Deccan Chargers will be happy with this score 168 loss of the five wickets, considering those quiet overs in the few overs either side of the time out. But Symonds changed everything with some savage shots make 89 runs off 58 balls (8 x 4, 6 x 6) and Rao supported him well with some boundaries off his bat.
Mumbai Indians had themselves to blame for the collapse against Deccan Chargers which deprived them of a spot in the semi final.
Deccan Chargers too started off with a bang, but have experienced a roadblock in the middle stages in second season of the Indian Premier League. But their caption Adam Gilchrist seems to be enjoying every moment of this up and down race.
"It’s not much about a six hitting competition, it's a game of steel between bat and ball which has been pretty exciting to watch. When you have got 8 teams with such world class players and exciting talent form India in such even conditions, it's bound to be a real cliffhanger," Gilchrist said.
Indian batting line up collapsed after the second wicket partnership as India ended the first innings with 453 runs on the board:
India resumed their innings with 179/1 with two unbeaten batsman taking guard once again for the day. The overs which were lost last day due to bad light was not possible to make up due to bad light today also. Play started at 9o’clock. As the day progressed, Dravid and Gambhir settled themselves in the crease properly. They played some very good strokes all around the ground. At one time the score card read as 320/1. But then Gambhir departed trying to heave Swann in the cover but ended up giving a simple catch to the backward-point. Dravid tried to accelerate the scoring rate and but his lofted shot found the safe pair of hands of mid-off. Sachin was plumbed in front of stumps in the bowling of Graeme Swann. VVS Laxman seemed to have lost his touch a bit. After fighting for 23 deliveries, he got out to Flintoff on the 24th ball without making any runs. Yuvraj and Dhoni tried to increase the runrate but fell cheaply. Some end firing from Mishra and Harbhajan took the score pass 450 runs. India ended the innings with 453 runs on the board. Flintoff ended up with 3/54 while finished the innings with 3/122.
India chased down 387 runs on the fifth day to create a new record, Sachin came up with his 41st ton!
A triumphant side always has something extra ordinary that defines the fate of the game. The match between India and England was proving the point of saying these words explicitly. India could never have expected more what they have achieved today.
This has been a fluent performance for last half of the year that has made even the strongest side in the world look like baby-sitters. India has surpassed all bounds of odds and has achieved the well deserved victory for their performance in the last few sessions of the match.
This match was undoubtedly in the grasp of the Englishmen but it was Sehwag who turned down all equations last day to give India more than good chance of winning this test match.
Strauss’ ton could not stabilize the score, England reduced to 229/5 in day 1 of the first test!
India is in a great position after the first day’s play in the most talked series after the Mumbai Blast. The fate of the series was in the hands of the ECB personnel as they were terrified by the Mumbai blast. But at last the decision went in favor of cricket and the cricket fans had a sigh of relief when today England team came up for the 1st test between India and England in Chennai. The bombs might have forced the series a bit far but the intensity has not dropped down a single bit. The entire craze was vividly visible in the field when India was giving a torrid time for the England batsman.
The day started off with a prayer for the deeds in the blast of Mumbai. The players wore black badge to show their protest against the kind of violence that was showed by the terrorists in the Mumbai blast. England captain Kevin Pietersen won the toss and elected to bat first in a flat pitch. Two openers did a splendid job to keep India at bay till lunch. Cook and Strauss were extra cautious against the Indian seamers. Especially they hardly took any chance against Zaheer Khan in the starting period. The run rate was slow but the key factor was that they did not loose any wicket till lunch. In between lunch and tea the Indian spinners did their job but only Harbhajan was capable of removing Cook in the session. After the tea break, India was back in hunt for wickets.
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