(Soura)Visitors England lose to India

It was India's first One-day International of 2002, and they were playing England for the first time since the 1999 World Cup. The Indians made three cH(em)anges to their playing eleven – Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Reetinder Singh Sodhi made way for Dinesh Mongia, Badani and One-day International debutant Ajay Ratra.

England made eight changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Alec Stewart, Graeme Hick, Graham Thorpe, Neil Fairbrother, Adam Hollioake, Mark Ealham, Angus Fraser and Alan Mullally made way for Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Paul Collingwood, Jeremy Snape, Ashley Giles, James Foster and Matthew Hoggard.

While Sarandeep Singh was India's twelfth man, Owais Shah was England’s twelfth man. On winning the toss, Sourav Ganguly, India's skipper and the city’s favourite son, chose to bat. Tendulkar, whose 43-ball (Sach)innings included half-a-dozen boundaries, scored 36. Fifteen overs into the match, Andrew Flintoff broke the 78-run partnership.

Ganguly, whose 58-ball (Hussa)innings included four boundaries and a six, scored 42. Nineteen balls later, he was caught by Nasser, England’s skipper. Flintoff broke the 17-run stand. V V S Laxman, whose 31-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 25. Sixty-two balls later, he was caught by Collingwood. Darren Gough broke the 55-run partnership.

Virender Sehwag, whose 37-ball innings included five boundaries, scored 29. Fifty-six balls later, Hoggard broke the 43-run stand. Mongia, whose 75-ball innings included seven boundaries and a six, scored 71. Thirty-one balls later, Snape broke the 39-run stand.

Ajit Agarkar faced a couple of balls, scoring as many. A couple of balls later, he was stumped by Foster. Giles broke the four-run stand. The seventh-wicket pair put on half-a-dozen. Ratra, who faced a couple of balls, scored as many. Five balls later, Flintoff and Foster ran him out.

The eighth-wicket pair put on 38. Badani, whose 33-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 35. Thirty-four balls later, Hoggard and Foster ran him out. Harbhajan Singh, whose 21-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 18. He was unbeaten, as was Anil Kumble, who faced a ball. He didn’t open his account.

England scored 21 extras. India scored 281 for the loss of eight wickets off 50 overs. Vaughan, who bowled an over, conceded eight. He was wicketless, as was Collingwood, who bowled three overs, conceding 22. Giles, who bowled half-a-dozen overs, conceded 41. He picked up a wicket.

Snape, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 53. He picked up a wicket. His ninth over – the 43rd of the innings – was a seven-ball over.

Gough bowled 10 overs, including a maiden. He conceded 48, picking up a wicket. Hoggard bowled 10 overs, including a couple of maidens. He conceded 48, picking up a wicket. Flintoff, who bowled 10 overs, conceded 51. He picked up two scalps.

England were fined an over for a slow over rate. Knight, who faced a ball, didn’t open his account. A couple of balls into the chase, he was trapped leg before wicket by Javagal Srinath, who broke the one-run stand.

Hussain, whose 29-ball innings included four boundaries, scored 25. Sixty-six balls later, he was trapped leg before wicket by the (Kumb)leggie, who broke the 63-run partnership.

Vaughan, whose 26-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 14. Forty-eight balls later, he was caught by Agarkar. Kumble broke the 59-run partnership.

Collingwood, whose 29-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 21. Fifty-six balls later, he was caught by Tendulkar. Ganguly broke the 61-run partnership.

Trescothick, the player of the match, scored 121. His 109-ball innings included 13 boundaries and a couple of sixes. While his 50 came off 46 balls in 66 minutes, his 100 came off 80 balls in 126 minutes. Forty-three balls later, he was trapped leg before wicket by Srinath, who broke the 40-run stand.

The sixth-wicket pair had no reason to be in seventh heaven. Flintoff, whose 29-ball innings included a boundary and a six, scored 24. Nine balls later, Harbhajan and Ratra ran him out. Snape, who faced 10 balls, scored three. Ten balls later, he was trapped leg before wicket by Harbhajan, who broke the two-run stand.

Foster faced five balls, scoring a couple. Fifteen balls later, he was caught by Ratra. Agarkar broke the 11-run stand. Gough, who faced three balls, didn’t get off the mark. Three balls later, he was caught by Agarkar, who broke the two-run stand.

Giles, whose 21-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 18. A couple of overs later, he was caught by Ganguly. Agarkar broke the 13-run stand. Hoggard faced four balls, scoring as many. He was unbeaten.

India conceded 27 extras. England, who were dismissed for 259 off 44 overs, lost by 22 runs. Tendulkar, who bowled four wicketless overs, conceded 23. Ganguly, who bowled five overs, conceded 27. He picked up a wicket, as did Harbhajan, who bowled nine overs, conceding 49.

Srinath, who bowled eight overs, conceded 42. He picked up two wickets, as did Kumble, who bowled nine overs, including a maiden. He conceded 54. Agarkar, who bowled nine overs, conceded 50. He picked up three scalps.

India led the six-match series 1-0.