Heartbreak for Gambhir as Mohali Test ends in draw

MOHALI (India), Dec 23: India’s Gautam Gambhir missed his second century of the match by three runs as the second Test against England was drawn on Tuesday, giving the hosts a 1-0 series win.

The left-hander, who scored 179 in the first innings, had made 97 in the second knock when he was caught at point off by Graeme Swann soon after lunch on the fifth day, signalling India’s declaration at 251-7.

The tourists, who were set an improbable target of 403 in a minimum of 43 overs, preferred to play out time and were 64-1 from 28 overs when the match was called off at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Indians clinched the two-match series after having won the first Test in Chennai by six wickets.

“I thought we played very well throughout the series,” said Dhoni, who drew his first Test as captain after winning all his previous four matches at the helm.

“A lot of time was lost in this match and there was not much in the wicket for the spinners. But the good thing is we are all enjoying our cricket and look forward to the future with a lot of confidence.”

England captain Kevin Pietersen said the tour was a learning experience for his team, who returned to play the series after a security clearance following the Mumbai attacks.

“There is a lot to learn from a tour of India,” he said. “We got into a position to win in Chennai but could not pull it off.

“I am really proud to be captain of a bunch of lads who jumped back on a plane to get here and then concentrated on their cricket.”

A draw was on the cards after 80 overs were lost over the five days due to dense winter fog in the mornings and bad light in the evenings.

The final day’s play on Tuesday, which was also delayed by two hours and 30 minutes due to fog, was lit up by a stroke-filled 153-run stand for the fifth wicket between Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh.

Yuvraj hit a typically aggressive 86 off 91 balls, his fifth Test half-century studded with six boundaries and four sixes.

Two of those sixes came off successive deliveries against Stuart Broad, the same bowler Yuvraj smashed for six sixes in a single over during the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa last year.

Gambhir, who was 80 at lunch, moved to 97 before he failed to keep down a cut off Swann and Bell took a tumbling catch at point.

The 27-year-old Delhi opener compiled 1,134 runs from eight Tests in 2008, having scored three hundreds and as many half-centuries in his last eight innings.

The best of Gambhir’s three centuries this year was the 206 he made against world champions Australia in New Delhi in October in a series India won 2-0 to annexe the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Gambhir, who was later named Man-of-the-Match, was the fourth Indian to surpass 1,000 runs in 2008 after Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman and Virender Sehwag.

India’s left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan was named Man-of-the-Series for his eight wickets.

The Test ended in a farce when Dhoni took off his wicket-keeping pads and gloves to bowl the final over with Laxman taking charge behind the stumps.

Scoreboard

INDIA (1st Innings) 453 (G. Gambhir 179, R. Dravid 136).ENGLAND (1st Innings) 302 (K.P. Pietersen 144, A. Flintoff 62, A.N. Cook 50; Harbhajan Singh 4-68).

INDIA (2nd Innings, overnight 134-4):

G. Gambhir c Bell b Swann 97

V. Sehwag run out 17

R. Dravid b Broad 0

S.R. Tendulkar c Swann b Anderson 5

V.V.S. Laxman run out 15

Yuvraj Singh run out 86

M.S. Dhoni c and b Panesar 0

Harbhajan Singh not out 5

EXTRAS (B-10, LB-8, W-5, NB-3) 26

TOTAL (for seven decl, 73 overs) 251

FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-36, 3-44, 4-80, 5-233, 6-241, 7-251.