Story England's Road to Glory: v India - 1st Test: Gallant India Turned Over by Rampant Lions

[Amiya]

Mate never go with the reply. Just keep doing it. Soon you will be getting attraction.

 

[shefellover93]

Daily Telegraph Quiz
Which current Indian player has scored the highest test innings as Eden Gardens?

PS. Please don't use any sites to check this up, the point of it is that you use your knowledge, not your mouse

 

[Highlander999]

First thought is Sachin, but that is too obvious (I hope ) So for me it would be between Dravid and Sehwag. Pure guess, going with Sehwag

 

[bladescape]

For some reason,my intuition says Ganguly.
I hope it's right!:upray

 

[shefellover93]

First thought is Sachin, but that is too obvious (I hope ) So for me it would be between Dravid and Sehwag. Pure guess, going with Sehwag

For some reason,my intuition says Ganguly.
I hope it's right!:upray

Unfortunately it is neither but keep racking your brains to be in with a chance of winning 5,00 vcash!!

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Urm I'll go with VVS Laxman.

 

[shefellover93]

Urm I'll go with VVS Laxman.

Well done Dr. Pepper, you guessed correctly

It was Hyderabad native VVS Laxman who scored the grand total of 281 against Australia at the second biggest test ground in the world, taking 452 balls and 10 hours, 31 minutes. He hit 44 fours in the innings which is the 3rd highest innings by an Indian

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Yay!...I mean...err...sweet....

 

[shefellover93]

Honours Even After Day 1 At Kolkata

With Kevin Pietersen making his captaincy début, and with a dry pitch, sunny skies and humidity at its peak the toss was going to be crucial, when umpire Aleem Dar threw the coin up in the air, the South African batsman called heads, and heads it was. Pietersen having no option but to bat first.

As expected they got off to a flyer, with Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook settling in and getting the shine off the new ball. Alistair Cook had a very nervous moment in the 7th over when the ball hit off his gloves and looped over 1st and 2nd slip. Harbijhan Singh came in next over and dramatically slowed the run rate, but couldn’t break the partnership. It reached 50 in the 14th over, the two players looking very comfortable and Andrew Strauss very good in his first test since 2007.

The Kolkata Crowd were fired up



They pushed on further, and even the inclusion of leg spinner Sachin Tendulkar couldn’t dispose of the stubborn openers. Sreesanth bowled a marathon 13 over spell in searing heat, but couldn’t break the left hand right hand partnership, and when the bails came off for lunch the score was 81-0

Alistair Cook reached his half century three overs into the afternoon session with a sweetly timed 4, the milestone taking him 101 balls, and that also brought up the 100 partnership, England were looking on song. Andrew Strauss lost his wicket though in the 35th over in rather unfortunate circumstances, a slider from Sachin Tendulkar found Straus’ inside edge and trickled onto his leg stump.

In came Kevin Pietersen to play his first test innings as a captain and made a confident start, he knocked a loose Harbijan Singh ball to the vacant leg side boundary and was consistently going at a run a ball, Irfan Pathan came in to replace Singh in the 41st over and in the fast bowler’s second over of the spell he got smashed for 6 by Alistair Cook, the Essex opener’s second in test match cricket. The Partnership was worth 50 when 15 was scored in the 46th over, with 14 of that scored by Kevin Pietersen, adding to his impressive six tally. Next over Alistair Cook powered a four to the extra cover boundary to give himself his test century and this was one of the best in his career, in harsh conditions facing on of the best spin attacks in the world in a country that’s the best for spin in the world. The test specialist held his bat aloft to the ripple of applause and the sound of horns from the Kolkata crowd, taking him 142 balls.

Sreesanth and Tendulkar were brought in to shake up the attack but couldn’t prevent the second wicket partnership reaching 100 in the 52nd over, and Pietersen reached his 50 2 overs later, the new captain making the perfect start with 54 balls. Soon the bails were off for tea and England were sitting pretty on 238-1

India bit back hard in the final session of the day, and after a huge Cook 6 brought up the 150 partnership England looked in control of yet another session, but when Cook tried to repeat the trick with a slog sweep and was caught in the deep by Sachin Tendulkar off 139, it triggered a collapse in the evening session for England. Ian Bell lasted 19 balls and it 3 boundaries before he was Tendulkar’s second catch, this time at short leg from a badly timed block. Mark Ramprakash was next to go after 17, the Surrey veteran making 14 runs in his time at the crease, Kevin Pietersen was handed a massive slice of luck when a Pathan ball went straight through his gate and crashed onto his leg stump, but umpire Aleem Dar raised the arm to signify a no-ball, and the deflection from Pietersen’s stumps sent the ball away from Dhoni behind the stumps and down to the vacant fine leg area for four. Pathan got his revenge though when Matt Prior went for a duck after he edged a short of a length ball from the native through to Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the wicket-keepers first catch of the game and the bowler’s second wicket.

Harbhajan Singh appeals for lbw



It was international experience that shone through when Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen punched gloves in the centre, and that experience showed when the two friends, on and off the field, guided their country to the close of play, England losing 4 wicket in the final session to end a fascinating day’s cricket. England going into day 2 on 387-5.

Scorecards

 

[Dr. Pepper]

The collapse didn't help England and it basically levelled the playing field. KP has got off to a great start as captain. Tomorrow should be interesting as the game is in the balance to be honest.

 

[shefellover93]

England Ecstatic after Commanding Second Day
The Three Lions picked up where they left off when in the 88th over Kevin Pietersen fired a four to extra cover and made his way to a century on his test captaincy début, the ever entertaining batsman getting to his test hundred in 151 balls.

Kevin Pietersen played an excellent knock



Then, in the 93rd over Andrew Flintoff made it a pair of milestones when he reached his 50 in an astounding 38 balls with a sweetly timed four, the Preston native looking cool and collected in the middle.

England’s joy was short lived though as the 96th over saw two English wickets fall, first KP was dismissed when he was clean bowled by Munaf Patel trying to straight drive, gone for 112 off 168. Then Jamie Dalrymple tried to play a lag glance but could only find the hands of Harbhijan Singh at backward point, gone for a duck after two balls. That left England on 444-7 and more importantly, left the tail exposed. Matthew Hoggard went the next over when he was bowled by Irfan Pathan for 1 off 5, and the innings were wrapped up when Stephen Harmison and Panesar fell to the same fate in the 99th over, both for ducks, with Harmison out first ball and Panesar his second. England all out for 468.

Rahul Dravid can't bear to watch



That meant that India had 14 overs before lunch, in the second Virendar Sehwag smacked a four off the back foot and from there the hosts never stuttered, in a patient first period only four boundaries were hit, all fours and when the umpires took the bails off at lunch the score was 41-0, Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer unbeaten but England leading by a massive 427 runs.

Clearly the lunch break didn’t do India any favors as at the start of the 16th over Sehwag was caught by Andrew Strauss at first slip off the bowling of Matthew Hoggard for 12 off 42, India 42-1.
The sub-continent outfit whoever managed the weather the storm somewhat, Stephen Harmison kept the pressure on though as 7 overs after the wicket Jaffer took one right in the ribs, a purple blotch visible on the openers chest. He never managed to shake it off as Harmison got his man when Jaffer edged a pitch up ball through to Prior behind the stumps and the native was making the long walk back to the huge Eden Gardens stands, gone for 29 off 72. Rahul Dravid came in and went an over later off four balls when he was clean bowled trying to straight drive a ball that skidded on the dry Kolkata turf, he made a solitary run.

Matthew Hoggard was instrumental in the 2nd innings



The Indian collapse continued through to the 28th over when England took the huge wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, the little wizard mistimed an on drive and Jamie Dalrymple was in the right place at the right time to take the catch at mid-on. Pietersen then decided to change tack and give his seamers a break, bringing in Dalrymple, fresh off the catch, and Monty Panesar. After a shaky opening including a number of near misses and miss-timed shots Ganguly and V.V.S Laxmann found things relatively easy in the middle, and managed to keep the wicket count at four going into tea, India finishing the afternoon session on 112-4.

India needed to make a big push before the end of the second day but ended up all but diminishing their hopes for a result with some of the worst batting seen by the Indians in many a year.

Andrew Flintoff was having a joyous time



Sourav Ganguly was the first to go two overs into the evening session when he chipped an easy catch to all-rounder Jamie Dalrymple off the bowling of Monty Panesar, the key man’s 1st wicket of the tour. Ganguly gone for 26 off 56, Dalrymple didn’t have any luck with the ball however and was replaced by Andrew Flintoff in the 51st over, the next over saw Panesar’s second wicket when Kevin Pietersen once again led from the front, taking a spectacular diving catch off V.V.S Laxman, the veteran gone for 12 off 77.

In came Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the wicket-keeper batsman could only last 35 balls before he was clean bowled by Andrew Flintoff trying to smash Flintoff’s delivery into the stand at mid-off, he scored 26 before losing his head and India were at 169-7.

The home fans then lost whatever glimpse of hope they had when Irfan Pathan was also bowled, this time by Monty Panesar, the Sikh drifting a ball tantalizingly in the air, Pathan flashed his blade milliseconds too early and the ball turned onto the top of off-stump, a perfect delivery by a player in his prime, the Indian tail massively exposed. It didn’t take England long to wrap up the last two wickets they needed, Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel going in consecutive balls in the 63rd over, both bowled by Flintoff to leave India on 179, 289 runs behind England.

Predictably Kevin Pietersen forced India to follow on and try to claw their way back into the test

The 'Little Wizard' was out twice in the same day



This left India 6 overs to survive but they couldn’t even do that, Wasim Jaffer tried to drive a ball to the extra cover boundary 3 balls into the match but could only nick an edge for Matt Prior to take an excellent catch. Then England had their main man when in the 2nd over Sachin Tendulkar was clean bowled by Matthew Hoggard and a defeated and distraught India could only find solace in the shower after the game, they now must do it all again, needing 266 runs with 8 wickets remaining just to tie the game, really they just need to stop the leak of wickets for 3 days, which is an almost impossible task considering the lightning form of the English attack and the fact that they’ve already lost two major men in their attempt.

Day 3 of the test will be a non-event, England taking control on Day 2 after an evenly fought Day 1 and now all the hosts have to play for is pride.

Scorecards

 

[surendar]

It seems Indians have no answer for English pacemen here.. Very good performance from this England team is what I can say at the moment.

 

[shefellover93]

Gallant India turned over by Rampant Lions

With the unerring sun in the Kolkata sky India had the unenviable task of trying to scrape a result from this test match, needing 266 runs just to tie the game and having only 8 wickets in hand. With that in mind Rahul Dravid and Verinder Sehwag stepped into the middle of Eden Gardens knowing they had nothing to lose, everyone expecting a complete trouncing by England, and they set to work efficiently and effectively, England opening bowlers Stephen Harmison and Matthew Hoggard left very frustrated as the pair?s defnce was unyielding, in the 16th over of the innings the partnership reached 50 after Sehwag crashed a shot to the cover boundary. The pair looked in good knick, but England fought back, Stephen Harmison dismissing Dravid with a bullet outswinger. Sehwag hit back though, two balls later he smashed a loose Harmison delivery over the mid-off boundary and half way up the stadium, 98 metres the measured distance of the shot that took Sehwag onto his 16th test 50. India weren?t going to give up without a fight.

Andrew Flintoff was looking good in the nets


Sourav Ganguly was seeing stars in the blazing sun of Kolkata when a vicious Harmison bouncer cracked his helmet. That seemed to make a difference as the veteran started to show cracks in his armour, and finally was bowled by Stephen Harmison with a spectacular inswinging Yorker, sending Ganguly?s off stump flying. England on a high then followed that up with the crucial wicket of Verinder Sehwag, Andrew Flintoff bowled a full ball and sent Sehwag?s stumps cartwheeling in all directions after the top scorer tried to have the ball over long off. Sehwag sent back to the pavilion immediately after belting a six, gone for 69 off 85

In a surprise change Monty Panesar was brought in to finish the last over which went for 22, 3 maximum?s and a four ending the session on a good note for the Indians, going into lunch on 149-5, still trailing by 140 runs.


The lunch break certainly didn?t do India any favours as MS Dhoni had his innings cut short after 5 balls when he got bowled by Andrew Flintoff trying to hit the Preston all-rounder out of the park and into one of the 95,000 seats around the giant concrete bowl. The natives decided that the best form of defense was attack and blasted 3 sixes and 3 fours in the proceeding 2 overs before V.V.S Laxman was yet another Indian wicket to fall when a drifting ball from Panesar was mis-timed by the middle order batsman and Matthew Hoggard was in the right place at the right time to take the catch at mid-off, India on 185-7.

England were pleased after their work


Stephen Harmison came in to replace Andrew Flintoff in the 38th over and started off with a maiden. But Panesar was the dangerman, realy finding his groove after a tough start and he dismissed Harbhajan Singh when once again KP chipped in with an excellent catch to give Panesar his second, Singh gone for a duck, lasting only 3 balls. Sreesanth was more stubborn though, and 8 over of maidens and 1 runs built up the pressure on England, before Panesar caught and bowled Irfan Pathan on 22 off 46 and the very next ball Munaf Patel was caught by Andrew Strauss in the slips to give England an innings and 100 run win in their first match in the subcontinent tour. England captain Kevin Pietersen was given the Man of the Match award and a brand new Hero Honda bike for taking two excellent catches and scoring 112 runs, a key part in England?s win. England win the Allianz Test Series

Scorecards

 

[surendar]

May be the order of batting should change for India.. Tendulkar & Dravid got swapped is what i feel.. Dravid generally will stay long time and take the shine off the ball which indeed would have eased up the things for Master..

But eh.. No excuses for a class batsman(Sachin) right Anyways, Good job by England in winning the series. keep it up!