Mumbai, November 26
Indian captain MS Dhoni wanted the pitch to turn right from Day 1. It did. He wanted to win the toss on such a pitch. He did. He wanted the toss to be taken out of the equation. It was.

Then what happened?

India ended up being ambushed by the hitherto un-feared Monty Panesar. The same Panesar who had been deemed good enough to play in only seven Test matches for England since the start of 2009, only one of them at home in England. Graeme Swann overtook him in the English spinners' stakes years ago; for years, Panesar has been believed to be past his prime.

Was it this knowledge, this belief, that made Dhoni spout the rhetoric of "taking the toss out of the equation".

Dhoni has said several times over the last few weeks that he would want both the teams to have an equal chance to win the game. That's a truly noble objective — what Dhoni is saying is that he is willing to forego the home advantage that comes with slow wickets that turn from Day 3. On such wickets, if the Indian team bats first, it would get a massive score and can't lose.

On Day 1 turners, though, the opposition spinners have a realistic opportunity to take the Indian wickets, even if India win the toss and bat first. While Dhoni's concern for the future of Test cricket is indeed a great and noble though, it's very likely that he formed this view because of his confidence in India's batting and bowling.

Very likely, Dhoni believed that the Indian batting would not be troubled by England's spin, and that Indian spin was going to be fatal for England's batsmen. Thus, while the tracks that turn from Day 1 would help both teams, India would fare better on them.

"The ball was turning from the first day itself so that both the teams have equal chances, reducing the impact of toss," Dhoni said after the defeat.

It did happen, and Panesar out-bowled all the other spinners here for match figures of 11 for 210. Panesar and Swann took 19 of the 20 Indian wickets to fall. The last time 19 wickets fell to two English spinners was 1958 — such were the odds against this happening here, as Dhoni probably realised.

Yet, India could have done better if their spinners hadn't been so ineffective. Much has been said about the optimum speed and length to which the English spinners bowled, including by Dhoni today. That begs the question — didn't any of the Indian spinners think of bowling quicker on their own? Just to try a quicker variation against Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook?

Yet, nothing can be taken away from the way Pietersen and Cook played. Of the 22 players in this Test, two were game-changers — Pietersen and Virender Sehwag. Pietersen, more correct and methodical of the two, clicked. India needed Sehwag to fire in the second innings to keep alive. That didn't happen. The sum total of these events was a complete pasting for the Indian team at the hands of the English. India do not lose too often at home — there have been just 10 defeats in 60 Tests played at home since the beginning of the year 2000, against 30 victories. But curiously, these 10 defeats have all been very heavy — three by an innings, two by 10 wickets, and four by margins of 217, 342, 168 and 212 runs. The remaining one defeat, the earliest of these, was against South Africa in early 2000: By a mere four wickets. There's an inference to be drawn from this, and the likely one is that India often get complacent, and then get absolutely smashed, at home.

That is the likely diagnosis for India's current troubles, and Dhoni's very public views on the kinds of pitches he wants.

SCOREBOARD

India 1st Innings (327)

England 1st Innings (413)

Inida 2nd Innings

Gambhir lbw b Swann 65
Sehwag c Swann b Panesar 9
Pujara c Bairstow b Swann 6
Tendulkar lbw b Panesar 8
Kohli c Root b Swann 7
Yuvraj c Bairstow b Panesar 8
Dhoni c Trott b Panesar 6
Ashwin c Patel b Panesar 11
Harbhajan c Trott b Swann 6
Zaheer c Prior b Panesar 1
Ojha not out 6
Extras: 9
Total: (10 wkts; 44.1 ov) 142
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-37, 3-52, 4-65, 5-78, 6-92, 7-110, 8-128, 9-131
Bowling: Anderson 4-1-9-0, Monty 22-3-81-6, Swann 18.1-6-43-4

England (2nd innings)

Cook not out 18
Compton not out 30
Extras: 10
Total: (0 wkts in 9.4 ov) 58
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-37, 3-52, 4-65, 5-78, 6-92, 7-110
Bowling: Ashwin 3.4-0-22-0, Ojha 4-0-16-0, Harbhajan 2-0-10-0

Mumbai, November 26
The curtain fell down on a most bizarre Test match well before lunch on the fourth morning as England won by 10 wickets to draw even at 1-1 in the four-match series.

Before this game, India had lost three times in Mumbai since the start of the year 2000; yet, no one had seen this disaster coming, certainly not in the warm glow of the win at Ahmedabad.

No one foresaw the slow, sure evisceration India underwent at the hands of the England spinners here.

Who would have thought that after the Indian spinners took 13 wickets in the win at Ahmedabad, they would be outdone, quite handsomely, by the English spinners here? That the English spinners would prise out, with guile and skill, 19 of the 20 Indian wickets to fall in the two innings? Today's play was a mere formality. India had practically lost it by the draw of stumps yesterday; only the last rites were left for today. However, some of the more unreasonable Indian fans, on their way to the stadium, expressed the belief that Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan would bat through the day; that subsequently, England would collapse in a heap, and India would win.

They might have added that pigs would be seen flying over the stadium before the day was out.

None of that happened. Pigs didn't fly, India didn't resist, England didn't collapse. Even as the Indian tailend batsmen rushed into the fire, throwing their wickets away, down in Adelaide in Australia a South African was playing the innings of a lifetime. And you know what, Faf du Plessis was making his Test debut, at age 28. He saved his team from a certain defeat with an unbeaten 110, having guarded his wicket for close to eight hours. Ten minutes after South Africa were saved, rain arrived on the ground.

There were no signs of rain here, and no signs of resistance by the Indian tail. Harbhajan Singh lofted the first ball of the morning, from Monty Panesar, for four over mid-off. Brave, or imprudent? Harbhajan fell in the next over, trying more aggression, this time to Graeme Swann, and being beaten by the bounce. Zaheer Khan was patient for all of 12 minutes before slogging a ball sky high. Last man Pragyan Ojha too got the opportunity to immolate himself, but he was able to resist the temptation.

Gambhir took his score to 65 before falling LBW to Swann. He was not really out, for the ball had hit his bat before the pad; then again, when Panesar had got Ojha caught at short-leg five overs before that, umpire Aleem Dar had shaken his head.

Dar is an excellent umpire and his shockers in this series are likely merely an aberration. Both India and England would be desperately hoping, though, that his lean patch would end quickly.

Barring Gambhir, no Indian batsmen played 20 deliveries. It was that kind of a butchering.

England were left with a target of 57, to be scored off a minimum of 160 overs. England's openers, partly scratchy, partly fluent, got these runs in the 10th over.

England celebrated with gusto, Pietersen gave Panesar a special hug, and then promised to paint the town in the darker shade of red. A sombre Dhoni and the ever-mournful Duncan Fletcher, the coach, were left surveying the wreck of their backyard.

Mumbai, November 26
His insistence on a spinning track boomeranging, a sheepish Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday said he was disappointed with his tweakers who did not adjust their pace to exploit the pitch in the lost second cricket Test against England here.

India were handed a humiliating 10-wicket loss by the English, who were expected to struggle on the spinning track that Dhoni had asked for before the game. Instead of the host spinners, it was England's Monty Panesar who made batsmen dance to his tune and walked away with 11 wickets. On the other hand, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook proved their class with hundreds on a track that seemed to terrorise other willow-wielders.

"Definitely outplayed. Monty bowled really well. All get turn, but the pace he bowled at made sure that the batsmen were on the front foot. To some extent, yes I am disappointed with our spinners. We let England bat on the back foot. We could have brought them forward," a disappointed Dhoni said at the presentation ceremony. Dhoni had lambasted the opening Test pitch in Ahmedabad despite India's win and today he said his bowlers just could not get a hold over the pace to bowl at here.

"All of a sudden they have to change their plan. Ahmedabad was completely different and it was a change of conditions," he said.

Dhoni said the next two Tests, starting with the game in Kolkata on December 5, would be a test of character for his team. "When two best sides are playing, series are close. It will be a test of character in the two coming games," he said.

Dhoni's rival number Alastair Cook said he has all but forgotten the disappointment of losing the toss. "Without a doubt, it is a great win. I can't fault the effort of the lads. I could have called heads and obviously it was an important toss. The way we bowled on that first day it was fantastic," said Cook. — PTI

Mumbai, November 26
When the Indian selectors meet at noon on Tuesday to pick up pick up the team for the last two Tests, their fingers would be itching to reach out for their big bad hatchets.

All of the selectors are former cricketers. And former cricketers, after all, are known to become quite ruthless when they judge the current ones.

However, if they pause to think a bit, they'd realise that the team that won in Ahmedabad by nine wickets couldn't possibly have become a bad team in less than a week.However, there is one man who could expect to be removed from the XI, a man who didn't figure in the playing XI in Ahmedabad. Harbhajan Singh bowled only 23 overs in Mumbai, as against nearly 90 by Pragyan Ojha and Ravichandran Ashwin. The Punjab spinner is, clearly, not at the top of the pecking order.

Harbhajan got two wickets, but they were the relatively less prized ones of the opposition No. 8 and 10. Ashwin was also less than stellar, finishing this Test with two for 167 — not the figures of your premier strike bowler.

However, despite the pasting, captain MS Dhoni indicated that there would not be any big changes in the side for the Kolkata and Nagpur Tests, which begin on December 5 and December 13, respectively.

Asked if team could have a new look for the rest of the series, Dhoni replied: "No big changes."

One slot that deserves to be discussed — but which almost certainly will not be — is that of Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar averages just a shade over 15 in his 10 Test innings; he has aggregated just 29 runs in three innings in the series so far, at an average of 9.66.

"You don't chop and change players on the basis of one or two Tests," Dhoni said. "We have to give them a fair run and that is what it is all about. Otherwise, you will keep changing players every game. It is always good to give players a fair amount of games together so they are also comfortable and not thinking of selection."

Ludhiana, November 26
It was a historic day for the grandparents of Madhusudan Singh Panesar aka Monty Panesar as they were celebrating their grandson's feat for victorious England. His magical spell led Indian batsmen to fall like nine pins in the Mumbai Test on Monday.

Monty’s grandparents Hari Singh and Manjeet Kaur soaked in every bit of adulation that their grandson received from one and all.

While narrating the match proceedings to his wife, who is recuperating from cataract surgery, Hari Singh said, “I would have been doubly happy if my grandson could have played for India and bowled the same way as he did in the Test match today.”

Though, he was quick to add that playing for the English team was no less achievement. Grandmother Manjit Kaur proudly says her son is the first Sikh ever to have played for the English cricket team.

“Today, both India and England are proud of my child. He clinched 11 wickets in two innings and stamped his authority," said Hari Singh. He feels that if Monty had played in first Test, the result would have been different and England might not have to face defeat. The couple, who last saw their sonon his wedding in January 2011, yearns to meet him.

“But right now we want him to concentrate on the game," said Singh, while cleaning the portrait of his dear son. The couple was beaming with joy when the Indian captain MS Dhoni praised the southpaw.

Mumbai, November 26
Heroes of England's thumping 10-wicket triumph against India in the second Test, skipper Alastair Cook and aggressive batsman Kevin Pietersen today said the team will have to guard against complacency in the remaining two matches. "Any win in India is a huge win. I played 18 one day games and won one game.

I have won more Test matches than one day games in India. Any Test victory or any victory in India is huge," said Pietersen. "But we are not going to get ahead of us, that is for sure. Last week we got hammered and this week we turned it around," he added.

Cook said the team would not get carried away. "We have set the series out really well. We have got two games to go now and it is level. It is a really good performance. Like Kev said, we are not getting too carried away. We are going to enjoy tonight," he said. "Enjoy the victory and we need to, we have got a lot of back to back Tests.” — PTI

Mohali, November 26
Punjab continued their winning streak as they disposed off Saurashtra by 8 wickets shortly after lunch on the third day at PCA Stadium, Mohali.

Saurashtra, who were 212/7 overnight, were bowled out for 233 in 62.4 overs. Siddharth Kaul had the overnight batsman Sagar Jogiyani snapped by wicket-keeper Uday Kaul for 76 and had Jaidev Unadkat taken by Mandeep Singh for 2. Manpreet Gony disposed off Siddharth Trivedi by clean bowling him.

Siddharth returned the impressive figures of 6/63 while Sandeep Sharma snapped 3/57. Chasing 119 for victory, Punjab lost their opener Jeevanjot for 5 as he was done in by an inswinging delivery of Unadkat.

Then Mayank Sidana joined Karan Goel and the two batted to take the team near victory target before Sidana edged the ball to the wicket keeper Jogiyani.

Sidana scored 21 off 24 balls inclusive of 4 boundaries. Skipper Mandeep Singh joined Karan Goel and the duo took the total to 120/2 in 33.1 overs to take their team to a 8 wickets win and garner 6 points. Karan Goel remained unbeaten on 75 off 115 balls inclusive of 13 boundaries and one six, while Mandeep Singh was unbeaten on 18 off 44 balls with 2 boundaries. With this win Punjab took their tally of points to 23 in four matches of Group – A. This was also a sweet revenge for the Punjab team who had lost to Saurashtra at the same venue last year. Saurashtra are yet to win a match this season.

Punjab will now take on Rajasthan at PCA Stadium Mohali from 1-4 December, 2012.

In Group C, Andhra and the Services also won big against Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, respectively.

Baroda take first innings lead over Haryana

Riding on Saurabh Wakaskar's ton and Ambati Rayudu's half-century, Baroda managed to take the first innings lead over Haryana and then reduced the hosts to 127 for two at stumps.

Having bundled out Haryana for 295 in their first innings, Baroda were all out for 324 in their first essay.

Resuming at 197 for three, Sunday's centurion Wakaskar failed to add any more runs. Baroda at one stage were struggling at 287/8 , still eight runs behind the hosts. It was Gagandeep Singh (26 not out) who made sure that Baroda go past Haryana. — PTI

SCOREBOARD

Saurashtra 90 & 233

Punjab 1st Innings 205

Saurashtra 2nd innings

Pathak c Uday b Siddharth 26
Chauhan c Uday b Siddharth 15
Kotak lbw b Siddharth 18
Jogiyani c Uday b Siddharth 76
Jadeja lbw b Siddharth 0
Shah c Mandeep b Sandeep 38
Vasavada c Uday b Sandeep 29
Maniar lbw b Sandeep 0
Unadkat c Mandeep b Siddharth6
BJadeja not out 7
Trivedi b Gony 0
Extras: 22
Total: (all out; 62.4 ov) 233
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-57, 3-66, 4-66, 5-123, 6-200,7-200, 8-214, 9-222, 10-233
Bowling: Gony 16.4-4-57-1, Sandeep 17-2-57-3, Siddharth 21-2-63-6, Amitoze 3-0-21-0,Rahul 5-0-22-0

Punjab 2nd innings (target 119)

Adelaide, November 26
Faf du Plessis scored an inspirational century on debut as South Africa completed a morale-boosting draw in the second test on the fifth and final day of against Australia on Monday.

In an atmosphere of unrelenting tension, the 28-year-old Du Plessis was grit personified as he carried his bat for more than seven hours, compiling an unbeaten 110 and steering the Proteas to safety on a stifling day of heat at Adelaide Oval.

Lionhearted paceman Peter Siddle captured two wickets in the last hour to leave South Africa wobbling at 240-8, but Du Plessis and Morne Morkel saw out the drama-filled final overs to leave the series tied at 0-0 after the drawn first test in Brisbane.

The third and final test in the series starts in Perth on Friday. Faf du Plessis battled dehydration and cramping during a match-defining century on Monday, but said the pain and fatigue had made carrying South Africa to a draw in the second test against Australia all the more sweet.

"I think it just makes it a little bit more sweet," the 28-year-old all-rounder told reporters of his exhaustion, having batted through the whole day in stifling heat. The story wouldn't have been that nice if my body was all feeling fine. One day when I look back, I can look back and say I pushed through the physical side of things.”

Meanwhile, Michael Clarke has regained the No.1 spot in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen after producing a spectacular performance in the second — Reuters 

SCOREBOARD

Australia 1st innings 550

South Africa 1st innings 388

Australia 2nd innings 267-8 d

South Africa 2nd innings (overnight 77-4)

Smith c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 0
Petersen b Siddle 24
Amla c Clarke b Lyon 17
Rudolph c Cowan b Lyon 3
De Villiers b Siddle 33
Du Plessis not out 110
Kallis c Cowan b Lyon 38
Steyn c Quiney b Siddle 0
Kleinveldt b Siddle 3
Morkel not out 8
Extras: 4
Total: (8 wkts, 148 ov) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-36, 3-45, 4-45, 5-134, 6-233, 7-234, 8-240
Bowling: Hilfenhaus 34-16-65-1, P. Siddle 33-15-65-4, Clarke 18-5-34-0, Lyon 50-31-49-3, Warner 6-0-29-0, Quiney 6-3-4-0, Ponting 1-1-0-0

Colombo November 26
New Zealand fast bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult ensured their side remained in charge of the second cricket test against Sri Lanka on Monday, reducing the home side to 43 for three at the close.

New Zealand had reached 412 in their first innings thanks largely to a record third-wicket partnership of 262 between captain Ross Taylor (142) and Kane Williamson (135), before Southee took two for 16 and Boult one for 16.

At one stage Sri Lanka were 12 for three thanks to Boult and Southee's triple breakthrough before Tharanga Paranavitana (9) and Angelo Mathews survived (20) to the close without further loss.

Sri Lanka remain in a precarious position as Thilan Samaraweera may have problems batting after suffering a cut to the webbing on his right hand while fielding which required three stitches.

Southee started the rot with the first two wickets of the Sri Lanka innings in three balls, bowling the fit-again Tillakaratne Dilshan between bat and pad for five and then causing Kumar Sangakkara to top-edge a hook-shot to fine leg to perish for a duck.

Boult got in on the action when he induced Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena (4) to edge a loose drive to gully, where Williamson pouched a low chance.

"To get three wickets before stumps was a great start and the bowlers have been bowling really well throughout this series," Williamson said.

"It was a good day all round and finishing off with the wickets was great. I think we're in a good position but, saying that, it's a very good track and we've got to bowl that side out twice to get a victory. "They have got some seriously good cricketers and so that's not going to be an easy feat (to win)."

Resuming at 223/2, Taylor and Williamson took their stand to 262, a New Zealand record for all wickets in Sri Lanka, beating the unbroken 246 of Jeff Crowe and Richard Hadlee at the Colombo Cricket Club in 1987. — Reuters 

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand 1st innings

Guptill c Mathews b Kulasekara 4
McCullum lbw Eranga 4
Williamson lbw Herath 135
Taylor lbw Herath 142
Flynn lbw Herath 53
van Wyk b Dilshan 0
Astle lbw Herath 3
Bracewell c Herath b Randiv 24
Southee b Herath 15
Patel not out 25
Boult b Herath 1
Extras: 6
Total: (all out, 153 ov) 412
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-14, 3-276, 4-290, 5-291, 6-300,7-346, 8-347, 9-410, 10-412
Bowling: Kulasekara 24-2-76-1, Eranga 22-0-91-1, Mathews 10-1-25-0, Herath 29-10-103-6, Randiv 39-3-94-1,Dilshan 9-2-19-1

Sri Lanka 1st innings

Paranavitana not out 9
Dilshan b Southee 5
Sangakkara c Boult b Southee 0
Jaya c Williamson b Boult 4
Mathews not out 20
Extras: 5
Total: (3 wkts, 17 ov) 43
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-7, 3-12
Bowling: Southee 6-2-16-2, Boult 6-1-16-1, Patel 3-2-2-0, Astle 2-0-6-0

New Delhi, November 26
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar today criticised the performance of Indian spinners during the humiliating 10-wicket defeat against England in the second Test here, saying allowing the visitors to score over 400 runs proved costly to the home side. "The England spin duo did a very good job but what were Indian spinners doing. They allowed England to score 50-odd runs more in their first innings and that too at run-a-ball.

How did they allow England to cross 400?" Gavaskar asked. "The Indian batsmen also did not do well in the Test and they should have been a little better in their application.

But more than the batsmen, the spinners had failed to do their job," he said.

Gavaskar said he was not surprised at captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni insisting on a turning track for the third Test in Kolkata also but re-iterated that the ploy of preparing rank turners had boomeranged on India.

"I am not surprised at his comments because he had already said it earlier that he wants turning tracks. But the question you should ask him is, how his slow bowlers are going to make amends. If they continue like in the third Test also, the result is also certain.

“England have two very good spinners in Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann and they will exploit the conditions and the ploy will backfire again. So, if you want to persist what can one say," Gavaskar said. He said that the curator at Eden Gardens, the venue of the third Test which begins on December 5, may not provide the type of pitch Dhoni wants.

Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly today said that Mahendra Singh Dhoni should not insist for a "spin-friendly" wicket at the Eden Gardens and instead draft in pacer Ashok Dinda for Harbhajan Singh in the third Test from December 5.

Ganguly said the English spinners outplayed the hosts in Mumbai "I think Dhoni and the team management should not insist again for a spin-friendly wicket as it would create problems.” — PTI

Nadaun, November 26
Himachal Pradesh today took a massive 206-runs lead over Jharkhand after they declared their first innings at 442 for seven on the third day of their Group C Ranji match here.

Resuming on overnight 201 for four in reply to Jharkhand's 236, Himachal virtually took the game away from the hosts riding on Rishidhavan's 128 and half centuries by Amit Kumar (52) and Atish Bhalaik (50 not out).

Rishidhavan, who became the second century-maker for the visitors after yesterday's fluent ton by Prakash Chopra (101), entertained the sparse crowd at the JSCA International Stadium, striking 15 boundaries before being caught by Manish Vardhan off Sunny Gupta for 128. At close, Jharkhand were 27 without loss with Akash Verma (18) and Manish Vardhan (7) at the crease.S S Rao took three wickets for 85 while Sunny Gupta took two for 108 for the hosts.

Brief scores: Jharkhand Ist innings: 236 all out and 27 for no loss; HP Ist innings: 442/7 decl (Prashant Chopra 101, Rishidhavan 128, Akash Chopra 61, S S Rao 3/85).

Madrid, November 26
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho boasted of "very, very, very good" relations with club bosses on Monday, after their latest 1-0 away loss to Real Betis.

Some Spanish media had speculated about tensions between Mourinho and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez as the club trails 11 points behind league leaders Barcelona. "I have very, very, very good relations with the president," as well as managing director Jose Angel Sanchez and other club members, the Portuguese coach told a news conference. "Relations could not be better," he said.

Some Spanish newspapers said Mourinho wanted Real Madrid to show greater support for his complaints about refereeing and the fixtures calendar, which he judged unfair to the team. But the coach said he was not calling on the club to say anything. — Reuters