who was later named as the man of the match.

The hard-hitting Pietersen extended his rollicking form in the series, smashing 11 fours and a six in his 55-ball 64.

Collingwood was his usual solid self, making 64 from 84 balls with two fours and as many sixes while Jones provided the lower order thrust with a 50-ball 53 that contained seven fours and a six.

England, at 257 for four after the 45th over, were prevented from crossing the 300-mark by a flurry of wickets in the closing stages of the match.

The visitors were given a reasonably good start by their stand-in captain Andrew Strauss (25) and Ian Bell (32) who put on 43 runs for the opening stand inside the first 10 overs.

But two quick wickets, of Strauss and Matt Prior (2) pegged back the visitors somewhat.

The arrival of Pietersen to the crease, however, changed the complexion of the innings.

The South African-born player found the Indian seamers to his liking and repeatedly whipped them off his legs.

After putting on 63 runs for the third wicket with Bell, Pietersen added another 55 with Collingwood before falling while trying to slog sweep, as usual, with Uthappa taking the catch in the deep off Yuvraj Singh.

While Collingwood kept the scoreboard ticking, Jones picked up the scoring baton handed by Pietersen.

England were cruising at this stage and seemed set for a 300-plus total when the seamers returned to put the brakes.

Jones fell to a superb low catch behind by Dinesh Kaarthick off Sreesanth while Collingwood holed out to Rudra Pratap Singh off Irfan Pathan.

Kabir Ali then became Pathan's third victim before Sreesanth cleaned up the tail off the last two balls of the innings.

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