Sehwag, Tendulkar wallop England After a start delayed by two hours and in a match reduced to 39 overs a side, England appeared to have gotten off to an incredible start when Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick put on 71 for the first wicket in 10 overs. But some incisive middle-overs bowling from the Indians saw the English middle-order fold tamely as Graham Thorpe, finally included in the team, fought to hold things from slipping out of hand. He succeeded in part, for the final total of 218/7 looked competitive. Until, that is, Virender Sehwag slipped his leash and bounded along in chase of the target, slamming 82 off 62 balls and throwing the bowling into complete disarray. Sachin Tendulkar tried to keep up, but in vain; he only surpassed Sehwag’s score towards the end of the chase, making 87 off 67 balls. The two knocks went a long way in making sure that India could not now be beaten in this six-match series.

Ganguly dubs Sehwag a "great entertainer" Sourav Ganguly not being fully fit meant that Virender Sehwag had the joy of partnering his idol Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the Indian batting order yet again. And the afternoon saw him give full expression to his happiness; he thrashed the England bowlers to all corners of the park in the course of a scorching 82 off 62 balls. The knock secured him the Man of the Match award at Kanpur and liberal praise from his captain Sourav Ganguly. "He is a top-class batsman. I wanted him to go on and get his hundred today," Ganguly said after India secured the eight-wicket win that gave them an unassailable 3-1 lead in the six-match series. "I am sure he will be a great entertainer for the fans," the Indian skipper added. Sehwag said that he had decided to be aggressive right from the start. "I decided I should play my natural shots and hit the loose balls," he said. The young man was headed for his second one-day hundred when he got out. Was there any remorse at having missed the landmark? "Yes, I could have got my hundred. But okay, it is a one-day innings. It feels good that I played my innings well," he said. Ganguly’s opposite number Nasser Hussain meanwhile had to suffer the mortification of seeing all his bowlers being beaten into pulp by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. He accepted that it was the extraordinary brilliance of the duo that had taken the game away. "I think 220 is a competitive score in a 39-over game, but we got a battering today," Hussain said.

Cable? Pshaw! we have the real thing Tickets for the fourth one-dayer between India and England at the Green Park Oval, Kanpur, must have been in short supply. In spite of stands bursting to the seams and volunteers of all shapes and sizes populating the ground, a tourist from abroad could not have helped being taken aback at the scene outside the stadium. A cluster of apartment complexes painted in cool white stood amidst a copse of trees very close to the ground. Perched on every single terrace, every single stairwell facing the Green Park Oval, every window-sill and banister high enough to obtain a decent view of the action were precariously balanced Kanpur-ites hollering in one voice. The volume intensified regularly as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, as if in tribute to their loyalty to the game, set up a spectacular show of strokeplay. Ironies rarely cease when it comes to Indian cricket fans, and the sight of 10 people clustered around a rooftop satellite dish will be sure to stay in the memory for long.

Disagree with our guest contributors? Have your own say. Send in an article to The Writer in You. Click Here Off-spinning great Erapalli Prasanna lauds Anil Kumble's performance as stand-in captain at Chennai. Click Here Reach out to other cricket fans - Indian and English - and see what they have to say at Talking Point, CricInfo's discussion forum. Click Here