What promised to be a close match between England and India was terminated abruptly owing to bad light. The match was awarded to India by the Duckworth-Lewis method. Over to K. C. Vijaya Kumar.
Kevin Pietersen clutching a paper in hand and frantically pacing near mid-off was a recurring sight as the sun began its rapid descent at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. The third ODI of the seven-match series was on the boil as chasing England’s 240, India, at 177 for five in 36 overs, was either poised for the great leap or the slow fall.
The England captain was busy peering at the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) equation for rain-marred and bad-light-curtailed matches. He was lost between the hopes of snatching a victory since tormentor-in-chief Yuvraj Singh was back in the pavilion and that sinking feeling over an imminent loss as India seemed to be inching ahead of the D/L required rate. And as Indian captain M. S. Dhoni (29 not out) and Yusuf Pathan stayed calm and fired a few salvos, the ground beneath England was slipping fast.
In the end, after Yusuf struck two fours off Andrew Flintoff and Pietersen concluded his over, the light worsened. And as the umpires offered it to the batsmen both Dhoni and Yusuf walked away and the match was in the host’s pocket. India had scored 198 for five in 40 overs and was well ahead of the required score of 182 at that stage.
The 16-run victory helped India lead the seven-match series 3-0 and the post-match conference centred on the light and the lack of it. Pietersen said: “There was a bit of a disorder and it took a bit long but we have to go by the umpires’ verdict. We knew bad light was a possibility but then you have these half an hour breaks between the toss and play and at lunch and the ICC rules insist on these breaks adhering to these time limits.
“May be something could be done about this when you know that bad light might come into play.” Indian team coach Gary Kirsten said: “I think we won a game on the basis of the cricket we played and we won it by the rules.”
Bad light might have been an anti-climax but until then the match was a roller-coaster ride. Pietersen won the toss, opted to bat and watched his dreams of a massive total vanish in quick time. The openers — Ravi Bopara (60, 82b, 8x4) and Bell (46) — shared a 79-run partnership but the rest failed to build on that platform. Pietersen, coming in at number three, hoisted Yuvraj Singh high into the stands, but in an attempt to repeat his belligerence against Harbhajan Singh, perished.
Harbhajan (three for 31) bowled with a nice rhythm and batsmen sleepwalked into his trap. Paul Collingwood lunged and watched the ball spin away into Dhoni’s gloves for a quick stumping.
Later, Harbhajan, who rightly bagged the Man of the Match award, had Owais Shah (40) caught in the deep with a delivery that tempted the batsman to go for the lofted shot and yet dipped a shade early to mess up the batsman’s timing. That dismissal was Harbhajan’s 200th wicket in limited overs cricket. In between Flintoff scored a slow 26 and with Ishant, after an erratic opening spell, coming back to grab two wickets with consecutive deliveries, the England innings fell short of its lofty target.
Later in the afternoon, India’s chase that hinged on its merry openers — Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag (68, 76b, 8x4, 1x6) — failed to take off. Gambhir chanced his arm against an incensed Flintoff and paid the price. Sehwag, however, kept the scoreboard ticking over, swatting deliveries homing in on his legs with disdain in the initial phase before finding a flurry of runs on the off-side with that easy fling of his arms. This unsettled Pietersen’s plans though there was hope when Suresh Raina fell early and Rohit Sharma (28) after promising much, succumbed to off-spinner Graeme Swann.
Flintoff, however, kept England in the hunt as he grabbed a wicket each in his first three spells and though Yuvraj (38) and Dhoni scripted a 52-run sixth-wicket partnership, England was in with a chance.
A rushed pull saw the law of averages catching up with Yuvraj and Flintoff exulted. But Dhoni, “the perfect man for the situation,” according to Kirsten, and Yusuf ensured that India stayed alive and perceptive to the Duckworth-Lewis’ required rate. And all Pietersen could say was, “we ran them close and we will try and win the next game.”
THE SCORESMatch reduced to 49 overs.England: R. Bopara st. Dhoni b Yuvraj 60, I. Bell c Dhoni b Munaf Patel 46, K. Pietersen c Zaheer b Harbhajan 13, P. Collingwood st. Dhoni b Harbhajan 1, A. Flintoff lbw b Yusuf Pathan 26, Owais Shah c Zaheer b Harbhajan 40, Samit Patel c Raina b Ishant Sharma 26, M. Prior b Ishant Sharma 5, G. Swann (not out) 5, S. Broad c Dhoni b Zaheer 0, J. Anderson b Munaf Patel 1. Extras (lb-3, w-9, nb-5) 17. Total (in 48.4 overs) 240.
Fall of wickets: 1-79, 2-102, 3-106, 4-133, 5-167, 6-203, 7-231, 8-231, 9-235.
India bowling: Zaheer 10-0-45-1, Munaf 6.4-0-36-2, Ishant 9-0-60-2, Yuvraj Singh 10-0-54-1, Harbhajan 10-2-31-3, Yusuf 2-0-7-1, Sehwag 1-0-4-0.
India: G. Gambhir c Broad b Flintoff 14, V. Sehwag c Collingwood b Flintoff 68, S. Raina b Broad 1, Rohit Sharma c Prior b Swann 28, Yuvraj Singh c Broad b Flintoff 38, M. S. Dhoni (not out) 29, Yusuf Pathan (not out) 12. Extras (lb-5, w-3) 8. Total (for five wkts. in 40 overs) 198.
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-34, 3-107, 4-125, 5-177.
England bowling: Anderson 6-0-47-0, Broad 9-2-36-1, Flintoff 9-0-31-3, Swann 10-0-47-1, Samit 3-0-18-0, Pietersen 3-0-14-0.
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