Harbhajan Singh celebrated his comeback with a superb all-round show to guide India to a 39-run victory over England in the first one-dayer in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The offspinner, who missed a one-day series in Pakistan last month due to a finger injury, finished with 5-31 as India defended their modest total of 203 by dismissing England for 164.
England were comfortably placed at 117-3 before losing their last seven wickets for 47 to go 1-0 down in the seven-match series.
Harbhajan was also India’s batting hero, top-scoring with a gutsy 37 on a bowler-friendly pitch. He eventually upstaged England seamer Kabir Ali, who took 4-45 for his maiden international four-wicket haul.
Left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan did the early damage when he had Andrew Strauss caught behind with an outswinger and then trapped Owais Shah leg before with one that came in sharply in a dramatic opening over.
Pathan ended the innings with the wicket of Liam Plunkett.
Part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh also chipped in two wickets, including that of Kevin Pietersen.
”It’s nice to be back among the wickets. I was confident of taking wickets on this pitch which was low and slow in the afternoon,” said Harbhajan, who managed just eight wickets in three recent Tests against the tourists.
England’s chances receded sharply when Ashes heroes Pietersen (46) and Andrew Flintoff (41) fell in quick succession.
The pair threatened to take the game away from India with their aggressive knocks before Yuvraj got the crucial breakthrough. Pietersen was caught on the mid-wicket boundary while attempting a big shot.
England captain Flintoff was trapped leg before by Harbhajan in the next over after hitting two sixes and four boundaries in his 37-ball innnings.
”We were not confident of defending such a total but strange things can happen. We had a chance when we got Pietersen and Flintoff. Harbhajan bowled well after a good first over from Pathan,” said captain Rahul Dravid.
England, who squared a three-Test series 1-1 without their key players, were earlier well-served by inexperienced seamers Ali and Plunkett who shared six wickets.
Ali grabbed his first two wickets in successive overs and the last two off consecutive balls.
Plunkett claimed the prize scalp when he bowled Dravid (34) to finish with 2-42. Seamer James Anderson took 2-41 and left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell 1-24 off 10 economical overs.
”Our bowlers did a great job and we expected to chase the target as we were in a good position at one stage. But there are still six matches to go,” said Flintoff.
Flintoff’s decision to put India in to bat after winning the toss produced instant results as his seamers rocked the hosts with early wickets on a lively track.
It was a combination of tight bowling and poor shot-selection that put India in trouble as five batsmen — Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj, Mahendra Dhoni and Pathan — fell playing one stroke too many.
Suresh Raina (24) and Pathan (28) put on 58 for the sixth wicket and Dhoni and Harbhajan 55 for the eighth, but India still failed to bat their full quota of 50 overs. — Sapa-AFP