Sehwag was dropped on the very first delivery of the match by Swann and he opened his account with boundary on the first ball. Sehwag continued to live dangerously while Sachin was rock solid at the other end. Sehwag departed with score reading 46 in the 8th over. He scored quick fired 35 of 26 deliveries (6 fours). Sachin was at his vintage best as he made England bowlers look helpless. He took on Swann, smashing 3 sixes off him, 2 of which came in consecutive deliveries. Tendulkar paced his innings well, starting cautiously and cutting loose once he got his eye in. He scored his 47th One Day hundred off 103 balls, with a boundary off Bresnan. He was supported well by Gambhir (51 of 61, 5 fours) and Yuvraj (58 of 50, 9 fours). Sachin's magnificent innings finally came to an end when the Master Blaster was dismissed on 120(115 deliveries, 10 fours, 5 sixes). Skipper Dhoni chipped in with useful 31 of just 20 balls (3 fours and a six). India, however, collapsed in the death overs, losing 5 wickets in last 4 overs. India was bowled out for 338 in 49.5 overs. Bresnan got a 5 wicket haul, while Anderson was smashed all over the park, conceding 91 runs in 9.5 overs.
England gave a fitting reply with openers adding 68 in just 9.3 overs. It was then that Munaf Patel took an absolute blinder to get rid of the dangerous Kevin Pieterson. However, no Indian bowler looked in rhythm as Strauss kept on picking boundaries easily, almost every over. Jonathan Trott was dismissed cheaply and India felt they were in when England were at 111-2. Ian Bell, who came out at no. 4 was lucky to be given not out by the third umpire when he decided to review the decision of on-field umpire of him being judged LBW. The ball was seen clipping his stumps quite clearly in the television replays. This error caused India the match as he went on to score match defining 69(71 balls, 4 fours and 1 six) and also built crucial 170 run partnership with his captain Andrew Strauss. England looked like they would run away with match, being comfortably placed at 281-2. Then suddenly things began to change drastically. Strauss opted for batting powerplay in the 43rd over. Dhoni turned to his most experienced pacer in this hopeless situation. This paid huge dividends as Zaheer picked up Bell and Strauss on consecutive deliveries. Strauss was out on 158. In no time, England crumbled to 289-6. Runs suddenly dried up and they could score only 25 in the 2nd batting poweplay. England now hoped for a miracle to win as they needed 31 from the last 2 overs, and miracle did come in the penultimate over as Piyush Chawla was hit for two sixes in his last over. Piysuh did manage to remove Bresnan on the last ball of his spell. England now required 14 off the last over, with two tail enders, Swann and Shahzad in the middle. Munaf bowled an ordinary over being hit for a six straight over his head on the third delivery by Shahzad, and England needed just 5 runs off 3 balls. Shahzad managed to take a single of the next ball and Swann took doubles off next two deliveries. England needed two from last deliveries, but Swann could take only a single and match ended tied between two well deserving teams.
For More detail click here
No comments:
Post a Comment