By IANS
Leeds : England captain Paul Collingwood fought a lone battle as India walked away with the rain-affected fifth one-day international by 38 runs through the Duckworth/Lewis method at Headingley Sunday.
England lead the seven-match ODI series 3-2 with matches at the Kennington Oval (Wednesday) and Lord’s (Saturday) remaining.
Put in to bat under an overcast and windy conditions, the top four Indian batsmen smashed half-centuries to help the side to 324 for seven in 50 overs to equal the highest ODI total at the ground.
England finished at 242 for eight off 39 overs when rain finally ended play. Their target had earlier been revised to 311 off 45 overs after the first rain delay and they needed to have scored 280 to win off 39 overs.
The previous highest of 324/2 at Headingley was 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.
Opener Sourav Ganguly, playing his 300th ODI, was declared the Man of the Match for his two wickets and 59 runs. The former India captain now has 99 ODI wickets against his name and is poised to become the third cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka to score more than 10,000 runs and capture a hundred wickets in ODIs.
Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also equalled the world record of six dismissals in an ODI innings, helping to send back six England batsmen. Australian Adam Gilchrist has done it four times apart from Englishman Alec Stewart, South African Mark Boucher and West Indian Ridley Jacobs.
The English chase never got off as wickets kept falling at regular intervals, with Ganguly providing key breakthroughs by getting rid of Matt Prior, stumped by Dhoni, and Ian Bell, caught behind.
Earlier, the 19th century stand between Tendulkar (71) and Ganguly off 17.5 overs laid the foundation of the big Indian total.
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 50, 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 for nearly 25 minutes by rain after 47 overs with the score 286 for five but skipper Rahul Dravid and Dhoni came back recharged. They scored 19 runs off the 48th over bowled by Stuart Broad though both perished in quick succession going for runs.
It was a tough reality check 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.
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 24
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 c Dhoni b Agarkar 4
Matt Prior st Dhoni b Ganguly 46
Ian Bell c Dhoni b Ganguly 44
Kevin Pietersen c Dhoni b Zaheer 0
Paul Collingwood not out 91
Owais Shah c Dhoni b Powar 15
Ravi Bopara c & b Powar 11
Stuart Broad c Karthik b Chawla 1
Jon Lewis c Dhoni c Agarkar 17
James Anderson not out 1
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 3, nb 6) 12
Total (for 8 wickets off 39 overs) 242
Did not bat: Monty Panesar
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Cook, 3.1), 2-97 (Prior, 13.5), 3-102 (Pietersen, 14.6), 4-104 (Bell, 15.5), 5-145 (Shah, 25.5), 6-193 (Bopara, 31.6), 7-196 (Broad, 32.6), 8-240 (Lewis, 38.4)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 8-0-44-1 (3nb, 1w)
Ajit Agarkar 7-0-58-2 (2nb)
Sourav Ganguly 7-0-26-2
Piyush Chawla 5-0-31-1
Sachin Tendulkar 5-0-35-0
Ramesh Powar 7-0-45-2
Man of the match: Sourav Ganguly (India)
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Nigel Llong (England)
TV umpire: Ian Gould (England)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)