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India v England, 3rd Test, Mumbai, 5th day
Post-lunch drama
George Binoy
March 22, 2006
At 75 for 3, India were in with a definite chance to draw the game. They had their two best batsmen in Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar at the crease and had Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to come. But in a bizarre session of play, India collapsed in the space of 92 balls out of which Yuvraj faced 46. The following 'Manhattan' graphic shows the passage of play after lunch.
The only period where the Indians offered some resistance was when Dravid and Tendulkar put on 42 runs for the third wicket. Andrew Flintoff was simply superb in the morning session. He cut the ball sharply into the right hander and made Wasim Jaffer look like a school boy playing on a bumpy road. Flintoff conceded no runs of the 23 balls he bowled to Jaffer and beat the bat on eight occasions. He finally got him leg before with one that cut back sharply and struck him in front of off and middle.
This is England's first victory in India in over 21 years. Their last success was at Chennai (then Madras) in 1985.
England's 212-run margin of victory is their highest in India in terms of runs beating the 202-run win at Chennai in 1934.
Sachin Tendulkar's average of 20.75 is his lowest average for a series with a minimum of three Tests. He averaged 37.80 against Sri Lanka in December and 21 in Pakistan. This is the first time he has averaged below 40 in three consecutive series.
George Binoy is editorial assistant of Cricinfo
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