Udal Sends India Spinning To Defeat

Luke-E

England 400 (A J Strauss 128, O A Shah 88, A Flintoff 50, S Sreesanth 4-70) & 191 (A Flintoff 50, A Kumble 4-49) v India 279 (M S Dhoni 64, R Dravid 52, J M Anderson 4-40) & 100 (S D Udal 4-14)
England beat India by 212 runs

England levelled the series with India in sensational fashion as they won the third Test by 212 runs in Mumbai.

The hosts, chasing a target of 313, lost their last seven wickets for 25 runs to be bowled out for 100 after a draw seemed to be on the cards at lunch.

Shaun Udal proved to be the hero for the tourists on the final afternoon as he claimed 4-14, including the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar.

Andrew Flintoff also played his part with the ball with three wickets to crown an amazing tour for the all-rounder.

The stand-in skipper had seen his side get off to a perfect start with two early wickets before Dravid and Tendulkar held up their progress.

Anil Kumble had caused England problems with the bat during the series but the nightwatchman did not hang around for long in the morning.

After already surviving one big lbw shout against Matthew Hoggard just two balls earlier, the spinner was trapped in front by the Yorkshireman for eight.

Wasim Jaffer also fell leg before to Flintoff just 12 runs later to leave India in a hole at 33-3.

But skipper Dravid - living up the his nickname of 'The Wall'- and Tendulkar managed to steady the ship and their partnership rekindled hopes of a home win.

The pair went through to lunch on 75-3 to leave the game evenly poised and with any result still possible.

That soon changed in the first over after lunch, though, as Flintoff tempted Dravid - who had made nine from 60 balls - to prod at a wide ball and edge a catch through to Geraint Jones.

Seven balls later and England took complete control of proceedings when Tendulkar went to a bat-pad catch off the bowling of Udal after looking well-set on 34.

The double blow for India sparked an amazing collapse as the rest of the batting order crumbled under pressure.

Virender Sehwag, clearly troubled by a back injury, failed to score a run before he was lbw to James Anderson as the seamer claimed a wicket with only his second ball back in the attack.

Mahendra Dhoni was the next to fall in farcical circumstances.

The wicketkeeper-batsman, attempting to smash Udal out of the ground, skied a ball high into the air towards Monty Panesar, only for the fielder to lose it in the sun and end up shielding his head while it landed just next to him.

However, the Northamptonshire man, much to his obvious relief, made no mistake just two balls later when Dhoni foolishly repeated the shot.

Harbhajan Singh couldn't resist Udal's bowling either as he too perished playing an attacking stroke that only ended up in the hands of Hoggard out in the deep.

The same fielder took the final catch of the match off Munaf Patel after Flintoff, who was voted Man Of The Series, had tempted Yuvraj Singh to edge a wide ball to third slip.

Victory was greeted with jubilant scenes of celebration by both the players and the support staff as the series ends in a 1-1 draw that also means England remain in second spot in the ICC Test rankings

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