CRICKET WORLD CUP:INDIA AND England rarely disappoint when they come head-to-head in One-Day Internationals, and that was yet again the case at a chaotic Chinnaswamy Stadium last night as the two sides tied their big Group B clash in the most dramatic of circumstances.
In the end Graeme Swann pushed the last delivery of the game from Munaf Patel to mid-off to tie the scores at 338, just the fourth time in a World Cup it has occurred.
The last was Ireland’s tie with Zimbabwe in Kingston during the 2007 staging.
But amazingly in a game of close on 700 runs, you could point to one run, or rather one short in this instance, as making a huge difference.
Despite making 338, India’s innings fell apart somewhat in the latter stages after Sachin Tendulkar’s marvellous innings of 120, and their last wicket fell when Zaheer Khan was run out off the penultimate ball.
Khan was running back for a second when Tim Bresnan and Matt Prior ran him out, but eagle-eyed umpire Marais Erasmus had spotted that Patel had not touched his bat behind the line in the mad scramble for the first and thus India’s score was pared back by one to 338.
Nobody could have envisaged at that moment that it would have made all the difference by the end of the night, but that’s exactly what happened as the World Cup came to life in thrilling fashion.
If they didn’t before, the Ireland squad, who were watching from their hotel, will know they face two seriously tough encounters in the next week, starting with England at the same ground on Wednesday.
With both sides picking up a point for last night’s tie and their next games both coming against Phil Simmons’ side (India play Ireland next Sunday in Bangalore), it offers England the chance to take a dominant position in Group B.
We’ll leave that for another day, shall we, to reflect on a day when the vast majority of the 38,000 packed inside the stadium had come to pay homage to their cricketing god, Sachin Tendulkar.
And their prayers were answered as the Little Master didn’t disappoint, scoring a wonderful century to lead his side to their huge target of 338.
It was his 47th in a one-day international and brings his total in international cricket to an amazing 98.
Yet for long stages of England’s reply it looked all in vain as Andrew Strauss’ side seemed set to rewrite the record books by chasing down the largest total in World Cup history.
The captain led the charge with an innings every bit as impressive as Tendulkar’s, and while he was at the wicket England looked well capable of a stunning victory.
With the Bangalore crowd now as quiet as church mice, it looked for all the world that Strauss and Ian Bell would lead England home on the back of a third-wicket partnership that was already worth over 150.
That was until the batting powerplay was called.
But rather than help England’s cause, it proved a terrible hindrance as Zaheer Khan returned to change the face of the match in a thrice.
Suffering from cramp, Bell was first to perish, taking a needless heave off the left-arm paceman, with Virat Kohli keeping his nerve under a skyer at mid-off.
Strauss had crossed while the ball was coming down and Khan ripped the game right back in India’s favour with a supreme yorker that struck the England captain on his boot in front of middle stump. Umpire Billy Bowden’s crooked finger sent Strauss on his way after a career-best 158.
Khan then made it three wickets in six balls in his next over, with a slower ball bowling Paul Collingwood to reduce England to 285 for five.
Their cause looked lost, but big sixes from Swann and Tim Bresnan in the penultimate over, bowled by leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, and another maximum from Ajmal Shahzad off the third ball of Patel’s last put them back in the mix.
But, needing five from the last three balls, Shahzad and Swann managed only four.
One short, the story of an epic encounter.
Bangalore Scoreboard
INDIA INNINGS
V Sehwag c Prior b Bresnan 35
S Tendulkar c Yardy b Anderson 120
G Gambhir b Swann 51
Yuvraj Singh c Bell b Yardy 58
M Dhoni c sub (Wright) b Bresnan 31
Y Pathan c Swann b Bresnan 14
V Kohli b Bresnan 8
Harbhajan Singh lbw b Bresnan 0
Z Khan run out (Prior/Strauss) 4
P Chawla run out (Anderson) 2
M Patel not out 0
Extras(lb-3 w-7 nb-5) 15
Total(all out; 49.5 overs) 338
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-180, 3-236, 4-305, 5-305, 6-327, 7-327, 8-328, 9-338, 10-338.
Bowling: Anderson 9.5-0-91-1 (1nb 1w), Shahzad 8-0-53-0 (2w), Bresnan 10-1-48-5, Swann 9-1-59-1 (2w), Collingwood 3-0-20-0, Yardy 10-0-64-1 (2w).
ENGLAND INNINGS
A Strauss lbw b Khan 158
K Pietersen c and b Patel 31
J Trott lbw b Chawla 16
I Bell c Kohli b Khan 69
P Collingwood b Khan 1
M Prior c sub (Raina) b H’jan Singh 4
M Yardy c Sehwag b Patel 13
T Bresnan b Chawla 14
G Swann not out 15
A Shahzad not out 6
Extras(b-1 lb-7 w-3) 11
Total(for eight wickets; 50 overs) 338
Did not bat: J Anderson.
Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-111, 3-281, 4-281, 5-285, 6-289, 7-307, 8-325.
Bowling: Khan 10-0-64-3 (1w), Patel 10-0-70-2 (1w), Chawla 10-0-71-2 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 10-0-58-1, Yuvraj Singh 7-0-46-1, Pathan 3-0-21-0.
