An Andrew Flintoff-inspired England crushed India by 70 runs in the second One-Day International of the NatWest Challenge at the Oval on Friday.
Darren Gough (4 for 50) and Ashley Giles (3 for 26) effected made regular breakthroughs as India struggled and capitulated for 237 runs in reply to England's mammoth score of 307 for 5.
Earlier, Flintoff missed a well-deserved century, dismissed for 99 off 93 balls, and Paul Collingwood scored 79 runs off 85 balls as all the Indian bowlers, with the sole exception of Harbhajan Singh, were taken to the cleaners.
England innings
India made two changes to their line-up, seamer Ajit Agarkar replacing spinner Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh coming in for Ashish Nehra.
India are without leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who was ruled out of the three-match series because of a tennis elbow.
England went in with an unchanged side after all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was passed fit to play. An x-ray revealed he did not fracture his right thumb whilst fielding in the first match, as had been first feared.
Given India's woeful current form, England were clear favourites.
India won the toss and elected to field on a wicket that looked hard and true, but one that would offer assistance to the bowlers early on.
Irfan Pathan started off with a maiden but after that it was tough going for the Indian bowlers, as England openers Marcus Trescothick and Vikram Solanki got into their stride.
The ball was swinging, but the Indian bowlers -- Laxmipathy Balaji in particular -- were unable to stick to a line and length. Ganguly replaced Balaji with Agarkar as early as the sixth over. But Agarkar's first ball, a loosener, was smashed through the covers. By the end of the seventh over India had already conceded 14 extras.
England's fifty came up in the eighth over and by the 11th they had already reached 71.
With the seamers being completely ineffective, Ganguly turned to spin and Harbhajan Singh earlier than expected.
The move brought immediate results. Trescothick looked to attack at once and that proved his downfall. The left-hander top-edged an attempted sweep and Balaji took a good catch at deep backward. (71 for 1)
Trescothick scored 27 off 41 balls, but, more importantly, got England off to a great start.
From almost the first ball, Harbhajan got turn and bounce. India, more than anything else, would have been surprised by this development considering the fact that they dropped Anil Kumble for the game.
Harbhajan struck again in the next over to dismiss England skipper Michael Vaughan (4), who continued to look out of sorts. (93 for 2)
Solanki, at the other end, had looked very comfortable against the seamers, but against spin even he was troubled.
Ganguly read the situation well and introduced Sehwag into the attack. The England batsmen, fed on a staple diet of pace, were suddenly struggling when Andrew Strauss (2) was dismissed as well. (98 for 3)
Strauss also tried to sweep and the top edge carried to Ganguly, at short fine leg, who took an easy catch.
Suddenly, wickets were falling. Sehwag struck for the second time to dismiss Solanki for 48, off 56 balls. The right-hander, who looked all set to reach his second successive half-century, tried to flick a sharp turner but only edged it straight to Dravid. (105 for 4)
From 93 for 1 in the 15th over, England had slumped to 106 for 4 at the end of the 21st.
Harbhajan and Sehwag were both brilliant at this stage. They varied their flight and pace well and kept the England batsmen guessing.
The runs had dried up completely, but England still had Andrew Flintoff, who scores as many as 70 percent of his runs in boundaries, at the wicket. The Indians could not afford to rest until he was back in the pavilion.
It was at this point that Flintoff displayed his newfound maturity. The right-hander is always a devastating hitter, but allied with a cool head he is downright unstoppable.
Collingwood was the perfect foil, feeding the majority of the strike to Flintoff and making sure he took full toll of the bad balls.
At the 30-over mark, England had reached 135 for the loss of four wickets. India, it seemed, were succeeding in holding their own. Harbhajan bowled a brilliant spell, conceding just 14 runs in his ten overs, and claimed two wickets.
But it proved to be a false dawn. What followed was nothing short of incredible.
Right from the 33rd to the 44th over, England scored at least six runs an over as Flintoff found his groove in the middle. Sixes and fours followed with ease as India, who after 20 overs had looked in the driver's seat, were now reeling.
Flintoff hit the ball with power and great timing. He would plant his foot outside the crease and swing his bat in a brutal manner - the result invariably was a four or a six. One shot was almost greeted with muted silence. Before the crowd realized it was a six - the ball barely rose over 15 feet as it flew over the boundary rope and almost 10-15 rows deep.
The destruction meted out by Flintoff would have driven most to despair. He was especially harsh on Balaji, who was smashed for 77 runs in his eight overs.
Balaji had also dropped Flintoff, when on 80, at backward square-leg.
Things could have got much worse for India but Flintoff was dismissed on 99 off 93 balls, including nine fours and four sixes, top-edging an Ajit Agarkar delivery for Dravid to take an easy catch. (279 for 5)
But even as he walked off, he had a big smile on his face; he knew the job was done.
The partnership between Flintoff and Collingwood was England's best ever for the fifth wicket and worth 174 runs.
Collingwood and Geraint Jones, the new batsman, helped England reach 307 runs at the end of 50 overs. Extras, at 36, were also a huge contributor.
Jones scored 12 off six balls.
India will need all their batsmen to fire and Ganguly will hope his strategy of playing seven batsmen proves successful.
For an Indian side desperately short of confidence, this is going to be a very difficult task.
India innings
For India to even challenge England, it was given that Sehwag would have to play a blinder. And given the right-hander's current form that too would be asking a lot.
But Sehwag did not trouble the scorers nor did he upset the form book. After facing two deliveries he was heading back to the pavilion, trapped leg-before the wicket by Darren Gough. (2 for 1)
Sehwag is possibly having the worst run of his short career. His feet are not moving, the hand-eye co-ordination is awry and he is woefully short of confidence. It remains to be seen how long the selectors persist with him.
The Indian next dismissal was embarrassing. Ganguly pushed the ball to mid-wicket and called for a single. Laxman heard him, but his eyes followed the ball. The result: Ganguly and Laxman collided in the middle of the pitch and the Indian skipper (7 off 10 balls) was caught short of his crease. (10 for 2)
Mohammad Kaif, promoted ahead of Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid, started off with a flurry of boundaries. He had seven boundaries in his first 34 runs. But then he survived a caught appeal on 37 before reaching his fifty with a two off Alex Wharf.
Laxman, after the initial confusion, seemed to have settled down. Some well-timed boundaries on both sides of the wicket showed that the pitch was still good to bat on. The duo put on 89 runs in quick time and India looked well on the way to recovery.
But then things changed quickly. The introduction of Ashley Giles into the attack coincided with the drop in run-rate and the fall of Laxman's wicket.
Laxman (33 off 43 balls) completely misjudged a flighted delivery and popped a simple catch to Paul Collingwood at extra cover. (99 for 3)
Dravid was in next and sent back to the hut after adding just one run to the total. (102 for 3)
His horrid run of form continued. After scoring 104 and 82 in the first two matches of the Asia Cup, the Indian vice-captain has a highest score of 16 in his last six innings.
That started a procession back to the pavilion and by the start of the 35th over India were reduced to 169 for the loss of eight wickets. Giles (3 for 26) and Gough (4 for 50) did the major damage.
Kaif was out, top-edging an attempted sweep off Giles after making his second successive fifty in a losing cause. He top-scored for India with 51 off 73 balls, including eight boundaries.
Till the 36th over, India were ahead of England on runs scored. At the same stage, England were 171 for 4 while India were 173 for 8.
Agarkar came up with a cameo of 22 runs off 20 balls, with two sixes and two fours. But the damage had already been done.
Harbhajan and Balaji got India past 200 and edged the Indian innings to some respectability. Balaji was last man out, clean bowled for 18.
The last wicket added 64 runs in 68 balls as India were all out for 237. At least, the Indians had the satisfaction of keeping England on the field for 46.3 overs.
The England attack has matured and has the ability to intimidate the opposition. Playing at home, England, not India, should be strong contenders for the ICC Champions Trophy later this month.
For a team that harbours intentions of taking on Australia for the no.1 slot in the game, these last few games would have been very frustrating. India's inability to strike even a semblance of good form is a far cry from a team that sets itself very high standards.
A year back, this Indian team would have made light the loss of Sachin Tendulkar to injury. Now they need the master batsman more than ever.
The loss was embarrassing and the only question that remains is whether India can get back to their best before the Champions Trophy that begins on September 10.
