Harbhajan spoils England party
Harbhajan Singh came good with both the bat and the ball to play the sheet-anchor role as India scripted an incredible 39-run victory against England in the first of the seven-match one-day series at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here today.
England, chasing India’s low score of 203, folded up for 164 runs in 38.1 overs after 170 minutes of batting to enable the hosts to go one-up in the one-day series. The turn-around came after Harbhajan’s magnificent second spell when he returned figures of 6-2-9-4 for an overall 10-2-31-5, which set India on course for victory.
Harbhajan was expectedly conferred the man of the match award which fetched him a gleaming 150cc TVS bike.
Despite the victory, captain Rahul Dravid admitted that “we did not play well”. “The 200 odd runs were made due to the contribution from the lower order. We definitely need to look into it”, he added.
But the prize-distribution function was marred by overcrowding at the arena which prompted former England captain David Gower at the mike to term it as “awful” in full view of the packed house. But such a jubilation was expected after India posted a dream win.
England skipper Andrew Flintoff seemed to have done the right thing in the morning when he asked India to bat after winning the toss. He made judicious use of the bowling resources at his command — five pacers and one spinner — to tie up the Indian batsmen in knots, and knock them out for 203 in 46.4 overs. The Indian total would not have reached the 200-run mark but for the cameo knock of 37 by Harbhajan Singh, which came off 46 balls in 49 minutes with three fours and one six.
The victory target of 204 at the rate of 4.1 runs per over looked very much reachable for England, despite suffering two numbing blows in the opening over when Irfan Pathan, bowling like a man possessed, sent back dangerous opener Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah within the space of three deliveries.
England were put back on the rail through a 50-run partnership between Matt Prior and Kevin Pietersen. Though three wickets fell in a heap for the addition of just three runs as the visitors slumped from 117 for three to 120 for six, England could still have pulled off a victory, but for Harbhajan’s destructive second spell.
Indian skipper Rahul Dravid brought back Harbhajan from the far end when Sreeshanth was caned for 16 runs — two sixes and one four — by Pietersen in the 19th over during his second spell. And the spinner struck deadly form to put England on the mat.
Though England skipper Andrew Flintoff said the “wicket did not have as much juice as I thought, though our bowlers did well” he conceded that Harbhajan’s batting and bowling made all the difference. “Harbhajan made the difference by scoring a valuable 30 plus runs,” noted Flintoff, and it indeed was the case after the top-order batsmen came unstuck.
Irfan Pathan’s searing initial spell, the vital break-throughs achieved by make-shift spinner Yuvraj Singh, the three brilliant catches cupped by Gautam Ghambhir at mid-wicket, and last but not the least, the bowling of Harbhajan, all contributed to the amazing Indian win.
An Indian victory looked a remote possibility following the inept batting display by the top order. Virender Sehwag was the first to go when he ballooned an Anderson delivery for Liam Plunkett to cup a catch at mid-wicket. Gautam
Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Mohd Kaif fell in the space of 12 runs as India tottered at 4 for 68. Rahul Dravid tried to keep the score-board moving after getting an early reprieve, when he was dropped at first slip by Owais Shah off Kabir Ali before the Indian skipper had opened his account. He kept one end going while wickets crashed at the other end though even Dravid could not anchor India to safety as he was clean bowled by Liam Plunkett for 34.
Eventually, it was due to Harbhajan’s rapid-fire knock that the hosts could do the spin trick on a slow track and make the visitors bite the dust.
See also England vs India, 2006.
