Durban, Sept 19: India scored an 18 run win in their Super 8 clash to knock England out of the Twenty20 World Cup. A blazing knock of 58 runs from just 16 balls by Yuvraj Singh overthrew England bowling attack earlier on and then a credible performance by Indian bowlers made sure that India win against England.
Yuvraj Singh hammered the fastest fifty of T20 cricket in just 12 balls and 6 consecutive sixes in a Stuart Broad over to set a massive target of 219 runs for India. Virender Sehwag(68) and Gautam Gambhir(58) too contributed in a major way to make mockery of English bowlers.
Both the openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag gave a steady start to the Indian innings. India soon achieved their first fifty in 6.3 overs without losing a wicket and went slightly better with a 100 in just 11.1 overs.
Virender Sehwag then hammered a nerve-wracking fifty off just 38 balls to give India a major boost in the match against England. Sehwag smashed 2 fours and 3 sixes as England searched for bowlers to bowl against him.
After Sehwag it was the turn of Gautam Gambhir to make his fifty. Gambhir hammered a swashbuckling fifty off just 36 balls.
Sehwag who was dealing in fours and sixes was dismissed by Chris Tremlett. Tremlett clean bowled Sehwag as the batsman was trying to hit the ball down to the leg side. Sehwag made 68 runs from 52 balls. This wicket also broke the 136 run partnership between the openers.
Soon after, Gambhir too made his way back to the dug out as he played a bold shot down to the leg side to be caught by Flintoff. He made 58 runs from 41 balls.
India lost their third wicket as Robin Uthappa was clean bowled by Chris Tremlett. Uthappa while trying to work the ball down the leg side left his wickets empty. He made 6 runs from 4 balls.
Yuvraj Singh too departed after contributing comprehensively to the total.
Chasing a huge target, England started off erratically and India too dropped many catches. But wicket was not far away from India as England crumbled under the pressure of mounting required run rate.
First wicket to fall was of Darren Maddy. Maddy while trying to hit Irfan Pathan over mid wicket gave an easy catch to Gautam Gambhir. Maddy made 29 runs from 20 balls.
After Maddy, Pathan provided another breakthrough as he dismissed the other English opener Vikram Solanki. Rohit Sharma took the catch as England struggled at 99 for 2 in 11 overs.
England batsmen had no other option but to hit the ball but a good bowling from Indian bowlers restricted them from doing so. Kevin Pietersen soon headed back to the dug out as he gave a return catch to Harbhajan Singh.
Soon after, Owais Shah was caught at mid wicket by Joginder Sharma and England captain Paul Collingwood was clean bowled by RP Singh.
England finished their innings with 200 runs on board and 4 wickets still in hand.
India earlier won the toss and opted to bat first against England. India included young players like Joginder Sharma and Rohit Sharma in the squad. Ajit Agarkar and Dinesh Karthik were left out of the team. Chris Tremlett was included in England’s squad while Chris Schofield had to sit out.
Teams:
India: Virendar Sehwag, Gautham Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Sreesanth, RP Singh.
England: Darren Maddy, Vikram Solanki (wk), Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood (Capt), Owais Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Luke Wright, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Chris Tremlett, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
