India vs England 2006 1st ODI
I Still don't know how India managed to win this match. Except for the last 20 overs India was never in contention of the match. And still they won by a good margin of 39 runs
So India batted first and lost Sehwag early. Dravid and Gambhir scored quick ruins and India was 56/1. But then the fast bowlers of England- Anderson, Plunkett, Ali and Flintoff took India to the cleaners. Suddenly India was at 80/5. Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan stitched a partnership. The runrate dipped to less than 4 and there was hardly any intention to score runs. It was a matter of survival. The only spinner Blackwell have only 24 runs in his 10 overs. Raina and Pathan got out in quick succession. And then Harbhajan Singh played strokes to ensure India etch past 200 mark. MS Dhoni just played the anchor scoring 20 runs while Harbhajan scored 37. These 4 players (Raina, Pathan, Dhoni, Harbhajan) scored more than half of the runs for the team as team India bundled out for 203 runs in 46.4 overs.
England had a very shaky start with Pathan picking up two wickets in the very first over and England were 4/2. After that Kevin Peterson came to the crease and along with Matt Prior shared a quick 53 runs partnership. Harbhajan Singh was brought to attack and Prior played an unnecessary aerial shot to get out. Then came Flintoff and both Perterson and Flintoff hit Indian bowlers all over the park particularly hitting Sreesanth for big sixes.
England were comfortably placed at 117/3 in 19 overs scoring at more than 6 runs per over. And then came the turnaround.
Yuvraj Singh was introduced to bowling and in the 5th ball of the over Kevin Peterson slog swept him which was caught at the deep. 117/4. Peterson scored 46 runs
In the next over Harbhajan Singh was brought back to the attack and instantly he got Flintoff LBW. Flintoff got out for 41. 117/5
In his next over Harbhajan Singh bowled a slow yorker length ball which rattled the stumps of G Jones. England 120/6
Ian Blackwell and Paul Collingwood played cautiously but after a point Blackwell also couldn't resist a slog sweep on Harbhajan Singh. He was again caught on the leg side. England 137/7.
Collingwood was playing defensively so fielders were brought close in. And eventually he was caught at silly point. Harbhajan Singh got his 5th wicket. England 142/8.
In the very next over Yuvraj got Kabir Ali LBW for 0. England 142/9.
The last pair of Anderson and Plunkett offered some resistance. They added 22 runs playing the final overs of Harbhajan and Yuvraj. Harbhajan ended with 31/5 and Yuvraj 32/2.
Eventually Pathan got Plunkett out for 14 and England ended with 164 runs. England could have won the match easily had they resisted their temptation to slog sweep trying to hit sixes. Kevin Peterson, Matt Prior and Iam Blackwell got out by playing aerial shots. Some really good bowling by Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj allowed India to win the match for India and defend a low total.