Buoyed by first One-Day International win, India continued its fabulous form in the second ODI as well by leaving England 54 runs short of the victory and leading the series 2-0.
India part-timers had put England in trouble that included Virender Sehwag clinching last three wickets of the day in the form of tailenders Samit Patel(20), Steve Harminson(6) and Stuart Broad (22).
Earlier, Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh added on to the England's woes by removing Paul Collingwood in the 2nd ODI.On the other end, part-time bolwer Yuvraj Singh proved out to be dangerous as he clinched the crucial wickets of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff(43) and Kevin Pietersen(33).
The stylish all-rounder dismissed Owais Shah and Matt Prior in his successive overs.Chasing 293 runs to win, Owais Shah slammed 7th ODI fifty, his maiden against India, before he fell as Yuvraj's first victim.
Yuvi pitched it on the off-stump and Shah was hit on his pads in the line of middle and leg. The Punjab all-rounder tossed one on the off-stump. It turned sharply and took an inside edge of Prior's bat before hitting the stumps. Prior made 38 and added 96 runs with Shah for the second wicket.England lost Ian Bell in the first over as Suresh Raina caught him napping between the wickets.
Bell punched one from Zaheer Khan towards mid-off and ran for a single. Raina quickly collected the ball and dived to aim the stumps at the non-striker's end. Earlier, Yuvraj, the Rajkot demolisher, continued with his sublime form and slammed his consecutive ton of the series to take India's score to 292 runs at the loss of nine wickets against England in Indore.
After the his flamboyant show in Rajkot, Yuvraj was more composed and showed a lot of character as the pitch was not exactly a batting paradise. But his romance with the English attack continued as slammed 10th ODI hundred, his 3rd against the opponents with the help of fifteen 4s and two 6s. In the process, he also completed 1000 ODI runs against England.
Yuvraj joined Gambhir after Rohit Sharma's dismissal when India had just 29 runs on the board. He combined with the opener to steer India out of trouble. The two southpaws added more than 134 runs for the fourth wicket.
Gambhir slammed 13th fifty, his 3rd against England and completed 1000 ODI runs in this calendar year. England skipper Kevin Pietersen struck with his off-spin and broke the partnership between the two as he dismissed Gambhir for 70 runs.After Gambhir, MS Dhoni joined Yuvraj in the middle and added 43 runs for the fifth wicket.
Soon after Yuvi completed his century, Dhoni perished for 15 runs. Paul Collingwood dismissed Dhoni with his off-cutter as the Indian tried to cut that to the third man but the ball came in and knocked off the bails.
Yuvraj soon followed his captain as Stuart Broad got him caught behind. Broad pitched on outside the off-stump and Yuvraj played it with a horizontal bat, only to see the ball kissing his bat before landing in Matt Prior's gloves.
After Yuvraj's dismissal, Yusuf Pathan took it forward. He got his maiden ODI fifty as his birthday gift. Yusuf made a quickfire50 off 29 balls. He hammered Steve Harmison in the 50th over and scored 17 runs off it.
He hit two 4s and four 6s in his innings.Earlier, Broad's early morning spurt left India breathless. Indian skipper Dhoni won the toss but Sehwag failed to capitalize on it and was dismissed in the second over for just 1 run. Broad pitched it on the off stump. The ball didn't bounce as expected and took an inside edge of the bat before crashing into the stumps. In his next over, Broad foxed Raina with an off-cutter. He pitched it on the middle and leg.
Raina (4) chipped it towards the square leg with a closed bat and Samit Patel took it easily. Comeback man Rohit Sharma was his next victim. Broad surprised him with a short delivery. Sharma (3) tried to hook it put the ball took the top edge of his bat and Owais Shah took a simple catch at backward square leg.
No comments:
Post a Comment