5th ODI: Ind v. Eng: Sehwag put India 5-0 Up!

In the 5th ODI played in Kanpur, India beat England one more time and lead the series 5-0. With two more matches to go, England has to find some tactics to handle the Indians.

Kevin Pietersen was surprised when Dhoni elected to field and expressed it during the interview after the toss.

Cook replaced Bell and opened the innings with Bopara. England started slowly and also lost wickets in between. Kevin Pietersen played a captain's innings and scored an unbeaten 111 off 128 balls with 10 fours and a six. He built a good 89-run partnership of with Collingwood and took the score to 157 at the end of 30 overs. Flintoff out for a duck on the third ball he faced. He was caught by Tendulkar of Ishanth Sharma. Pietersen then built another partnership with with Shah (66 not out) took the score to 270.

Once though to be a 300+ score was restricted by the Indian bowlers who really bowled well. The spinners curtailed and in the later overs, the pace bowlers helped India to have a reasonable target.

Chase started with Sehwag and Tendulkar opening the innings. Gambhir was given rest and replaced by Rohit Sharma. Tendulkar and Sehwag added another 100-run partnership to their list of partnership. They added 136 runs for the first wicket with Sachin bowled one more time between the bat and pad. He scored his 90th fifty.

Sehwag was smashing the ball to boundaries at the other end. He reached his 33rd ODI fifty in just 41 balls with 10 fours and a six. He hit 20 runs of Swann's first over which included 3 fours, a six and a two.

Yuvaraj was promoted to No. 3, but could not stay in the crease for long. He checked his shot of the ball pitched on middle and gave a return catch to Bopara. Sehwag got out in the next next ball, unlucky to be given leg before. The ball was clearly missing the leg stump but Broad was lucky to get the wicket.

Dhoni and Rain scored fifty each and took the score closer to the target. Dhoni was leg before to Swann, but Rain and Rohit completed the formalities with 6.2 overs to spare.

Sehwag was declared man of the match for his swashbuckling innings of 91 in 72 balls with 15 fours and a six.

Scoreboard:

Match: 5th ODI
Venue: Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Teams: India and England
Captains: MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen
Toss: India won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: India won by 6 wickets with 38 balls remaining
Series Result: India leading by 5-0
Man of the Match: Virendera Sehwag (India)

England 270 for 4 in 50 overs (RS Bopara 24, AN Cook 11, KP Pietersen 111 not out, PD Collingwood 40, A Flintoff 0, OA Shah 66 not out, Extras--18 (lb 14, w 4), Irfan Pathan 10-1-57-0, Zaheer 10-1-60-2, Ishanth Sharma 10-0-54-1, Harbahajan 10-0-47-1, Yuvaraj Singh 10-0-38-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-33 (Cook, 5.5 ov), 2-68 (Bopara, 9.5 ov), 3-157 (Collingwood, 29.6 ov), 4-158 (Flintoff, 30.4 ov)

India 273 for 4 in 43.4 overs (Sehwag 91, Tendulkar 50, Yuvaraj Singh 6, Dhoni 50, Raina 53 not out, Rohit Sharma 8 not out, Extras--15 (lb 5, w 8, nb 2), Harmison 10-1-50-1, Broad 8.4-0-54-1, Flintoff 9-0-43-0, Patel 3-0-23-0, Swann 7-0-56-1, Bopara 6-1-42-1)

Fall of Wickets: 1-136 (Tendulkar, 19.5 ov), 2-156 (Yuvraj Singh, 22.6 ov), 3-156 (Sehwag, 23.1 ov), 4-250 (Dhoni, 40.6 ov)

3rd Test: Ind v. Aus: Day 1: Gambhir's Ton put India on Top!

It was India's day except the first hour of play in which India lost the first two wickets with just 27 runs on the board.The Indian line up this time had to miss Harbhajan due to the toe injury and retain the leggie Amit Mishra. The long and vigorous debates on whether Kumble should be back or not with debutant Amit Mishra performing well in the 2nd Test went without much further deliberations as Kumble was back and Amit Mishra playing his second test. Australia made one change with Siddle sitting in the dressing room giving way for experienced Stuart Clark.

Kumble winning the toss and batting first, would have expected a good start. But, Sehwag was dismissed in the first ball of the third over by Lee. The ball strum plumb in front of the wicket and India were 5 for 1. Dravid looked like settling, but his poor short selection sent him back. It was surprising to see Dravid chasing the ball that was pitched well away from the off stump and swinging further away. The ball took the outside edge and went straight to first slip where Hayden took a good low catch to his right. Dravid out for 11 and India were 27 for 2.

The little master Tendulkar walked in played another life of his innings. With Johnson and Clark bowling, he waited patiently for sometime and then starting punishing the bad balls from Johnson.

Couple of bouncers would have struck Tendulkar if it were old age where no helmets were available. He drove through covers or drove straight back when Lee was firing with his full pace. Sachin reached his 51st fifty in Test Cricket off 79 balls with 8 fours.

He added 130 runs for the third wicket along with Gambhir. He was caught by Haddin of Johnson for 68 with 11 fours.

The series is turning out to be very good for Gambhir in his career. The agressive batsman scored another scintilating century (back-to-back). His storke play for amazing and good to watch. He is in great form--probably, the form of his life.

After Tendulkar's departure, Gambhir and Laxman played sensibly not taking any risks. Laxman has to score in this match and clear that he was under tremendous pressure. He did not perform the in the last two matches and he was expected to score runs in this crucial time when India had a moderate score of 157 for 3.

Gambhir reached his 100 in style. He was on 91 and hit two fours in the over of Johnson. With one run required to reach his second 100 of this series, he came down and hit Watson for a good six over long on. A six to reach his 3rd Test Hundred of his carrer, 2nd against Australia. He scored 100 in 190 balls with 15 fours and a six.

At the end of the day, India is in strong position at 296 for 3 in 89 overs with Gambhir batting on 149 and Laxman batting with 54. If India can post another 200 runs and put pressure on Austrlia, India has a good chance of winning the series.

We see all kinds of changes in the Australian cricket. They have used 7 bowlers including Katich. Main spinner White bowled just 4 overs in the day. Stuar Clark was the most economical bowler with 1.38 runs per over.

Scoreboard at the end of Day 1:

India 296 for 3 in 89 overs (Sehwag 1, Gambhir 149 batting, Dravid 11, Tendulkar 68, Laxman 54 batting, Extras--13 (b 4, lb 5, nb 4), Lee 19-1-70-1, S Clark 21-8-29-0, Johnson 17-1-69-2, Watson 13-4-41-0, White 4-0-27-0, M Clarke 9-0-34-0, Katich 6-1-17-0)