By IANS
Durban : Yuvraj Singh smashed an unprecedented six sixes in an over on his way to the fastest half-century of Twenty20 cricket that helped India beat England by 18 runs here Wednesday and remain in contention for the World Championship semi-finals.
Yuvraj cracked 50 off just 12 balls in his 16-ball 58 (3x4s, 7x6s) that stole the thunder from the other half-centurions, Virender Sehwag (68) and Gautam Gambhir (58), in a thrilling match that produced a whopping 418 runs in 40 overs at Kingsmead.
After Sehwag’s form-finding knock (52 balls, 4x4s, 3x6s) and Gambhir’s comparatively sedate innings (51 balls, 4x7s, 1×6) had given India a solid start of 136, Yuvraj chose pacer Stuart Broad for special treatment in the innings’ 19th over as he hit him for six successive sixes to take India past 200-run mark for the first time.
India made 218 for four wickets in 20 overs and England finished at 200 for six in 20 overs, with Vikram Solanki being the top scorer with 43 (31 balls, 5x4s, 1×6) and Kevin Pieterson made 39 (23 balls, 3x4s, 1×6).
Irfan Pathan was the most successful bowler with three wickets while Rudra Pratap Singh took two wickets.
Yuvraj, who became the first batsman to hit six sixes in an over in Twenty20 cricket, was adjudged the Man of the Match.
The result gave India their first points in the second round and kept Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team in the race for the semi-finals.
South Africa and New Zealand lead Group E with four points each, and India (2 points) will have to beat hosts South Africa here Thursday to harbour hopes of a semi-finals berth.
The top two teams each from both groups, E and F, qualify for the semi-finals.
Barring the sloppy catching and fielding, almost everything else went right for India, including the toss. But the three dropped catches eventually made no difference to the end result.
Choosing to bat first, Delhi pair Sehwag and Gambhir gave India a rollicking start of 136 runs off 14.4 overs, scoring at a rate of 9.27 runs per over.
Sehwag, ignored again for the first three home One-day Internationals against Australia starting this month, gave a fitting reply to the selectors with his calculated hitting and powerful batting.
He looked in fine touch from the word ‘go’ and found an able partner in left-handed Gambhir, who also joined the fun.
Interestingly, the only other meaningful partnership for India was the one between Yuvraj and Dhoni (10 not out). They added 61 for the fourth wicket as India completely dominated the English attack.
The high point of the match was the 19th and penultimate over of the innings when Yuvraj squared up to lanky Broad, son of former England batsman Chris.
The left-handed Yuvraj made his intentions clear from the first ball as he carted it over the ropes on the leg side. The second six was also hit on the leg side.
The third six sailed over extra cover, the fourth over backward point, the fifth over midwicket, and the record-making sixth six was hit over wide mid-on.
Only three other batsmen had achieved this feat in international cricket before Wednesday night.
West Indian great Garfield Sobers and India’s Ravi Shastri, who interviewed Yuvraj after the match, had done so in first class cricket, while South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs emulated them in One-day Internationals during the World Cup in the West Indies this March-April.
In reply, England made a match of India’s tall total as Solanki and Darren Maddy gave them a whirlwind start of 53 runs for the opening wicket, scoring at 9.35 runs per over.
England also had good partnerships for three subsequent wickets — of 43, 30 and 44. But two wickets — Owais Shah (21) and captain Paul Collingwood (28) — in one over of Rudra Pratap Singh, the 18th of the innings, seemed to have taken the fizz out of England’s chase.
The three dropped catches – the biggest sufferer was pacer Joginder Sharma – made no difference to the final result.
SCOREBOARD
India vs. England, Twenty20 World Championship, at Kingsmead, Durban
India:
Gautam Gambhir c Broad b Maddy 58
Virender Sehwag b Tremlett 68
Robin Uthappa b Tremlett 6
Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 10
Yuvraj Singh c Collingwood b Flintoff 58
Ifran Pathan not out 0
Extras: (leg byes 7, wides 10, no ball 1) 18
Total: (for four wickets in 20 overs) 218
Fall of wickets: 1-136 (Sehwag, 14.4 overs), 2-144 (Gambhir, 15.3), 3-155 (Uthappa, 16.4), 4-216 (Yuvraj, 19.5)
Bowling:
James Anderson 4 0 25 0 (4w)
Stuart Broad 4 0 60 0 (2w)
Andrew Flintoff 4 0 33 1 (1w)
Dimitri Mascarenhas 1 0 15 0
Chris Tremlett 4 0 45 2 (1nb, 2w)
Paul Collingwood 1 0 13 0 13.00
Darren Maddy 2 0 20 1
England:
Darren Maddy c Gambhir b Pathan 29
Vikram Solanki c Sharma b Pathan 43
Kevin Pietersen c & b Harbhajan 39
Paul Collingwood b R.P. Singh 28
Owais Shah c Joginder b R.P Singh 21
Andrew Flintoff not out 8
Luke Wright c Harbhajan b Pathan 16
Dimitri Mascarenhas not out 0
Extras: (leg byes 5, wides 11) 16
Total: (for six wickets in 20 overs) 200
Fall of wickets: 1-53 (Maddy, 5.4 overs), 2-96 (Solanki, 10.3), 3-126 (Pietersen, 14.1), 4-170 (Shah, 17.3), 5-170 (Collingwood, 17.5), 6-196 (Wright, 19.5)
Bowling:
Sreesanth 4 0 38 0 (1w)
Rudra Pratap Singh 4 0 28 2 (1w)
Joginder Sharma 4 0 57 0
Irfan Pathan 4 0 37 3 (1w)
Harbhajan Singh 4 0 35 1 (2w)
Result: India won by 18 runs
Points: India 2, England 0
Toss: India (chose to bat)
Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies) and Simon Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: Steve Davis (Australia)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)