There was hardly any glimpse of their embarassing show in South Africa as India kept their formidable reputation on home turf intact with a convincing ten-wicket victory over England in the first of the three-test series in Mohali on Thursday. It was once again spin that did the trick for India. After Harbhajan Singh had taken a five-wicket haul in the first innings, it was leg spinner Anil Kumble who ran through the England batting order in the second, claiming six wickets for 81 runs.
Graham Thorpe denied the home team an innings victory, his gutsy 62 runs being mainly responsible for England reaching a total of 235 in their second innings after conceding a huge first innings lead of 231. But that only helped in setting a target of mere five runs for the Indians who knocked off the required runs in just two balls to carve out a 10-wicket victory. Iqbal Siddiqui, who opened the innings in place of Shiv Sunder Das, hit a boundary to the third man off the first ball and took a single to square leg off the next to take India past the target. Thorpe was the only English batsman to provide some resistance and he top-scored in the second innings. But except for Mark Ramprakash, who put on 72 runs for the fourth wicket with him, there was no one to give Thorpe any support.
Bureau Report