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Z Khan
Man of the Series |
London, August 13: India ended 21 years of
agonising wait for its first Test series win in England but the
feat lost some of its gloss with the beleaguered hosts escaping
with a draw in the final encounter of the three-match cricket
series here today. Chasing 500 for an improbable win, England
could not re-write history but they at least showed enough guts
and gumption to bat out the entire final day and deny India a
2-0 win in the series.
The hosts, in their second innings, were
369 for 6 at stumps with Matt Prior (12 n.o) and Ryan Sidebottom
(three n.o) in the middle, leaving India 4-wicket away from a
win. Kevin Pietersen topscored for the hosts with 101 while Ian
Bell (62) played a gutsy knock down the order.
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J Anderson
Man of the Series |
The series defeat, however, snapped England's
glorious run of 11 unbeaten home series. After salvaging a lucky
draw in the first Test at Lord's, India comprehensively beat the
hosts at Trent Bridge to go 1-0 up in the series and then
dominated major part of the final Test here at the Oval only to
let the hosts off the hook and settle for a draw. Though Rahul
Dravid would be happy to have led the side to its first Test
series win on British soil since 1986, his decision not to
enforce a follow-on despite a mammoth first innings lead of 319
would continue to dominate debates across the cricketing world.
Meanwhile, for the hosts, it was Kevin
Pietersen's 10th Test century that kept England on course to
save the final Test. The maverick batsman curbed his attacking
nature and mixed caution with aggression. After Michael
Vaughan's exit, he found an able ally in Paul Collingwood (40)
who was hanging around till S Sreesanth trapped him with the
first delivery after the new ball was taken. Pietersen came to
the wicket after India had removed both the England openers and
he got off the mark courtesy a full toss from Anil Kumble that
he drove past the bowler to the fence before playing an
excellent drive off the spinner.
After losing Vaughan soon after lunch,
Pietersen thrived in the company of Collingwood as the pair had
to deal with vicious turning deliveries from Kumble and Sachin
Tendulkar on a wearing pitch. The Indian fielders too
contributed to the home team's cause with Dravid dropping
Vaughan early on off Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni letting off
Collingwood on 13 off an arm ball from Tendulkar. Pietersen then
began to take charge taking two fours off a Zaheer Khan over,
driving powerfully through the off side. Collingwood gave him
fine support sending Tendulkar to the boundary twice in an over
cutting him behind point.
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A Kumble
Man of the Match |
Pietersen completed his century in 213
minutes off 155 balls striking 18 fours but went for an
expansive drive four balls later only to perish at first slip
off Sreesanth. Bell and Prior frustrated the Indian attack with
a 74-run stand before Bell was caught plumb in front by Kumble
after playing a 62-ball knock of 67, which reignited India's
hopes for a victory for a while. Earlier, resuming at their
overnight score of 56 without loss, England knew too well that
getting another 444 was a task well beyond them. Accordingly,
both their openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook did well put
their heads down and tried to stay at the wicket for long. With
both Zaheer and S Sreesanth bowling a tight spell under cloudy
conditions, they played and missed a couple of times but were
lucky not to get an edge. Strauss pulled Zaheer to midwicket and
straight drove Sreesanth to the boundary to show his positive
intent.
India finally made the first breakthrough in
the 12th over of the day when R P Singh removed Strauss in his
very first over edging an away swinger to VVS Laxman at second
slip. Strauss made 32 in 140 minutes off 113 balls wit six
fours. Three overs later, Kumble came to the party removing Cook
in a well-planed dismissal. He dropped one on the rough to the
left-hander and Cook played it straight to leg slip where Laxman
was specially placed for that catch. Cook made 43 in 154
minutes. He faced 84 balls and hit five fours. Vaughan had a
lucky escape early in his innings when David dropped him at
first slip off Kumble when he was on 18. The England captain
went on to add 66 runs for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen
in 26.3 overs before falling to Sreesanth in the afternoon
session. He made 42 in 76 minutes, facing 95 balls which
included five fours. (Agencies)
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