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| March 29, 2006 | Wednesday | Safar 28, 1427 |
Harbhajan spins India to fine win
NEW DELHI, March 28: Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh captured a career-best five for 31 to spin India to a stunning 39-run victory over England in the first One-day International on Tuesday. The 25-year-old ripped through the batting to dismiss England for 164 after the home side had caved in against seam bowlers to be 203 all out at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
Harbhajan grabbed four for nine runs in his tantalising six-over second spell to dash England victory hopes in the opening match of the seven-game series.
The Punjab bowler also top-scored with 37 to rescue the India innings after seamer Kabir Ali’s career-best four for 45.
Kabir, 25, struck twice in three balls before claiming the last two wickets off successive deliveries after captain Andrew Flintoff chose to bowl first.
Indian seamer Irfan Pathan led the fightback to remove Andrew Strauss (0) and Owais Shah (4) in the first over.
Kevin Pietersen (46) and Flintoff (41) led the counter-attack with shots of brute force to add 60 runs for the fourth wicket off 48 balls.
However, Pietersen miscued a full toss from occasional left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh to midwicket to trigger a collapse and the last seven wickets tumbled for 47 runs.
Harbhajan trapped Flintoff leg before the next over to make it 117 for five after the batsman attempted a sweep.
Switching ends after conceding 22 runs in four overs, he also removed Geraint Jones (0), Ian Blackwell (10) and Paul Collingwood (8) in succession.
Harbhajan, whose previous best haul of 5-43 came against England in Mumbai four years ago, was named the Man-of-the-Match.
Gautam Gambhir took three sharp catches at mid-wicket while Mohammad Kaif took a stunning reflex catch at forward short-leg to remove Collingwood and dash England’s final hopes.
The tourists were on top after the Indian top order fell to a slew of rash shots against a sharp seam attack.
Paceman James Anderson struck in the third over when opener Virender Sehwag (7) casually pulled a rising ball to sky a catch to mid-wicket.
Dravid edged a drive against Kabir before scoring, but slip fielder Shah dropped the low catch to his left.
Although he went on to make 34, the bowlers tightened their grip as Kabir removed opener Gambhir (25) and Yuvraj (1) within three balls to reduce the innings to 80 for five.
Paceman Liam Plunkett beat Dravid with a delivery that nipped back sharply after pitching to bowl him off his pads.
However, Suresh Raina (24) and Pathan (28) added 58 runs for the sixth wicket before Harbhajan and Mahendra Dhoni (20) put on 55 more for the eighth.
The second game will be played in Faridabad on Friday.
Scoreboard
INDIA:
G. Gambhir c Jones b Kabir 25
V. Sehwag c Plunkett b Anderson 7
R. Dravid b Plunkett 34
Yuvraj Singh b Kabir 1
Mohammad Kaif run out 4
S.K. Raina c Collingwood b Blackwell 24
Irfan Pathan c Plunkett b Anderson 28
M.S. Dhoni c Collingwood b Plunkett 20
Harbhajan Singh c Flintoff b Kabir 37
R.P. Singh not out 2
S. Sreesanth c Pietersen b Kabir 0
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-15, NB-3) 21
TOTAL (all out, 46.4 overs) 203
FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-56, 3-58, 4-68, 5-80, 6-138, 7-146, 8-201, 9-203.
BOWLING: Anderson 10-1-41–2; Kabir Ali 8.4-1-45-4 (2w); Flintoff 8-0-31-0 (3nb, 1w); Plunkett 8-2-42-2 (2w); Collingwood 2-0-17-0 (2w); Blackwell 10-0-24-1 (2w).
ENGLAND:
A.J. Strauss c Dhoni b Pathan 0
M.J. Prior c Gambhir b Harbhajan 22
O.A. Shah lbw b Pathan 4
K.P. Pietersen c Gambhir b Yuvraj 46
A. Flintoff lbw b Harbhajan 41
P.D. Collingwood c Kaif b Harbhajan 8
G.O. Jones b Harbhajan 0
I.D. Blackwell c Gambhir b Harbhajan 10
L.E. Plunkett c Dhoni b Pathan 14
Kabir Ali lbw b Yuvraj 0
J.M. Anderson not out 12
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-1, NB-2) 7
TOTAL (all out, 38.1 overs) 164
FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-4, 3-57, 4-117, 5-117, 6-120, 7-137, 8-141, 9-142.
BOWLING: Irfan Pathan 7.1-1-21-3 (1w); Sreesanth 5-0-39-0; R.P. Singh 4-0-32-0; Harbhajan Singh 10-2-31-5; Yuvraj Singh 10-2-32-2 (2nb); Sehwag 2-0-5–0.
UMPIRES: A.V. Jayaprakash (India) and Asad Rauf (Pakistan).
TV UMPIRE: K. Hariharan (India).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Harbhajan Singh.
NEXT MATCH: At Faridabad on Friday.—Reuters
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