Mohali, December 21
Kevin Pietersen scored a brilliant century as England finished the Day 3 of the second Test against India at 282 for 6 at the PCA Stadium here today.

After India were bowled out for 453 at close yesterday, Pietersen steadied the England innings first in the company of Alastair Cook and then Andrew Flintoff after the twin blows early at the start of play that had left the visitors reeling at 2 for 1.

When England had recovered largely due to the hard work done during the day by Pietersen and they were set to be on course for an impressive finish, twin dismissals, this time of Pietersen and Flintoff at at the fag end of the day left them gasping again as the visitors are still short of India by 171 runs in the first innings.

As shadows lengthened, Harbhajan struck, sending back a well-set Pietersen, when the batsman was going strong at 144. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra struck immediately thereafter accounting for Flintoff (62) to decisively halt England’s resurgence bringing India strongly back into the game.

Earlier, Zaheer started the proceedings early in the morning, trapping the dangerous Andrew Strauss off the very third ball of the day as England started the innings after a delayed start due to early fog. Strauss had struck centuries in each of the innings in the first Test in Chennai. Not to be left behind, gangling Ishant Sharma crashed through the defence of an out-of-form Ian Bell off his first delivery of the day.

Opener Alastair Cook and Pietersen steadied the ship. Cook was enterprising, while the skipper also unleashed his powerful strokes with ease. Both were involved in crucial stand that took the score past the 100-run mark.

Cook fell at this stage, trapped again by Zaheer Khan, but not before the batsman had completed his half century. Pietersen and Cook contributed 103 to the total for the third-wicket stand. Paul Collingwood did not last long that brought Flintoff in the middle.

Both Pietersen and Flintoff then bolstered the innings with some scintillating batting. They were both audacious, but watchful. Pietersen batted with characteristic flourish hitting some cracking fours, while Flintoff also made his intentions clear dealing a couple of lusty blows. They largely remained untroubled facing seamers and spinners alike as the pitch looked to have eased considerably for batting.

As his wont, flamboyant Pietersen stunned the sparse crowd with a stunning switch-hit six off Harbhajan Singh over the mid-wicket fence. Accumulating runs at a fast clip the former South Africa batsman completed his century off 126 balls.

Ever eager to play the novel stroke, he then reverse swept Mishra for a cracking four. Both then slowed the tempo and concentrated on seeing off the remaining overs of the day without any further loss of wickets and renew the battle tomorrow.

Harbhajan Singh ended the 149-run stand for the fifth wicket between the two match-winners, trapping Pietersen off a delivery which came back a bit to defeat the batsman. Umpire raised his finger as Pietersen, not pleased with the decision, started for the pavilion.

This was 15th Test century, his highest score against India. During the course of the innings, the batsman completed 1,000 runs in the Test cricket. Flintoff followed his skipper soon into the pavilion, having been caught bat-pad by an agile Gambhir off Mishra.

Scoreboard
India (1st innings): 453
England (1st innings):
Strauss lbw b Zaheer 0
Cook lbw b Zaheer 50
Bell b Ishant 1
Pietersen lbw Harbhajan 144
Collingwood c Dhoni b Mishra 11
Flintoff c Gambhir b Mishra 62
Anderson not out 1
Extras (b1, lb6, nb5, w1) 13
Total (for 6 wkts in 73 overs) 282
FoWs: 1-0, 2-1, 3-104, 4-131, 5-280, 6-282.
Bowling: Zaheer 18-2-71-2, Ishant 12-0-55-1, Yuvraj 6-1-20-0, Harbhajan 15-2-56-1, Mishra 22-0-73-2.

Mohali, December 21
Kevin Pietersen said it was frustrating to lose wickets at the fag end of the day. Visibly unhappy with umpire Asad Rauf’s decision to give him out lbw off Harbhajan Singh, Pietersen fumed: “I was playing down the leg side. I could have been given the benefit of doubt. To lose myself and Freddie was very, very frustrating,” the England skipper said.

The decision ended an otherwise excellent knock of 144 runs during the course of which the skipper helped his team recover twice.

First he was involved in 103-run rescue stand with Alastair Cook that came after the twin dismissals of Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell with just nothing on the board.

After this crucial stand, Pietersen then combined with Flintoff to contribute 149 runs to the total for the fifth-wicket partnership when the visitors were left struggling again, that raised hopes of England finishing the day on a strong note.

After the skipper’s dismissal, Flintoff was back in the pavilion in the next over as he was caught bat-pad by close-in fielder Gautam Gambhir when he was batting confidently on 62.

“But for the twin dismissals, we could have both batted tomorrow and probably got close to 400 runs,” he said.

About the switch-hit for six off Harbhjajan and reverse sweep off Mishra which rocketed to the fence, Pietersen said it was a definite scoring option. “If the field is packed at one side, then the shot provides a good scoring option.”

Regarding his scintillating century, the flamboyant batsman said it was nice to get runs at such a stage against his name. About his first century in India, Pietersen said: “I love batting. That’s what I was born to do. To get runs in India is special. Public here is knowlegeable. It was nice to score runs particularly after what happened in Chennai.”

Quizzed about the cloud surrounding the participation of England players in the Indian Premier League, Pietersen replied: “I have not given a thought to it. Right now, I have the Test match to concentrate on.”

Pietersen completed 1,000 Test runs for the third year in a row, emulating West Indies’ Brian Lara, Australia’s Matthew Hayden and compatriot Marcus Trescothick. 

The fall of the wicket of centurion Kevin Pietersen, and Andrew Flintoff, with whom he had a big partnership, has tilted the game in India’s favour. Those two wickets fell in the last half an hour of play, just when it looked like they would take England to safety, and it means that India will begin the fourth day looking to get the last four wickets quickly and press home the advantage.

Of course cricketing scripts rarely go according to plan, but with Dhoni at the helm, another victory is on the cards if the weather holds up. Playing at this time of the year in the north and eastern parts of India means that there are more chances of less overs being bowled in a days play, in spite of 30 minutes added on to the scheduled close of play.

As it is, 6 hours hardly seem to be enough nowadays to bowl 90 overs in the best of conditions, and with the fog and light being an issue, it will be lucky if the 180 overs remaining will be bowled.

The match is well set for a thrilling finish, when just after tea most would have thought a draw was a strong possibility. That is the beauty of Test cricket where the pendulum can swing this way or that in a matter of overs.

Both skippers are adventurous and will be looking to win, and so there could be a great end to the series. Dhoni would like to continue with his winning streak, and Pietersen would like to level the series.

Dhoni’s move to bring Yuvraj on as soon as the England skipper came in to bat in the third over of the innings was brilliant, and though it didn’t work, it showed a man who is prepared to go the road less travelled. It was only the third over of the innings and both his opening bowlers had taken wickets so it was unusual, and yet breathtaking in its audacity.

The England skipper took up the challenge and played as if he had a point to prove. His team had dominated the first Test for the greater part, yet ended up losing, so it was up to him to lead from the front on and off the field.

The three days between the Chennai Test and this one would have been used for the off field part of lifting team morale after the Chennai defeat, and once two wickets were down in two overs, he had to show the way with the bat too.

His was a terrific counterattack, and his ton was as good as any seen from an overseas batsman in India. Flintoff too has not done justice with the bat for a long time, and his determination was palpable as he eschewed his usual attacking game to support his skipper.

They seemed to have taken their team to safe shores and if they had not been separated, England would have been psychologically better placed. Now the advantage is with India, and with Dhoni’s luck, it will take a special effort for India to be denied. — PMG

Mohali, December 21
“The show must go on. It was security experts who decided that it was safe and secure for England team to return to India. I was delighted by the decision,” the International Cricket Council president David Morgan said at the PCA here today.

England team decided to return back in the wake of the terrorists strikes in Mumbai in the midst of the one-day series in India. Trailing by 0-5, they decided to return as agreed by the BCCI resulting in the abandonment of the last two ODIs.

Showing exemplary fortitude, the team put up a united front and chose to return to India to play the two-Test series after the Test venues were relocated on request from the ECB. The decision drew widespread applaud, particularly from the ICC and the BCCI.

“Credit goes to Kevin Pietersen and the team members who chose to honour international commitment and ensure that the tour was completed,” he observed.

“No doubt Pakistan cricket is suffering,” Morgan quipped, when quizzed about the refusal of international teams to visit Pakistan due to security concerns. The latest case in point was the Indian team refusal to visit Pakistan starting in early January.

“Security assessment was carried out by boards from the West Indies, England, Australia and New Zealand and all advised it was not appropriate to tour Pakistan for the event,” the England replied when asked about the cancellation of the Champions Trophy that was slated to be held in Pakistan but had to be put off following refusal by the teams from some countries to tour Pakistan.

“It was the Indian government which chose not to send the team to Pakistan and the ICC have no say in the matter,” said Morgan.

Asked whether it amounted to the teams adopting double standards vis-a-vis visiting India and Pakistan, Morgan replied: “I don’t think so. Security perception of the experts about Pakistan and India was different. Regarding the England decision earlier this month security experts believed that it was safe to return to India.”

Morgan dismissed outright that Twenty20 cricket was going to be a distraction for the ODIs or the Tests. “The growth of Twenty20 has been good for the game. It led to a great deal of commercial interest to international and domestic cricket. I believe cricket is fortunate in having three properties - T20, ODIs and Tests. I am extremely pleased with the development.”

“Due to the benefit of hindsight, I can say that it will go a great deal to improve the spirit of the game,” he replied when quizzed about the referral system in umpiring.

“We have achieved a very important milestone as cricket was now being recognised by the International Olympic Council. That was a very important decision. Though cricket as an Olympic sport was difficult to tell at the moment, T20 should be the ideal format for it. But the earliest it could be feasible in Olympics was in 2020.”

Morgan conceded that Future Tours Programme (FTP) needed to be redesigned. “We had proposed an ICC Test Championship, but the BCCI was favourably inclined. However, there is definite need to recast the FTP. That is the minimum that should be done.”

Morgan was replying to a query regarding the dilemma England players were facing about their participation in the Indian Premier League due to a limited window available due to the overcrowded nature of the cricket calendar.

Quizzed whether the refusal of the Indian cricket team to tour Pakistan and the resultant souring of the cricketing ties between the two countries will impact the 2011 World Cup scheduled to be organised by the sub-continental teams - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bnagladesh , Morgan said: “The sub-continent will host the World Cup. How the matches are going to be distributed remains to been.”

Kolkata, December 21
Jose Ramirez Barreto scored the solitary goal late in the second-half to give Mohun Bagan a 1-0 win over 10-man Dempo as the green-and-maroon brigade clinched their 13th Federation Cup title here today.

Irrespective of the absence of their regular skipper Bhaichung Bhutia, out due to knee ankle injury, Bagan dominated the final right from the start on a cold evening at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake stadium.

Having missed a couple of chances and playing a goalless first-half, Mohun Bagan tried their best to break the deadlock after the changeover and PC Lalawmpuia almost scored immediately after the break but his shot went slightly off target.

In the 67th minute, Lalawmpuia got a golden chance but once again his shot was saved by the Dempo custodian, resulting in a corner in favour of Mohun Bagan. Lal Kamal took the corner, which looped into the Dempo box as Mondal headed it for Barreto to take the shot.

The Brazilian’s powerful strike hit the cross bar before going into the Dempo net as the boisterous home crowd began their celebrations, bursting firecrackers.

Barreto’s goal also avenged Mohun Bagan’s 0-2 loss to Dempo the last time the two teams met in a Federation Cup final in 2004.

Dempo looked for for an equaliser after conceding the goal but in turn they were reduced to 10-men with their ace striker Ranty booked twice. — PTI