India avengE(nglan)defeat with A(zharuddi)narrow win

India were playing England after a gap of 16 months. Incidentally, their previous match was played in the Emirate too. The Indians made no changes to their playing eleven. England made five changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Ali Brown, Adam Hollioake, Matthew Fleming, Dougie Brown and Dean Headley made way for Neil Fairbrother, Andrew Flintoff, Ian Austin, Darren Gough and Alan Mullally.

Mohammad Azharuddin, India's skipper, won the toss, choosing to bat. Sourav Ganguly, who faced 26 balls, had no reason to be in seventh heaven – 50 balls into the match, he was caught by Alec Stewart, England’s skipper. Gough broke the 24-run stand.

Rahul Dravid, whose 38-ball innings included a boundary, scored 16. Seventy balls later, he was caught by Graeme Hick, who broke the 37-run stand.

Sadagoppan, whose 97-ball innings included half-a-dozen boundaries, scored 60. Seventy-one balls later, he was caught by Stewart. Gough broke the 59-run partneR(ame)ship.

Azharuddin, whose 85-ball innings included a couple of boundaries and as many sixes, scored 74. He was unbeaten.

Ajay Jadeja, the player of the match, scored 21. His 27-ball innings included a boundary. Fifty balls later, he was caught by Graham Thorpe. Flintoff broke the 39-run stand. Robin Singh, who faced a dozen balls, scored 11. Sixteen balls later, he was caught by Gough. Flintoff broke the run-a-ball stand. Nayan Mongia, whose 22-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 20. He was unbeaten.

England conceded 13 extras. India scored 222 for the loss of five wickets off 50 overs. Robert Croft, who bowled five wicketless overs, conceded 22. Mark Ealham, who bowled seven wicketless overs, conceded 36. Austin, who bowled eight wicketless overs, conceded 45. Mullally bowled 10 wicketless overs, including a maiden. He conceded 32.

Hick, who bowled five overs, conceded 18. He picked up a wicket. Flintoff, who bowled five overs, conceded 24. He picked up a couple of scalps, as did Gough, who bowled 10 overs, conceding 42.

Stewart, whose 20-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 11. Forty-two balls into the chase, Javagal Srinath broke the 25-run stand. Nick Knight, whose 24-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 11. A couple of dot balls later, he was dismissed by Venkatesh Prasad.

A hundred and twenty-three balls into England’s innings, Dravid donned the keeping gloves, because Mongia was struck in the face by a ball in Anil Kumble's fifth over. Hick, whose 49-ball innings included four boundaries, scored 32. Six balls later (or 85 balls after Knight's dismissal), he was stumped by the man from Bengaluru. His statemate, Sunil Joshi, broke the 55-run partnership.

Thorpe, whose 43-ball innings included a boundary, scored 20. A dozen balls later, he was caught by the substitute, Amay Khurasiya. Joshi broke the three-run stand. Flintoff, whose 40-ball innings included a couple of boundaries and a six, scored 32. Eighty-five balls later, Prasad broke the 72-run partnership.

Ealham, who faced 13 balls, had no reason to be in seventh heaven – 24 balls later, Prasad broke the 14-run stand. Croft, whose 14-ball innings included a boundary, scored nine. Twenty-eight balls later, he was caught by the substitute, Hrishikesh Kanitkar. Jadeja broke the 27-run stand.

Fairbrother, whose 77-ball innings included three boundaries and a six, scored 57. The next ball, he was caught by Dravid. Jadeja broke the one-run stand. Gough, who faced three balls, scored a couple. Three balls later, Jadeja broke the two-run stand.

The last-wicket pair put on three. Austin, who faced three balls, scored a couple. Five balls later, Jadeja and Srinath ran him out. Mullally, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t get off the mark. He was unbeaten.

India conceded 19 extras. England, who were dismissed for 202 off 47.5 overs, lost by 20 runs. Ganguly bowled a wicketless over, conceding 14. Singh, who bowled seven wicketless overs, conceded 43. Anil Kumble, who bowled nine wicketless overs, conceded 31.

Srinath bowled 9.5 overs, including a maiden. He conceded 35, picking up a wicket. Joshi bowled 10 overs, including a maiden. He conceded 36, picking up two wickets. Prasad bowled 10 overs, including a couple of maidens. He conceded 28, picking up three wickets. Jadeja bowled an over, conceding three. He picked up three scalps.