Sport | Cricket

India clinch Test series against England 1-0

ndia clinched the two-test series 1-0 against England on Tuesday after Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh batted the tourists out of the contest on the last day of the second match.

  • AP
  • Published: 15:45 December 23, 2008
  • Gulf News

Mohali: India clinched the two-test series 1-0 against England on Tuesday after Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh batted the tourists out of the contest on the last day of the second match.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni belatedly declared at 251 for seven when Gambhir was dismissed for 97, leaving England an almost impossible target of 403 in less than two
sessions.

England, which lost the opening match by six wickets at Chennai, made 64 for one as the game meandered to a draw.

Opener Alastair Cook (10) was the only Englishman out in the second innings, edging Ishant Sharma to V.V.S Laxman at slip.

Dhoni's four-match winning sequence as captain was broken by the draw, but the series victory appeared to be adequate reward for his team.

The series was almost cancelled in the wake of last month's terror attacks in Mumbai which killed 164 people. The English abandoned the last two games of the limited-overs
series and flew home after the attacks.

England only agreed to return for the two tests after its security advisers gave a comprehensive assessment and the tests were moved to venues that the tourists wanted.

Gambhir, who scored 179 in India's first innings of 453, shared a high-tempo, 153-run stand for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj, who was run out for 86.

Gambhir hit six boundaries from 229 deliveries and became India's top run-scorer in a single test match against England when he reached 78.

Play started 2 1/2 hours late Tuesday due to heavy fog and India resumed at 134-4.

Gulf News
The UAE’s Hamdan Al Kamali and India’s Je Je fight for the ball during the first-leg of the Asian qualifier for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, at the Al Ain
Club’s Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday. Al Kamali opened the account for the hosts with a penalty in the 21st minute, followed by another spot kick converted by Mohammad Al Shhehi in the 29th minute. Ismail Al Hammadi then completed the tally in the 80th minute of the match.

Football

Feature of Kamali breakthrough

Martin Kaymer of Germany lines up a putt on the 18th green on the second day of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic golf
championship at Emirates Golf Club on Friday.

Golf

Long wait over

Winning Desert Classic as close to McIlroy's heart as Wozniacki

Cricket

On the backfoot

Sport Editor's choice