Sachin Tendulkar returned in style to the Headingley ground where he was Yorkshire’s first overseas player as he set up India’s 38-run win against England under the Duckworth/Lewis method in the fifth one-day international on Sunday.
India’s victory reduced England’s lead in the seven-match series to 3-2.
Tendulkar (71) and Sourav Ganguly (59) shared a rapid first-wicket partnership of 116 in 118 balls to lay the base for a total of 324-6. Yuvraj Singh followed up with 72, including two sixes and 10 fours, in a match India had to win to keep the series alive.
Gautam Gambhir, in for left-arm pace bowler Rudra Pratap Singh as India strengthened their batting, made 51 after being dropped twice and helped Yuvraj add 94 for the third wicket.
England, ultimately chasing a revised target of 311 in 45 overs after a rain break, lost three wickets for seven runs in 13 balls as they collapsed from 97-1 to 104-4.
When rain finally stopped play, England were 242-8 off 39 overs with captain Paul Collingwood 91 not out and James Anderson unbeaten on one.
Man-of-the-match Ganguly also proved a thorn in England’s side with his medium-pace bowling, taking 2-26 in seven overs.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s six dismissals equalled the record for a wicket-keeper in a one-day international, achieved on seven previous occasions.
Fast bowler Stuart Broad, man-of-the-match in England’s three-wicket win at Old Trafford on Thursday, where he compiled career-best figures with bat and ball, conceded 84 runs in 10 overs and was later dismissed for one.
”I thought we batted beautifully,” said India captain Rahul Dravid.
”It was a good all-round batting performance and a great start again from Sachin and Sourav.
”It’s nice to go to London with a chance to win the series,” he added ahead of next week’s matches at the Oval and Lord’s.”
Collingwood, who won the toss and fielded, added: ”When an opposition gets 320-odd you are always going to question it. It was overcast but the ball didn’t do as much as I thought it would.”
He added: ”But give a lot of credit to Tendulkar and Ganguly, it was hard to stop them.”
Ravi Bopara dislocated his right thumb and sustained a minor fracture after dropping Gambhir off his own bowling.
England had started the game without his fellow all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, out with a recurrence of his left ankle injury and Bopara’s setback left them with a fresh worry ahead of their departure next Sunday for the inaugural World Twenty20 championships in South Africa.
”They are going to be assessed in the next couple of days and hopefully they are not as bad as what they might seem.
”Freddie is coming to training on Tuesday, as is Ravi, but the medical staff will assess them over the next couple of days and make a decision.”
By the time star batsman Kevin Pietersen fell for nought, caught by Dhoni off fast bowler Zaheer Khan, England were in trouble.
Ian Bell, who made 44, then saw an edged cut well caught by Dhoni, standing up, off Ganguly.
England, at 145 -5, saw Bopara come in as scheduled at number seven despite his injury.
Collingwood defiantly hit Tendulkar for two sixes in as many balls on his way to a 41-ball fifty.
Bopara though, who scored 43 not out at Old Trafford, was caught and bowled by Powar for 11.
India cut loose in the sixth over with Tendulkar striking four fours in five balls off Flintoff’s replacement, Jon Lewis, before he was dropped by Prior on 33.
Tendulkar, still without a Test or ODI hundred this tour, was caught behind, driving, by wicket-keeper Prior — standing-up — off Lewis to end a 59-ball innings featuring 13 fours.
Ganguly completed his fifty before being caught off spinner Monty Panesar’s fifth ball by Cook on the mid-wicket boundary.
Gambhir was dropped on by 19 by Pietersen in the covers and reprieved again on 40 by Bopara.
Yuvraj exited when he lofted Collingwood to Anderson at long-on.
The series continues at the Oval on Wednesday. — AFP
