Harbhajan Singh celebrated his comeback with a superb all-round show to guide India to a 39-run victory over England in the first one-dayer in New Delhi yesterday.
The off-spinner, who missed a one-day series in Pakistan last month due to a finger injury, finished with 5-31 as India defended their modest total of 203 by dismissing England for 164.
England were comfortably placed at 117-3 before losing their last seven wickets for 47 to concede a 1-0 lead in the seven-match series.
PHOTO: EPA
Harbhajan was also India's batting hero, top-scoring with a gutsy 37 on a bowler-friendly pitch. He eventually upstaged England seamer Kabir Ali, who took 4-45 for his maiden international four-wicket haul.
Left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan did the early damage when he had Andrew Strauss caught behind with an outswinger and then trapped Owais Shah leg-before with one that came in sharply in his dramatic opening over.
Pathan ended the innings with the wicket of Liam Plunkett. Part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh also chipped in two wickets, including that of Kevin Pietersen.
"It's nice to be back among wickets. The God was very kind. I was confident of taking wickets on this pitch which was low and slow in the afternoon," said Harbhajan, who managed just eight wickets in three recent Tests against the tourists.
England's chances receded sharply when Ashes heroes Pietersen (46) and Andrew Flintoff (41) fell in quick succession.
The pair threatened to take the game away from India with their aggressive knocks before Yuvraj got the crucial breakthrough. Pietersen was caught at the mid-wicket boundary while attempting a big shot.
England captain Flintoff was trapped leg-before by Harbhajan in the next over after hitting two sixes and four boundaries in his 37-ball innnings.
"We were not confident of defending such a total but strange things can happen. We had a chance when we got Pietersen and Flintoff. Harbhajan bowled well after a good first over from Pathan," said captain Rahul Dravid.
England, who squared a three-Test series 1-1 without their key players, were earlier well-served by inexperienced seamers Ali and Plunkett who shared six wickets.
Ali grabbed his first two wickets in successive overs and the last two off consecutive balls.
Plunkett claimed the prize scalp when he bowled Dravid (34) to finish with 2-42. Seamer James Anderson took 2-41 and left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell 1-24 off 10 economical overs.
"Our bowlers did a great job and we expected to chase the target as we were in a good position at one stage. But there are still six matches to go," said Flintoff.
Flintoff's decision to put India in to bat after winning the toss produced instant results as his seamers rocked the hosts with early wickets on a lively track.
It was a combination of tight bowling and poor shot-selection that put India in trouble as five batsmen -- Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj, Mahendra Dhoni and Pathan -- fell playing one stroke too many.
Leg-spinner Shane Warne took four wickets as Australia closed in on a series-clinching victory on the fifth and final day of the second Test against South Africa at Kingsmead yesterday.
South Africa, set an unlikely 410 to win, were 128 for seven at tea. Warne, who started the home team's slide by taking the first three wickets, had figures of four for 48.
Australia, who won the first Test in Cape Town, were set to clinch the three-match series and, for the third successive time on a tour of South Africa, do it with a match still to be played.
Before Warne came into the attack in the 18th over of the day, South Africa seemed to have a reasonable chance of saving the match.
De Villiers (46) and captain Smith (40) put together South Africa's best opening partnership in five Tests against Australia before Warne struck twice in 10 balls.
The pair put on 91 and were looking comfortable when acting captain Adam Gilchrist brought Warne on. De Villiers stretched forward to Warne's fourth ball, lost his balance and Gilchrist made a smart stumping.
Warne made a second breakthrough when Smith played a sweep shot and the ball looped to Justin Langer at leg slip. Smith was given out by umpire Steve Bucknor although replays suggested the ball had come off his left forearm.
Warne had first innings century-maker Jacques Kallis leg before when Kallis missed a sweep and in the next over he held a simple catch at first slip when a lifting delivery from Stuart Clark was deflected off the splice of Gibbs' bat.
Vice-captain Gilchrist led Australia in the field in the absence of captain Ricky Ponting, who had food poisoning which a team spokesman said had kept him up until 4am.
The weather was cloudy but no floodlights were switched on in contrast to Monday when the lights were on for most of the day.
Clark took a second wicket, again with a short ball, when Ashwell Prince ducked a bouncer and the ball looped to midwicket off the handle of his bat.
Jacques Rudolph made a solid 36 before he was caught at silly mid-off off Warne and Shaun Pollock was beaten for pace and bowled by Brett Lee.
Heavy rain forced the abandonment of play on the fourth day of the third cricket Test between New Zealand and the West Indies at McLean Park yesterday.
The third day's play was also entirely lost to rain and only 78.1 overs were bowled on the first two days because of stoppages caused by rain and bad light.
Heavy showers fell in Napier throughout Monday night, continuing yesterday morning and umpires Mark Benson of England and Ian Howell of South Africa ruled before the scheduled fourth day start that no play would be possible.
The West Indies remain 256 for four, the position they were in at the end of the second day. Runako Morton is 70 not out, 30 runs from his maiden Test century, and Dwayne Bravo is 22 not out.
New Zealand, which won the toss, leads the three-Test series 2-0 after winning the first Test in Auckland by 27 runs and the second in Wellington by 10 wickets.
Opener Upul Tharanga made an unbeaten 64 to help Sri Lanka seize the initiative in the first Test against Pakistan at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground yesterday.
Tharanga helped the home side reach a comfortable 113-1 in their second innings at tea on the third day. Kumar Sangakkara (29) was the other not out batsman at the break.
Sri Lanka, who gained a thin nine-run first innings lead, looked set to knock up a sizeable total as Pakistan's seamers struggled for success after a fine show in the first innings.
They only managed the wicket of veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya (13), who was caught down the leg-side when he top-edged an attempted pull off seamer Mohammad Asif.
Tharanga, 21, added 53 with Jayasuriya and an unfinished 60 with Sangakkara for the second wicket during his second Test half-century and has so far hit 10 fours on a pitch that seems to be playing easier.
Sri Lanka earlier put up a spirited display to restrict Pakistan to 176, with their bowlers removing the last six batsmen for 52 to gain a narrow lead.
Pakistan, resuming on 124-4, were in trouble as paceman Farveez Maharoof returned his best bowling figures of 4-52.
Maharoof, who captured two wickets off successive balls on Monday, struck in his first over of the morning. He removed skipper Inzamam-ul Haq (31) off his third ball as the batsman nicked one to wicket-keeper Sangakkara.
The 21-year-old, playing his ninth Test, struck again a few overs later when he bowled Abdul Razzaq with an in-swinger to reduce Pakistan to 138-6.
The entire first day was washed out by rain. The second and final Test will start in Kandy on April 3.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
RSS