Harbhajan spins India to thrilling win over England

New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took a career-best five-wicket haul to spin India to a thrilling 39-run win over England in the first of seven one-day internationals here Tuesday.

Harbhajan claimed 5 for 31 to improve upon his 5-for-43, also against England in Mumbai in 2002, as India staged a remarkable recovery after being dismissed for 203 in 46.4 overs earlier in the day at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds.

But the Indian bowlers, led by the Punjab spinner and encouraged by a bouncy pitch, shot out England for 164 in 38.1 overs to deliver a rather unexpected win in front of over 40,000 people who cheered the home side throughout the day.

Left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan earlier gave a head start with two wickets in the opening over of the innings and sparked off victory celebrations when he claimed the last wicket of Liam Plunkett.

Left-arm part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh chipped in with two scalps.

England seemed to have overcome the initial twin jitter when they recovered from four for two when Kevin Pieterson (46, 49 balls, 9x4s) and captain Andrew Flintoff (41, 37 balls, 4x4s, 2x6s) added 60 runs for the fourth wicket.

But both fell at the same total, 117, and England never really recovered from those shocks and inexplicably capitulated, much the same manner in which India had lost the third Test to them in Mumbai last week.

Earlier, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, both from Delhi, failed to get India off to a sound start, managing just 17 between them when the former departed much to the disappointment of the 40,000-plus crowd.

Gambhir, staging a comeback of sorts to the Indian team after being ignored for the Test series, and captain Rahul Dravid put on 39 for the second wicket - the highest against England at this venue.

Hit in the helmet grill by a James Anderson delivery, Gambhir changed it after scoring 15. But he was soon out while trying to steer Kabir Ali, only to edge it to wicket keeper Geraint Jones who took a diving catch to his left.

After Gambhir's departure, Yuvraj Singh was bowled by Ali with the addition of two runs to the total.

The Dravid-Mohammed Kaif pair also failed to get going, the latter failing to make it home before Jones collected Ali's throw and broke the stumps.

Dravid, who was dropped by Owais Shah off Ali when he had not even opened his account, looking tentative initially, but soon played some brilliant strokes on either side of the wicket on his way to 34.

He was the next man to depart for 34 (50 balls, 7x4s) when he chopped the ball from Plunkett on to his pads and then the stumps. At 80 for five, India, without an injured Sachin Tendulkar, looked doomed.

Then, left-handed pair Suresh Raina (24, 62 balls, 3x4s) and Irfan Pathan (28, 43 balls, 4x4s) came together to repair the damage. And they were successful to an extent as they added 58 for the sixth wicket, playing some bold strokes.

Another significant partnership that gave India a respectable total was the one between Mahendra Singh Dhoni (20, 28 balls, 2x4s) and Harbhajan Singh (37, 46 balls, 3x4s, 1x6). Their 55 gave India a score to fight.

Ali, playing his 10th one-day international, returned his career-best figures of four for 45, bettering his three for 44. Pacer James Anderson and Plunkett took two wickets each.

Earlier, England had rallied to draw the three-match Test series 1-1.

SCOREBOARD

1st one-day international, India vs. England, Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi, March 28

India:

Gautam Gambhir c Jones b Ali 25
Virender Sehwag c Plunkett b Anderson 7
Rahul Dravid b Plunkett 34
Yuvraj Singh b Ali 1
Mohammed Kaif run out 4
Suresh Raina c Collingwood b Blackwell 24
Irfan Pathan c Plunkett b Anderson 28
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Collingwood b Plunkett 20
Harbhajan Singh c Flintoff b Ali 37
Rudra Pratap Singh not out 2
Sreesanth c Pieterson b Ali 0
Extras: (leg byes 3, wides 15, no balls 3) 21
Total: (all out in 46.4 overs) 203

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Sehwag, 2.5 overs), 2-56 (Gambhir, 9.4), 3-58 (Yuvraj, 11.1), 4-68 (Kaif, 13.3), 5-80 (Dravid, 19.5), 6-138 (Raina, 32.2), 7-146 (Pathan, 35.2), 8-201 (Dhoni, 45.5), 9-203 (Harbhajan, 46.3)

Bowling:

James Anderson 10 1 41 2
Kabir Ali 8.4 1 45 4 (w 2)
Andrew Flintoff 8 0 31 0 (nb 3, w 1)
Liam Plunkett 8 2 42 2 (w 2)
Paul Colingwood 2 0 17 0 (w 2)
Ian Blackwell 10 0 24 1 (w 2)

England:

Andrew Strauss c Dhoni b Pathan 0
Matthew Prior c Gambhir b Harbhajan 22
Owais Shah lbw b Pathan 4
Kevin Pieterson c Gambhir b Yuvraj 46
Andrew Flintoff lbw b Harbhajan 41
Paul Colingwood c Kaif b Harbhajan 8
Geraint Jones b Harbhajan 0
Ian Blackwell c Gambhir b Harbhajan 10
Liam Plunkett c Dhoni b Pathan 14
Kabir Ali lbw Yuvraj 0
James Anderson not out 12
Extras: (w 1, nb 2, lb 4) 7
Total: (all out in 38.1 overs) 164

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Strauss, 0.3 over), 2-4 (Owais, 1), 3-57 (Prior, 11.5), 4-117 (Pietersen, 19.5), 5-117 (Flintoff, 20.4), 6-120 (Jones, 22.4), 7-137 (Blackwell, 28.5), 8-141 (Collingwood, 30.1), 9-142 (Ali, 31.2)

Bowling:

Irfan Pathan 7.1 1 21 3 (w 1)
S. Sreesanth 5 0 39 0
Rudra Pratap Singh 4 0 32 0
Harbhajan Singh 10 2 31 5
Yuvraj Singh 10 2 32 2 (nb 2)
Virender Sehwag 2 0 5 0

Result: India won by 39 runs

Umpires: A.V. Jayaprakash (India) and Asad Rauf (Pakistan)
Third/TV umpire: K. Hariharan (India)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)