Raina steers India Blue to victory

Complementing Suresh Raina's composed 92 with an impressive performance in the field, India Blue sneaked home to a 12-run win in the opening match of the Challenger Trophy at Motera. Raina helped his side overcome a poor start, when they had stumbled to 41 for 4 in swinging conditions, and the fighting target proved enough eventually, with their bowlers overcoming the problems posed by the evening dew.

The Reds were guilty of losing wickets at crucial junctures, just when solid partnerships were beginning to take shape. Legspinner Amit Mishra slipped in the googlies and foxed Virat Kohli and S Badrinath, the well-set batsmen, to wrest the initiative. A late-charge from Praveen Kumar and Mahesh Rawat, adding 62 in just under 10 overs, provided Reds with hope but their dismissals in quick succession effectively put an end to the contest.

It was a revival of sorts from Blues after struggling early on. Not much went their way early on after Virender Sehwag won the toss and surprisingly, with all the talk of evening dew, chose to bat The top-order slide, which began with the first ball of the match, was orchestrated by seamer Kumar, whose alarming inswing caught the Blues off guard on a pitch which required the batsmen to gauge the bounce and movement before launching a boundary assault.

Ajinkya Rahane, riding on a crest after his dream debut season for Mumbai, was literally brought down to his knees as the ball darted in off the air, clipped the pads and flattened the off stump. Both Kumar and Ishant Sharma applied the pressure early on by bowling to their strengths. Sehwag's short stint was scratchy at best and Dinesh Karthik, under pressure to keep his place in the Indian one-day squad, was back in the hutch for a first-ball duck, playing across the line to a ball that shaped in.

At 41 for 4, Blues turned to Raina to lend some stability to the innings. Effortless cover drives combined with deft cuts square of the wicket, shots manufactured even without the luxury of width. Using supple wrists, Raina turned several deliveries from outside the off stump and picked the gaps on the leg side. Along with local boy Niraj Patel, Raina staged a quick recovery and Reds, who held the upper hand for a sizeable passage of play before the halfway stage, gradually felt the heat. Raina's knock was largely risk-free, and even his chip shots over the infield landed safely.

The fall of Niraj's wicket, caught at midwicket while trying to loft over the infield, didn't deter Raina, who carried on the charge by carting the spin duo of Pragyan Ojha and S Badrinath for huge sixes. Joginder Sharma played the supporting act in a stand of 49, a period when the ball stopped doing much in the air. With Raina still around, the Blues looked good to post a score of over 250. However, a pull off Trivedi, probably timed too well for his own good, signaled an end to his innings as Kohli pulled off a sharp catch just inches off the ground at the deep midwicket boundary.

Amit Mishra and Ramesh Powar- who scored a breezy 21 off 13 balls - pushed the scoring towards the end, and the sloppy fielding in the outfield by the Reds turned to be an added bonus. The Blues didn't let up with the ball. It didn't take too long for them to strike with Gautam Gambhir paying the price for attempting a cheeky single in the first over. Gambhir was quick on his feet as he pushed the ball to mid-on, but Sehwag was a notch quicker as he gathered the ball and threw down the middle stump in the non-striker's end.

The chase stalled in the early overs with Ranadeb Bose and Joginder maintaining a immaculate line outside off. Kaif broke the shackles in the fifth over when he dispatched two half-volleys off Bose through the off side. He then settled into Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh's lively pace with sweetly-timed strokes down leg and past mid-off. Kohli, the promising Delhi batsman, settled in quickly and the pair kept the chase on track.

However, their dismissals - Kaif caught brilliantly by Swapnil Asnodkar at midwicket - revived the Blues. Badrinath carried on the fight, showing plenty of urgency in rotating the strike with 21 singles in his 41 but his departure, unable to read a Mishra googly, disturbed the momentum of the innings.

As the asking rate increased, Rawat and Praveen Kumar revived Red's hopes with a brisk half-century stand. But it was a case of too little too late. Kumar perished for 37, holing out to long-on, and Rawat, three short of his fifty, flicked the ball onto his stumps while attempting an adventurous scoop over fine leg. Joginder rounded off an impressive evening with three wickets, and the Blues vindicated Sehwag's decision to bat first.

Collingwood focused on task ahead

England are one win away from their first one-day series success in the sub-continent for 20 years and another notable inclusion in Paul Collingwood's young captaincy CV. From a limited-overs shambles only a few months ago, the team is developing into a competitive unit.

There have been hiccups along the way - notably the World Twenty20 and their opening-match defeat in this series - but those reversals make the subsequent performances even more impressive although their work in Sri Lanka is far from complete.

"At the moment it feels good to have won the first two games, but if we lose the next two games I'll be absolutely devastated because I know how much hard work and effort we've put into it," said Collingwood. "It would be massive, but the good thing is that the lads are still going really hard at it."

Collingwood, who will play through his shoulder "niggle" which required a precautionary scan, is delighted with the way his team have adapted to the conditions. "It's a different challenge to back home because you don't have to do as much as it's the same English style of playing, but when you come over here you have to learn and adapt quickly.

"That first game was a real eye-opener for us and it's brilliant that everyone went away and said 'we've got well beaten, what can we do about it?' After the first game, when we were beaten fair and square, to adapt so quickly after that and learn the length to bowl and the changes of pace needed was a good effort."

England's victories have come despite the top order not firing in any of the matches. Alastair Cook's 46, made in the defeat, is the highest score from the top four and changes haven't been ruled out. Luke Wright would be an option, although he went through a slump in the Twenty20, but the side has looked well balanced with Graeme Swann filling an allrounder's role at No. 8.

In terms of interest back home, the tour of Sri Lanka isn't registering very high alongside the Rugby World Cup and European football qualifiers. But that doesn't bother Collingwood one little bit. "I couldn't give a monkey's whether they're watching or not," he said. "For these 15 players here and the management, to win out here would be a massive thing."

Source: Click Here

Indian bowlers hold their nerve in narrow win

Chandigarh: India's bowlers clinched an eight-run thrilling win as Australia ran out of steam in the dying overs of the fourth One Day International, thus keeping alive the seven-match series here on Monday.

After India posted a formidable 291-4 batting first, Australia got off to a terrific start to their run chase, holding the upper hand during the major part of the game, but breakthroughs at crucial intervals condemned the world champions to their first limited overs defeat in 15 matches. Australia finished on 283-7 with James Hopes remaining not out on 23.

Zaheer Khan bowled the final over of the game in which Australia required 16 runs, but could only manage seven at the Sector-16 stadium here, to register India's first win against the Australians after 11 matches. India had last beaten Australia in January 2004.

India now trail the Australians 1-2 in the seven-match series, the opening tie of which had to be abandoned due to rain in Bangalore.

Recalled spinner Murali Kartik took the crucial wicket of Matthew Hayden and played the perfect partner to Harbhajan Singh as they shared three scalps, finishing with 1-48 and 2-43 respectively, and not allowing Australia to run away with the game.

Earlier, useful partnerships centred around Sachin Tendulkar's 79, and uncharacteristically wayward bowling from the Australian bowlers helped India post a challenging total.

Tendulkar ambled his way to 79 from 119 balls before Dhoni flayed an unbeaten 50 from 35 balls after the Indian captain had won the toss and elected to bat. The Indian skipper was declared the man of the match for his ruthless knock as well as some smart work behind the stumps.

In reply, Australia were off to a blinding start to their run chase with Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden taking the attack to Zaheer Khan and RP Singh with two sixes inside five overs, but the wicketkeeper-batsman was out immediately after as he holed out on a pull shot for 18, leaving the Aussies on 37-1.

Hayden then tore into the Indian bowlers as Australia raced to 75 from their first 10 overs with skipper Ricky Ponting at the other end. Hayden hit a flurry of fours and two towering sixes to reach his third half-century of the series, coming off a mere 39 balls.

Hayden looked ominous when his partner Ponting was out stumped off the bowling of Irfan Pathan in the 19th over to give a welcome respite for the Indians as the Aussies lost their second wicket for 122. India kept their hopes alive with the dismissal of Michael Clarke 10 runs later.

Hayden and Andrew Symonds struck together a 58-run fourth wicket partnership while Hayden approached his century, but the batsman tried to repeat a four hit off Murali Kartik the next ball only to be caught in the deep by Zaheer Khan for 92.

Symonds, in superb form since the start of the tournament, kept the Australian charge on course with his third successive half-century following his knocks in Kochi and Hyderabad.

But RP Singh castled Symonds for 75 and ran out Brad Hogg on the next delivery to keep India in the hunt as Australia fell to 268-7, leaving James Hopes and Brett Lee to get the remaining 24 runs.

Openers Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar got India off to a sedate start but kept wickets intact in a 91-run stand, before Tendulkar was involved in 83-run stand with Yuvraj Singh, who scored 39.

The Australian bowlers were guilty of spraying as many as 39 extras, including the second most number of wides conceded by the reigning world champions. Australia also conceded 90 runs in the last 10 overs, while premier bowlers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were not bowled out their full quota.

Playing to a sparse crowd, India reverted to the long trusted opening pair of Ganguly and Tendulkar, but were off to their best start in the series. Tendulkar was off to a patchy start with his first four runs coming off 24 balls.

Ganguly, however, kept the runs coming after he was off the mark with a boundary on his return from injury. Tendulkar, having scored his first boundary in the 15th over, was credited with yet another record, becoming the highest One-Day run-getter against Australia, eclipsing Desmond Haynes' long standing feat.

Ganguly's 91-minute long stay at the crease came to an end as he edged in to the hands of Gilchrist off James Hopes for 41 to make way or local hero Yuvraj Singh, who was promoted to No. 3.

Tendulkar reached his fifty in the 32nd over, his 84th half-century coming off 91 balls. Soon after, the batting maestro completed 1000 runs in ODIs in the year running, the second Indian after Ganguly to do so.

India stepped up the gas in the 40th over to raise the 200 when Tendulkar and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni took three boundaries in the over off James Hopes, which was followed by a heated argument between Andyew Symonds and the batting duo. They, however, replied with three more boundaries in the following over off Mitchell Johnson.

Tendulkar was run out by a direct hit from Brett Lee for a long stay in the middle after scoring 79 from a labourious 119 balls.

India, trailing 0-2 in the seven-match series, were boosted their spin attack by including left-arm spinner Murali Kartik in place of Rohit Sharma while Sourav Ganguly returned to the side for the injured Gautam Gambhir. Left-arm pacer RP Singh also returned to the side to replace S Sreesanth.

Australia included left-arm pacer Nathan Bracken in their side replacing Stuart Clark.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Irfan Pathan, Murali Kartik, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (C), Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hodge, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, James Hopes, Brad Hogg.