By IANS
Leeds : Openers Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar gave India yet another rollicking start to see them equal the highest ever score in a one-day international at Headingley as India reached 324 for six in 50 overs in the fifth match of the seven-match series against England.
The previous highest of 324/2 was posted by Sri Lanka on July 1, 2006, when they chased England’s 321/7 in a mere 37.3 overs, scoring at a shade over 8.5 runs an over.
The 19th century stand between Tendulkar (71) and Ganguly (59) came off 17.5 overs and that laid the foundation of the Indian innings.
After Tendulkar fell caught behind off Paul Collingwood and Ganguly departed caught at the mid-wicket fence by Alistair Cook going for his third six in left-arm spinner Monty Panesar’s first over, it was time for Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir to take over.
The pair added 94 for the third wicket, Yuvraj reaching his 30th ODI half century off a mere 46 balls with the help of seven fours and a six. Gambhir also scored his fifth ODI fifty, but was out soon after for 51 off 64 balls.
Yuvraj top-scored with 72 before finally falling in the deep, caught by James Anderson off Collingwood.
The Indian innings was interrupted after 47 overs with the score 286 for five for nearly 25 minutes by rain but skipper Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni came back recharged. They scored 19 runs off the 48th over bowled by Stuart Broad though both perished in quick succession going for quick runs.
It was a hard return back to reality for Broad who conceded 84 off his 10 overs after his match-winning performance with the ball and bat in the last ODI at Manchester.
England chase 325 to win the match and the series, needing to score at 6.5 runs an over.
India:
Sourav Ganguly c Cook b Panesar 59
Sachin Tendulkar c Prior b Lewis 71
Gautam Gambhir c sub (Andrew Gale) b Broad 51
Yuvraj Singh c Anderson b Collingwood 72
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Prior b Anderson 24
Rahul Dravid run out 23
Dinesh Karthik not out 2
Zaheer Khan not out 4
Extras (b 3, lb 2, w 12) 17
Total (for 6 wickets, 50 overs) 324
Did not bat: Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla.
Fall of wickets: 1-116 (Tendulkar, 19.4), 2-150 (Ganguly, 26.5), 3-244 (Gambhir, 41.4), 4-266 (Yuvraj Singh, 44.3), 5-311 (Dhoni, 48.4), 6-318 (Dravid, 49.3)
Bowling:
James Anderson 10-1-60-1 (2w)
Jon Lewis 10-1-63-1 (1w)
Stuart Broad 10-0-84-1 (2w)
Paul Collingwood 10-1-48-1
Monty Panesar 8-0-50-1
Ravi Bopara 1.1-0-7-0
Kevin Pietersen 0.5-0-7-0 (1w)
England: Alistair Cook, Matt Prior, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen,, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Monty Panesar, Jon Lewis.
Umpires Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Nigel Llong (England)
TV umpire Ian Gould (England)
Match referee Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)