England 229 (Irani 51, Flintoff 51, Zaheer 3-53) beat India 165 (Sehwag 46, Tendulkar 36, Irani 5-26) by 64 runs
scorecard

A matchwinning spell of 5 for 26 in seven overs from Ronnie Irani won England their last league match of the NatWest Series against India. England had scored 229 in their 32 overs of this rain-curtailed match, but India seemed on course with Virender Sehwag playing some outrageous strokes early in his innings - until Irani snagged Sehwag to put the brakes on the Indian innings. It slid and crashed to a messy finish soon after.

Despite Sourav Ganguly's early dismissal, India were going well with Sehwag in ominous form, hitting Alex Tudor for two fours and a remarkable stepping-to-off-and-swivelling-around six over deep backward square in the eighth over. But the introduction of Irani into the attack in the ninth over put an end to that, as Sehwag was out fishing outside off and getting the thinnest of edges, which Alec Stewart, standing up to the stumps, held with comfort (62 for 2). Sehwag had made 46 runs off just 41 deliveries.

Nasser Hussain, who had Andy Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard at his disposal as change bowlers for Darren Gough and Alex Tudor, brought on Paul Collingwood to bowl with Irani operating at the other end, and the change of pace worked brilliantly. With India requiring over seven an over to win, VVS Laxman – who replaced Dinesh Mongia for this game – and Sachin Tendulkar could add just 16 runs in 28 deliveries before Laxman mistimed an off-drive off Collingwood, and Hoggard, running in from long-on, took an easy catch.

The familiar Indian procession had begun. Yuvraj Singh was next to go, out to a brilliant piece of work by Stewart. Irani bowled a wide ball down leg, Stewart collected and waited until Yuvraj lifted his back foot for just a moment to balance himself. In that moment, Stewart whipped the bails off (100 for 4). Masterful stuff.

Yuvraj made only 5, and had never quite looked comfortable during the 13 balls he faced, but Mohammad Kaif didn't even last that long. He had faced just eight balls and made a single when he was beaten by a savage incutter from Irani that caressed the inside edge and went through the gate into stumps (114 for 5).

Irani then scalped Ajay Ratra – fishing ouside off and caught by Stewart (118 for 6) – and Ajit Agarkar, flicking uppishly to Collingwood at short midwicket (118 for 7), in two balls to complete an amazing five-wicket haul. Tendulkar, who had played some lovely strokes during his 29-ball 36, flashed expansively in desperation in the next over against Hoggard, and Stewart held on comfortably. Anil Kumble and Ashish Nehra indulged in some slogging at the end, but there was never any chance that India's streak of five unbeaten games would continue.

The seeds of India's defeat were laid in the first few overs they bowled. After putting England in, Ganguly needed his opening bowlers to exploit the conditions, but they failed him miserably. Nehra struggled to find his line, giving away seven runs in wides in his first over – five of them off one ball that went between first and second slip – and Zaheer Khan was equally wayward. Nick Knight took advantage of this indiscipline by playing some wonderful improvised strokes, stepping out, making room, hustling boundaries.

Kumble, first-change instead of Agarkar, emulated what Agarkar had done in two previous games this series by taking a wicket with his first delivery, yorking Marcus Trescothick for 9 (55 for 1). Ganguly cunningly brought on Yuvraj, and Knight (31) fell straight away. He hoicked the ball high in the air in the backward-square-leg region, and Kaif ran from square leg and dived full length to take an incredible catch, sliding a few feet after taking it, such was the momentum of the dive (72 for 2).

Irani and Flintoff had been sent in at Nos. 3 and 4, and they played out a relatively sedate patch of overs from Kumble and Yuvraj before Flintoff cut loose with some boisterous clean hitting that shifted the momentum England's way. He began in the 17th over, going down on his knees and smacking Kumble over deep midwicket for six. He then took boundaries off Yuvraj and Sehwag before hitting another fine six four overs later – an imperious back-foot pull off Agarkar - and following it with by smashing fours off the first two balls of Agarkar's next. But he perished that same over, when a mistimed hoick was caught by Ashish Nehra in the deep (148 for 3). He made 51, reaching his half-century in just 35 balls.

Micahel Vaughan played a fine cameo of 30 off 17 balls, with some deft touches and canny improvising, then Irani completed a well-compiled 50 before getting out. England seemed on course for a score of 240 or thereabouts. But Zaheer and Nehra finished well, picking up Collingwood, Hussain and Stewart off three consecutive deliveries – the last of the 31st and the first two of the next over – and kept England down to the attainable but challenging total of 229. In the end, it turned out to be 64 runs too many.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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