CRICKET/India v England, second Test: It was all over shortly before tea - Munaf Patel and Virender Sehwag saw to that. Patel, the debutant fast bowler with slinky natural pace and wicked control of reverse swing, produced a devastating three-wicket burst first thing that cut short any hopes of England setting India a testing fourth-innings total, despite the best efforts once again of Andrew Flintoff, who made 51 to go with his 70 in the first innings.
The captain has let no one down but a target of 144 was never going to prove a problem for India unless the England pace bowlers could blast a hole in their upper order that would send the jitters through the lower ranks. It was not to be.
Matthew Hoggard managed to remove Wasim Jaffer but that merely preceded an unbroken second-wicket stand of 105 between Sehwag and, inevitably, Rahul Dravid that began carefully and developed into a romp. The win, by nine wickets, came in 33 overs.
England must now go to Mumbai with their thinking hats on. They may reflect first of all that winning the toss in India is of little consequence if the batsmen are not going to take advantage of the best conditions the match will offer.
Magnificently as Anil Kumble bowled, to be dismissed for 300 was a great underachievement, the lessons of Pakistan - patience and yet more patience - not absorbed sufficiently across the board.
Once India got their noses in front it was always going to be hard going. Indeed the fourth day proved pivotal when India, under the hammer from the England pacemen, turned the innings round and then rocked the opposition with five wickets in the evening.
For Sehwag it was redemption for the three poor innings that preceded it. So often he conveys the air of someone who can destroy the best attacks but only on the purest surfaces where his instinct and eye can overcome shortcomings in technique.
Runs for him yesterday were important not just for the side but for him also, and his unbeaten 76, with nine fours and a six that fully deserves the traditional accolade of towering, will send him off to Mumbai in good heart for the final Test beginning on Saturday.
England were unable to gain the kind of help from the last-day pitch that they might have hoped.
Steve Harmison was, correctly, given the first over to try to create an impact as he had in the opening salvo of the Ashes series, but his first delivery bounced twice before it reached Geraint Jones, which in itself must have been deflating - because Sehwag, victim to Harmison in the first innings, was largely untroubled by any of the seamers and Monty Panesar found little of the turn or lift gained by Anil Kumble or, more pertinently, the finger spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Patel produced some superb stuff in the morning - pacy and with late movement that brought three wickets for eight runs. Geraint Jones was undone by bounce in the day's first over, playing on to his stumps, but Plunkett and Hoggard were both beaten by full-length reverse swing.
Only Harmison offered Flintoff long-term assistance, hanging around long enough to help add 42 for the ninth wicket and once reverse-sweeping Kumble to the boundary before Dhoni stumped him brilliantly down the leg side to give the leg-spinner another victim, his figures of nine for 146 bringing him the man of the match award.
Flintoff, unwell yesterday, was left with little option but to go for broke, but succeeded only in donating a memorable first wicket for Piyush Chawla. In the India team everyone has been a winner.
Guardian Service
Overnight: India 338 (R Dravid 95, I K Pathan 52; A Flintoff 4-96). England 300 (A Flintoff 70, K P Pietersen 64, G O Jones 52; A Kumble 5-76) and 112-5 (I R Bell 57).
ENGLAND SECOND INNINGS
A Flintoff c M M Patel b Piyush Chawla 51
G O Jones b M M Patel 5
L E Plunkett lbw b M M Patel 1
M J Hoggard b M M Patel 4
S J Harmison st Dhoni b Kumble 13
S Panesar not out 0
Extras lb10 w1 nb6 pens 0 17
Total (76.1 overs) ... 181
Fall: 1-7 2-50 3-55 4-88 5-109 6-116 7-124 8-139 9-181
Bowling: Pathan 6 1 16 0; M M Patel 13 4 25 4; Harbhajan Singh 23 5 52 1; Kumble 29 6 70 4; Piyush Chawla 5.1 2 8 1
INDIA SECOND INNINGS
W Jaffer lbw b Hoggard 17
V Sehwag not out 76
R Dravid not out 42
Extras b4 lb5 pens 0 9
Total 1 wkt (33 overs) ... 144
Fall: 1-39
Did not bat: S R Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, M S Dhoni, I K Pathan, A Kumble, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, M M Patel.
Bowling: Harmison 4 1 10 0; Hoggard 8 2 24 1; Panesar 11 0 48 0; Flintoff 5 0 11 0; Plunkett 2 0 22 0; Collingwood 3 1 20 0
India beat England by 9 wkts
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