India thrash England by 4 wkts

Chasing 126 runs to win after a stand-out bowling performance, India romp home in the 30th over. Scorecard | Pics

Whatever prospects England had of winning the Champions Trophy, was given a rude shove to nothingness as the first of the round-robin encounters ended with India humiliating Poms by four wickets in a low-scoring affair at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur.

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The 'Super-Sunday' match billed as a tight affair on the eve, proved to be heavily lop-sided as Indian bowlers blasted through the England batting to bundle out the visitors for a paltry 125.

That even the home team stumbled en route to victory while chasing the visitors' lowest ever total against India, speaks more of the freshly laid pitch that offered plenty of uneven bounce and swing for bowlers to exploit.

The Indians were cruising along comfortably at 98 for two at one stage before losing four wickets in quick succession to make things a little too tight for themselves. But Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj timed the chase well with aggressive knocks and India romped home with more than 20 overs to spare.

For thousands of Indian fans that had come in droves to see India kick-off campaign at Champions Trophy, Pathan burying his poor form would be a sight for sore eyes.

For coach Greg Chappell though, it would be the standout performance of man-of-the-match Munaf and his teammate Powar who took three wickets a piece that destroyed the visitors.

India next face titleholders West Indies at Ahmedabad on Oct 26. A win there will push India to a semi-final slot.

Indian innings

The explosive pair of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar was back in action as India endeavoured to hunt down the target set by England as quickly as possible.

But as fate would have it, Viru departed after facing just 4 balls.

Even though he launched into Harmison before getting caught at slips, India had suffered an early shock, laying further credence to the Dravid-Sachin opening formula.

However, Sachin and Pathan were at their fiery best. Undeterred by the fall of wicket, the duo stepped on the gas and rode India to 50 runs in just the 6th over. Pathan gave Chappell another reason to smile as he complemented his 2-wicket haul earlier in the day, with blistering shots that rocketed to the fence.

Flintoff's boys, however, would not go down without a fight. The bowlers created a flutter or two as Anderson's twin strike dented India's impregnable response to England's total.

Dravid and Pathan fell in the same over, while Sachin was done in by low bounce for 35 runs five overs later.

Dhoni and Raina too made a hash of their chances to get back into form. But Yuvraj proved solid enough to nip England's hopes of a batting collapse.

England innings

Indian seamers, Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel, hit the right straps early on in the innings as the duo utilised the hardness of the newly laid pitch to blast through the England top-order.

Knowing fully the threat spinners could pose during the middle overs, Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell kicked off England's campaign, looking to get off to a flier early on in the innings.

However, Munaf's disciplined line-and-length combined with Pathan's seam-up deliveries ensured that a torrid start was all England could achieve.

Ian Bell was trapped lbw in the 3rd over itself, while Pathan, not to be out done by his teammate, got rid of the danger-man - Freddie Flintoff - in similar fashion just 8 balls later.

Coming second down, the newcomer Yardy could not consolidate and fell to Patel's straight delivery for 4 runs. Strauss, looked dogged in face of the bowler who regularly clocked at 130kmph, owing to his stroke less vigil at the other end.

However, he too gave into temptation and flashed hard, only managing to find the bottom edge of the bat. Dravid, with a big grin on his face, lapped it up without much ado.

Kevin Pietersen, in his usual aggressive style, tried to pound the pacers into submission and even managed to add 28 runs for the fifth wicket along with Paul Collingwood as England surpassed the 50-run mark.

But, Munaf finally, held the upper hand as he got Pietersen caught by Tendulkar at slip for 27.

With the top and middle-order out of the way, Powar spun web on the rest of the batters with three breezy wickets.

Even though Collingwood put up a fight and tried to rebuild the innings, lack of support at the other end meant that Poms were skittled out for an embarrassingly low total.

Teams

India: R Dravid (captain), V Sehwag, S Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, S Raina, MS Dhoni (wicket-keeper), I Pathan, A Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, R Powar, M Patel

England: A Flintoff (captain), A Strauss, I Bell, M Yardy, K Pietersen, P Collingwood, J Dalrymple, C Read (wicket-keeper), S Mahmood, S Harmison, J Anderson