Yuvraj shines in India's 158- run win over England

Despite some fighting knocks from skipper Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara, England fell short by 158 runs as India won the first One-Day International of the seven-match series in Rajkot.
After posting a mammoth total of 387 runs with the help Yuvraj Singh's unbeaten 138 runs and Virender Sehwag's flamboyant 85 runs, India bundled England for 229 runs at the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium.

Put in to bat first, Indian batsmen made merry after seeing through the first few overs. England's nemesis Yuvraj toyed with the bowlers to raise ninth ODI hundred, his second against the visitors.

Yuvraj, who was suffering from a back spasm, dealt the bowlers in boundaries, and hit sixteen 4s and six 6s in his 78-ball long outing. Everything that he hit found itself outside the boundaries. He was instrumental in two key partnerships. He added 89 runs with Suresh Raina for the third wicket and 105 runs with skipper MS Dhoni for the fifth wicket. He walked away with the 'Man of the match' award.

Indian openers- Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir - gave a good start to before spinner Samit Patel broke their 127-run partnership. Gambhir came dancing down the track to loft one from Patel. It lacked the distance as he was caught at long-off by Shah for 51 runs.

Sehwag, who bombarded England with boundaries, fell as Patel's second victim. He steered one from Patel but a vigilant Bell at mid-wicket threw himself to his right and took a beauty to see the tormentor back in the hut.

Sehwag made 85 runs in 73 balls with the help of ten 4s and three 6s. Sehwag slammed two consecutive sixes off Paul Collingwood and raised 30th ODI fifty, his third against the tourists. Gambhir, on the other hand, got his eighth half-century in 59 balls with the eight fours. Not that his innings was any less aggressive but it was definitely more subdued as compared to his partner.

Raina missed out on his fifty as Paul Collingwood take a sensational catch off Andrew Flintoff at backward point. Yusuf Pathan, who replaced him in the middle, could not contribute to the scoreboard. He was caught at midwicket by Ian Bell off Steve Harmison for a naught. Harmison later picked Dhoni as his second wicket. He cleaned up his middle stump with a full delivery straight in line for 39 runs.

Backed by a huge score, pacers struck straightaway. Munaf gave the first breakthrough when he dismissed opener Matt Prior for 4 runs. Prior edged one from Munaf and Sehwag took a sharp catch at first slip.

New man Shah was Sehwag's next catch. He edged a fuller delivery from Zaheer and Sehwag dived to his left to take it successfully. Ian Bell was Zaheer's next victim. Zaheer teased him with a short and wide delivery and Bell edged it, only to taken by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni for 25 runs. Few balls later, 'Freddie' Flintoff was caught plumb in front and Zaheer picked his third wicket.

After warming the bench for long, medium-pacer RP Singh struck to remove Paul Collingwood for 19 runs. RP pitched a delivery outside the stump that angled in. Collingwood edged it behind and Dhoni dived to his left to take a low catch. With Collingwood, half the English side was back in hut.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also contributed as he removed Samit Patel (28) with his 'doosra'. The ball pitched outside the off-stump and straightened. Keeper Dhoni made no mistake and stumped Patel for 28 runs.

Kevin Pietersen, who slammed a fifty, was caught short of the crease for 63 runs. A throw from Rohit Sharma was collected by Dhoni and bails were dislodged long before KP could make it. After his dismissal, it was just a matter of time. Though, Ravi Bopara (54*) showed some character down the order and slammed his 3rd ODI fifty, his partners could provide him enough support.

Last two batsmen Steve Harmison and James Anderson fell without any contribution.
India and England play their second ODI at Indore on Monday, i.e. November 17.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel.

England: Kevin Pietersen (Captain), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Andrew Flintoff, Samit Patel, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison.
Umpires: Russel Tiffin and Suresh Shastri.

Anbu.

Sachin's ton take India to 311/5 at stumps

Genius batsman Sachin Tendulkar's steady century took India to 311 runs for the loss of five wickets at the close of first day's play in Nagpur.Unstoppable Tendulkar, riding on his luck, slammed 40th hundred of his Test career.

He got two lives when he was dropped by Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee off debutant Jason Krejza. He made most of the opportunities and got to the three-digit mark. With this ton, he has 82 international centuries (40 in Tests, 42 in ODIs) to his name. This was also his 10th Test hundred against Australia. Johnson, however, made up for the fielding lapse as he caught him plumb for 109 runs.

Tendulkar came to the crease after Dravid went without scoring and India were tottering at 99 for 2. He along with VVS Laxman added 146 runs for the fourth wicket and steadied the innings. He also added 41 runs with Sourav Ganguly (27*), who is playing his last Test, for the fifth wicket.

Australian off-spinner Krejza made an impressive Test debut as he picked three crucial Indian wickets. After dismissing Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag in the first session, he removed VVS Laxman for 64 runs. Laxman, who became eighth Indian cricketer to play 100 Tests, slammed 37th Test fifty before Haddin caught him behind the wicket.Dravid's dry run continued as he was done in by the extra bounce.

Krejza pitched it just outside the off-stump, the ball came back in and Dravid punched it to Simon Katich at short leg for a zilch.Sehwag, raised 16th Test fifty, his 6th against the world champions, in no time. He hit nine 4s and one 6 to make 66 runs before Krejza struck again. The ball turned in from outside the off-stump and clipped the bails before taking an inside edge of Sehwag's bat.

Earlier after electing to bat, Indian openers Sehwag and M. Vijay exploited the conditions well and added 98 runs for the first wicket when the latter nicked a short delivery from Shane Watson and was caught behind for 33 runs.MS Dhoni-led India are leading the series 1-0. A win will clinch them the series, while a draw would mean that Australia retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the third consecutive time.
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Anbu.