England vs India 2007 ODI Series,2nd odi ,bristol full highlights
Watch the thriller match highlights of England vs India 2007 ,2nd odi.
Match day:24 August 2007
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (WI) and Ian Gould (Eng)
Player of the match: Rahul Dravid (Ind)
The fact that even after amassing 329 India only won by nine runs indicates England are not going to be easily subdued in the seven-match series, though dreadful fielding was primarily the cause of them achieving such proximity.
India managed to square the seven-match series 1-1 thanks to a sublime 99 from a flu-stricken Sachin Tendulkar and an even better innings of 92 not out off merely 63 balls from captain Rahul Dravid, not to mention the subsequent dismantling of the English middle order by 18-year-old wrist spinner Piyush Chawla.
For the fourth time on the current tour of the British Isles, Tendulkar lost his wicket in the 90s — the second time to an umpiring error. But with 11 fours and a six, Dravid flayed the English attack in a manner not normally associated with the Wall.
The venue of the match was once home to WG Grace, cricket’s 19th century father figure, Gilbert Jessop, a thrilling stroke player at the turn of the 20th century, and Wally Hammond, the pre-World War II batsman whose cover drives were reputedly more handsome as Cary Grant’s looks.
As a tribute to such heroes in Gloucestershire’s heritage, Tendulkar had earlier nailed two centuries at this ground, one of them immediately after his father died during the 1999 World Cup. This time, too, he made his intentions clear with a spate of flicks and drives in the arc between square leg and midwicket, glorious cover drives, delicate steers to third man, whips off the hips, inventive sweeps, not to mention a straight six at the expense of Chris Tremlett.
He and Sourav Ganguly comprise the most successful opening pair in ODI history. Now they took their hundred stands for the first wicket to 18 and for all wickets to 23.
Ian Bell, with 64, was again the mainstay of the English batting after Matt Prior and Alastair Cook realised 76 for the first wicket in 11 overs. But with only his second delivery, Chawla bowled Kevin Pietersen with a flipper and then skipper Paul Collingwood with a googly, before forcing a false stroke from Bell, who was dropped by Powar when only on one.
