India wilted under sustained England pressure in the field as the touristssuccessfully defended a total of 250 in the second one-day international. Fromthe seemingly comfortable heights of 99 for two, the hosts subsided to 234 allout as England won by 16 runs to level the six-match series one-all. PaulCollingwood was made man of the match for his unbeaten 71, which was the highestscore of the day.
Sourav Ganguly again won the toss and asked England to bat in the hope ofextracting some morning moisture. In the event they began steadily, posting 75for the loss of both openers in the first 15 overs. Marcus Trescothick, the heroat Kolkata, took two boundaries before Ajit Agarkar made the first breakthrough.Trescothick was fractionally late on a pull, giving Dinesh Mongia time to runbehind the square leg umpire to take a straightforward catch.
Advertisement
Nasser Hussain joined Nick Knight, and well-judged running between the rightand left-handers kept the scoreboard ticking over. Hussain found the mid-wicketfence by pulling a marginally short ball from Agarkar. But it was the pull thatlost England their second wicket, as Knight hit Srinath straight to HarbhajanSingh at deep mid-wicket.
Hussain was missed on 36 as he edged Ganguly and Ajay Ratra couldn't hang onto a thickish edge behind the stumps. The England captain then swept Harbhajanbehind square to bring up the tourists' hundred, and Michael Vaughan caught themood next ball by pulling Ganguly handsomely over midwicket. After surviving aclose run-out decision, Hussain inexplicably lost patience against Ganguly,holing out to Agarkar at deep mid-on. Vaughan restored the momentum with ahandsome boundary through extra cover.
Advertisement
Vaughan went to his half century (59 balls, 4 fours), with a sweep off SachinTendulkar, and Collingwood used his feet to clip Anil Kumble wide of mid-on forhis second boundary. The 36th over went for ten runs, six of them coming off thefirst ball as Collingwood swung Tendulkar to square leg where Harbhajan, havingcaught the ball just inside the boundary, couldn't quite release it as hestepped back on to the rope.
Vaughan was then needlessly run out after miscuing a reverse sweep. As theball went towards square leg he hesitated when there should have been astraightforward single, and was left short of his ground at the bowler's end.Andy Flintoff followed for five, swinging across a full-length ball fromHarbhajan to lose his off stump. Kumble then bowled Ben Hollioake through thegate, leaving England on 192 for six and in danger of squandering their solidstart. Amid the adversity Collingwood was still able to reach his 50 in style,swinging Kumble over midwicket. Following up with a mid-wicket six off Agarkar,the Durham all-rounder went on to see England through to the 250 mark, assistedby Jeremy Snape and then James Foster.
India made a perfect start to the chase as Ganguly dispatched Darren Goughtwice to the backward point boundary in the first over. A flashing square driveoff Matthew Hoggard took Tendulkar off the mark in the second. It was a ball offuller length from Hoggard that made the breakthrough as Ganguly, with minimalfoot movement, edged a straightforward catch to Knight at second slip. But Indiakept up the momentum as Tendulkar took boundaries through midwicket off Hoggard,then through extra cover and back down the ground off Gough, who made way forFlintoff after four overs.
Hussain constantly shuffled his attack, with Snape coming on in the 19th overand England increasingly desperate for a breakthrough. It came fortuitously whenTendulkar was run out by a deflection, Hollioake getting a fingertip to a driveby Mongia which hit the stumps with Tendulkar, backing up, stranded yards out ofhis ground.
Advertisement
England broke through again when Laxman failed to make his ground as heattempted a single after Mongia had clipped the ball to Collingwood at backwardpoint. Virender Sehwag then failed to get on top of a pull, Knight taking agood, tumbling catch at short mid-wicket. At 121 for four India were wobbling.They had a let-off when Badani was missed by Foster, who was standing up toCollingwood and couldn't gather cleanly as Badani went down the track.
Foster soon redeemed himself by playing a key role in yet another run-out.Mongia, trying for a second to Matthew Hoggard at long leg, failed to ground hisbat as Foster took the return one-handed to break the wicket with milli-secondsto spare. Hollioake struck next, as Badani skied a slower ball to wide mid-on,where Flintoff jubilantly held the catch.
Advertisement
A double bowling change led to more England euphoria as Flintoff trappedRatra in front for 30 with the first ball of his new spell. Harbhajanimmediately swung the Lancastrian to the fence at long-on, but India descendedfurther into the mire as Snape trapped him lbw sweeping. Agarkar and Kumblebatted sensibly to keep flickering Indian hopes alive, but with four oversremaining and India's last two wickets still needing 30, Hussain turned toGough. The Yorkshireman did the trick for his skipper with his 150th wicket inone-day internationals; Kumble slogged at a slower ball and Collingwood didwonderfully well to take a running catch over his shoulder at mid-wicket.
Advertisement
Gough eventually finished it in the 49th over as Agarkar got a thin edge toFoster. England had triumphed amid the tension, and the series is still verymuch alive.
