By IANS
Bristol : Sachin Tendulkar scored a superb 99 and captain Rahul Dravid made a quick fire 92 not out as India defeated England by nine runs to win the second One-day International here Friday and level the series 1-1.
India made 329 for seven wickets in 50 overs and restricted England to 320 for eight in 50 overs in the day-night encounter at the County Ground.
Dravid, whose whirlwind 63-ball knock (11x4s, 1×6) was instrumental in India crossing the 300-run hurdle, was adjudged the Man of the Match.
Tendulkar (112 balls, 15x4s, 1×6) was, however, unlucky to be declared out just one run short of his 42nd century in ODIs. He was adjudged caught off a ball that touched his elbow instead of the bat.
Yuvraj Singh (49, 53 balls, 6x4s) and Sourav Ganguly (39, 54 balls5x4s, 1×6) chipped in with useful scores while Andrew Flintoff’s five-wicket haul went in vain.
For England, Ian Bell (64, 96 balls, 6x4s, 1×6) and Dimitri Mascarenhas (52, 39 balls, 1×4, 5x6s) scored contrasting half-centuries and contributions came from most batsmen. Mascarenhas was particularly savage towards the end as he gave hope of a thrilling win.
India played an additional second spinner to make it a five-man bowling attack. Dravid admitted after the match that it was a gamble that paid off.
“We knew we were taking a bit of gamble,” said Dravid, referring to the second spinner Ramesh Powar who had replaced Gautam Gambhir.
Tendulkar and Ganguly gave India a solid start after Dravid won the toss again but this time decided to bat first.
Both stalwarts more than made up for their failure in the first match in Southampton, where India lost by 104 runs Tuesday. They looked aggressive from the start and quickly made inroads into the English bowling attack.
Tendulkar and left-handed Ganguly raised 113 runs for the opening wicket in 19.3 overs at a rate of 5.79 runs per over. Ganguly’s dismissal, caught at point when going for a big shot, broke the partnership.
Yuvraj Singh, who was promoted to No. 3, did not disappoint his captain as he and Tendulkar added 67 in 12 overs at over five and half runs per over.
Tendulkar was eventually out in controversial circumstances. A Flintoff bouncer rose above the shoulder height of the batsman as he tried to leave the ball, but it hit his elbow before wicket-keeper Matt Prior grabbed the catch. Television replays indicated that the ball had not touched his bat.
The umpire declared him out caught, though Tendulkar did not look happy as he stood in the crease for a few seconds before walking with a wry grin.
Tendulkar missed his 42nd century but during his strokeful knock he reached another milestone. He completed 1,000 runs against England to become the first man to score 1,000 runs against all Test-playing nations.
Dravid and Yuvraj also prospered, adding 63 for the third wicket at a rate an excellent rate of 6.75. And another 50-plus partnership followed. Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (21) contributed 59 in almost double quick time.
In reply, Alastair Cook (36, 41 balls, 8x4s) and Matt Prior (33, 28 balls, 6x4s) gave England a flying start, scoring at over seven runs an over. They scored 76 together.
But England received a minor setback when Prior and Cook departed at the same score, 76, with pacer Munaf Patel, who had replaced a ailing Zaheer Khan in the XI, inflicting both blows.
Bell and Kevin Pieterson (25, 25 balls, 3x4s) put the innings back on the rails with their 58-run stand. The diminutive Bell was also associated in a fruitful association of 42 with captain Paul Collingwood (27, 25 balls, 4x4s) for the fourth wicket.
Towards the end, Mascarenhas raised visions of a thrilling win as went hammer and tongs against the Indian bowlers. Playing only his sixth match, he scored his maiden half-century. But the effort went in vain.
India won despite some dropped catches and slippery fielding.
Ganguly at first slip dropped Prior (8) off pacer Ajit Agarkar. Ideally, wicket-keeper Dhoni should have caught it, but Ganguly could only put his left hand to the ball.
Then Powar at third man dropped a rather simple chance offered by Bell when he had scored only one (England 80/2). The bowler to suffer was Rudra Pratap Singh.
Dhoni dropped Pieterson at 11 off Ganguly (115/2). One ball later in the same over, Ganguly dropped a caught-and-bowled chance of Pieterson, at he same score.
SCOREBOARD
Second One-day International (day/night), India vs. England, County Ground, Bristol
India:
Sourav Ganguly c Collingwood b Flintoff 39
Sachin Tendulkar c Prior b Flintoff 99
Yuvraj Singh c Collingwood b Broad 49
Rahul Dravid not out 92
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Tremlett b Anderson 21
Dinesh Karthik lbw b Flintoff 1
Ajit Agarkar c Prior b Flintoff 1
Ramesh Powar c Prior b Flintoff 1
Piyush Chawla not out 1
Extras: (leg byes 8, wides 9, no balls 8) 25
Total: (for 7 wickets in 50 overs) 329
Fall of wickets: 1-113 (Ganguly, 19.3 overs), 2-180 (Tendulkar, 31.3), 3-243 (Yuvraj, 40.5), 4-302 (Dhoni, 46.6), 5-310 (Karthik, 47.5), 6-324 (Agarkar, 49.1), 7-326 (Powar, 49.4)
Bowling:
Stuart Broad 9 0 54 1 (2nb, 1w)
James Anderson 10 1 56 1 (3w)
Andrew Flintoff 10 0 56 5 (3nb, 1w)
Chris Tremlett 9 0 73 0 (3nb, 2w)
Dimitri Mascarenhas 4 0 31 0 (1w)
Paul Collingwood 4 0 24 0
Ravi Bopara 4 0 27 0
England:
Alastair Cook c Dhoni b Patel 36
Matt Prior c Dravid b Patel 33
Ian Bell c Patel b Chawla 64
Kevin Pietersen b Chawla 25
Paul Collingwood b Chawla 27
Andrew Flintoff c Agarkar b Powar 9
Ravi Bopara lbw b Patel 17
Dimitri Mascarenhas c Agarkar b R.P. Singh 52
Stuart Broad not out 29
Chris Tremlett not out 0
Extras: (b 1, lb 6, w 15, nb 6) 28
Total: (for 8 wickets in 50 overs) 320
Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Prior, 10.5 overs), 2-76 (Cook, 10.6), 3-134 (Pietersen, 21.2), 4-176 (Collingwood, 29.1), 5-185 (Flintoff, 30.5), 6-220 (Bopara, 37.5), 7-240 (Bell, 41.3), 8-299 (Mascarenhas, 48.4)
Bowling:
Ajit Agarkar 9 1 67 0 (1nb, 3w)
Rudra Pratap Singh 10 0 56 1 (3w)
Munaf Patel 8 0 70 3 (5nb, 2w)
Sourav Ganguly 3 0 17 0
Piyush Chawla 10 0 60 3 (1w)
Ramesh Powar 10 0 43 1
Result: India won by nine runs
Series: 1-1 (5 ODIs to go)
Man of the Match: Rahul Dravid (India)
Umpires: Ian Gould (England) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
TV umpire: Nigel Long (England)
Referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)