India restore some pride

Saurav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh starred as India won the 3rd game in the Natwest Challenge.

The Indian skipper scored a fine 90 as his top order collapsed around him in the face of some fine bowling from Steve Harmison.

The Durham paceman took a career-best 4-22 from his 10 overs as India struggled to score the expected runs on what looked a good track, and in fact only 3 of their players made it into double figures as a combination of tight bowling and poor decision making saw wickets fall at regular intervals.

The key stand came between Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, as they added 93 for the 4th wicket, but the run rate was always relatively slow, and when Harmison got Ganguly caught on the boundary, there were only just over 13 overs to go, and although Yuvraj Singh helped the score to 170-4 in the 41st over, a superb fightback spearheaded by Darren Gough's 200th One Day International wicket saw the visitors collapse to be dismissed for 204 with 3 balls unbowled.

England had gone into the game without Andrew Flintoff, who was on paternity duty, and his 10 overs were filled in by Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood with rather less success than Flintoff would likely have had. The 52 runs that they conceded adding quite a boost to an otherwise disappointing Indian total.

That said, even if the total had been 20 runs less, the start England made to their reply all but removed any victory chance. Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan both picked up 2 early wickets as they collapsed to 29-4 in the 9th over, and when Collingwood was stupidly run out and Geraint Jones superbly caught by Virender Sehwag, England were 62-6 with the 2 Indian spinners in control and no real batting to come.

Amidst all the carnage, it was Vaughan unbeaten at the other end and with his need for runs in this form of the game, and a willing partner in Ashley Giles, the pair rebuilt the innings, although the captain was fortunate to be dropped by debutant Dinesh Karthik off Anil Kumble.

In all the pair batted for 24 overs as Giles almost doubled his previous best in this form of the game and Vaughan made his 8th half century. The equation was down to 51 needed from 7 overs when the need for quicker runs saw the downfall of both men in the same Singh over, Giles spooning a return catch from the first ball to end a stand of 92, and Vaughan being stumped off the last ball.

In between, Singh only conceded a single, so suddenly the match was gone, and although Alex Wharf and Darren Gough both smashed sixes, the wickets fell and Nehra returned to bowl Gough with 10 balls left and England still 23 runs short.

INDIA 204
(Ganguly 90, Dravid 52, Harmison 4-22)
ENGLAND 181
(Vaughan 74, Giles 39, Nehra 3-26, Singh 3-28)

Posted by Marc