September 06, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 23, 1428

LONDON, Sept 5: India beat England by two wickets in a thrilling finish to win the sixth One-day International at the Oval here on Wednesday and so level the seven-match series 3-3.

England’s total of 316-6, built around Owais Shah’s unbeaten 107 and capped by 30 off the final over from Dimitri Mascarenhas, had seemed commanding, but India’s reply got off to a superb start.

Sachin Tendulkar, who batted brilliantly, and Saurav Ganguly added 150 for the first wicket, setting up an enthralling finish.

Ganguly went for 53, slapping Stuart Broad to Kevin Pietersen at cover, and England were given hope as Paul Collingwood pulled off a superb catch to remove Tendulkar – who was hampered by a leg injury in the latter stages of his innings – for 94 as he drove uppishly at Monty Panesar.

That hope was enhanced when Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid fell cheaply.

Gautam Gambhir followed for 47, but Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Robin Uthappa tipped the balance back towards India.

Dhoni was bowled by Broad off the final ball of the 48th over to leave India needing 23 from the final 12 balls.

That became 10 off the final over after Ajit Agarkar was run out off the final ball of the 49th. Zaheer Khan was run out without facing a ball, but amid the chaos, Uthappa, who made an unbeaten 47, saw India home with two balls to spare.

Shah’s century, which took just 91 balls, was his first in One-day International cricket.

Pietersen chipped in with his first half-century of the series, while Luke Wright blasted a highly impressive 50 off 38 balls on his debut.

Mascarenhas then hammered five sixes from the final over. Only two men, Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi, have ever scored more off a single over in ODIs.

England had seemed in trouble at 137-5 when Pietersen became the second of three run-outs in the innings.

The first, that of captain Collingwood, was highly controversial as he seemed to have been given not out before a replay on the big-screen persuaded umpire Peter Hartley to refer the decision to the third umpire.

That could have demoralised England, but Shah, shaping and manufacturing shots cleverly, was superb in an innings that lasted just 95 balls and included 10 fours and two sixes, even if he was fortunate to survive a caught behind appeal off Ramesh Powar when on 40.

Wright too batted without fear on his debut. He took eight balls to get off the mark, but when he did it was with a deft cut, and he followed it immediately by slog-sweeping Yuvraj for six, continuing in similar vein for the rest of the innings.

His aggression though was made to look pedestrian by Mascarenhas’s extraordinary late blitz.

Even that, though, was not enough.

The final game of the series comes at Lord’s on Saturday.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

A.N. Cook c Dhoni b Zaheer 0

M.J. Prior lbw b Agarkar 6

I.R. Bell b Chawla 49

K.P. Pietersen run out 53

P.D. Collingwood run out 1

O.A. Shah not out 107

L.J. Wright run out 50

A.D. Mascarenhas not out 36

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-7, W-6) 14

TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 316

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-20, 3-79, 4-83, 5-137, 6-243.

DID NOT BAT: S.C.J. Broad, J.M. Anderson, M.S. Panesar.

BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 10-0-43-1 (1w); Agarkar 8-0-63-1; Ganguly 7-0-43-0 (1w); Piyush Chawla 10-1-44-1; Powar 9-0-44-0; Yuvraj Singh 5-0-59-0 (4w); Tendulkar 1-0-12-0.

INDIA:

S.C. Ganguly c Pietersen b Broad 53

S.R. Tendulkar c Collingwood b Panesar 94

G. Gambhir c Panesar b Mascarenhas 47

Yuvraj Singh c and b Mascarenhas 18

R. Dravid c Collingwood b Shah 4

M.S. Dhoni b Broad 35

R.V. Uthappa not out 47

A.B. Agarkar run out 1

Zaheer Khan run out 0

R.R. Powar not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-9, W-9) 18

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 49.4 overs) 317

FALL OF WKTS: 1-150, 2-156, 3-209, 4-216, 5-234, 6-294, 7-307, 8-309.

DID NOT BAT: Piyush Chawla.

BOWLING: Broad 9.4-1-46-2; Anderson 8-0-79-0 (1w); Mascarenhas 10-0-55-2 (2w); Collingwood 8-0-54-0; Panesar 10-0-55-1; Shah 4-0-19-1 (2w).

UMPIRES: P.J. Hartley (England) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan).

TV UMPIRE: I.J. Gould (England).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sachin Tendulkar.—AFP