Swann, Flintoff star for England, India all out for 453

Amlan Chakraborty

Mohali, Dec 20 (PTI) Graeme Swann triggered a top order
collapse and Andrew Flintoff polished off the tail to abort
India's bid to bury England under a run mountain on day two of
the second and final cricket Test here Saturday.

Resuming on 179 for one, India's overnight batsmen Gautam
Gambhir (179) and Rahul Dravid (136) starred in a record
314-run stand for the second wicket before Swann and Flintoff
pegged back the hosts who lost wickets in a heap towards the
end to be all out for 453 runs in 158.2 overs.

England openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook did walk
out to begin their first innings but once they were offered
light, both returned to the pavilion without facing a ball.
Interestingly, the sun came out soon after.

The morning session, which yielded 123 runs from 27 overs
without any wicket falling, clearly belonged to the hosts, who
looked set for at least 500 runs.

Fortune, however, fluctuated in the post-lunch session,
which saw just 54 runs being scored off 28 overs with four
Indian wickets tumbling in quick successions.

England dominated the final session as well, claiming the
lower half of the Indian batting order conceding 97 runs.

On a misty morning when the ball did quite a bit, both
the overnight batsmen Gambhir and Dravid scratched around for
a while before some easy boundaries calmed their nerves.

Much to their bemusement, they found singles were not
easy to come by even though boundaries kept flowing. Gambhir
cut Andrew Flintoff for a delectable boundary to score India's
first runs of the day and twice stepped out to hit Monty
Panesar for a couple of fours in his only over before lunch.

After his painstaking effort Friday Dravid Saturday
played some delectable shots, along with some
not-so-convincing ones, which pushed his strike rate.

Dravid got into the groove by hitting James Anderson for
back-to-back boundaries -- an edge and a more convincing steer
down the third man. Broad too was treated similarly, this time
an immaculate cut was followed by a top edge that flew over
the slips.

A single off Anderson finally took Dravid to his 26th
century, which was his second of the year, following the 111
he had scored against South Africa in Chennai.

At the other end, Gambhir could not be denied his
individual milestone either. The left-hander went on to
complete his 1000 Test runs this calendar year, joining
Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar who had
already completed the feat in 2008.

The morning session eventually proved a wicketless toil
for the English bowlers who did everything right but just
could not get rid of the determined Indian duo.

Once they returned to the field after lunch, Swann
injected some life into the dull proceedings with a
three-wicket burst that triggered a top order collapse.

After more than six-and-half hours' stay in the middle,
Gambhir's patience was clearly wearing thin as the left-hander
started slogging and missing. He threw his bat at everything
hurled at him and Swann sensed an opportunity.

The off-spinner lured him out of the crease and Gambhir
went for a drive only to see the outside edge finding Alastair
Cook at backward point. It was clearly a rush of blood that
ended Gambhir's 348-ball knock garnished with 25 hits to the
fence besides a six.

Nine runs later, Swann plotted Dravid's fall when the
batsman, trying to clear long on, offered Panesar a simple
catch at deep mid-off.

Sachin Tendulkar (11) had scored his 12,000th Test run
at the same ground against Australia in October but he let
down his fans on this occasion. Tendulkar attempted a paddle
shot but completely missed the line and umpire Daryl Harper
had no doubt that the Swann delivery would have hit the
stumps.

Bowling without luck so far, Flintoff decided to join the
party and the talismanic Englishman trapped VVS Laxman with
one that jagged back as India, from the comfort of a
commanding 320 for one, suddenly slumped to 339 for five.

Laxman had a 24-ball struggle at the end of which the
stylish right-hander departed with a duck against his name.

The Indian crisis would have compounded but butter-finger
Cook spilled a pretty regulation catch at gully after Yuvraj
Singh (27), then at eight, had played Flintoff away from his
body.

Not that Yuvraj could make the most of the opportunity.
The left-hander had blasted three fours and a huge six off
Swann when he fell to a soft caught-behind dismissal that gave
Panesar his first wicket of the match.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (29) hit Anderson for two boundaries
before perishing in the same over. At the other end, a
nonchalant Harbhajan Singh swung his bat at everything before
falling to Panesar after a 21-ball 24.

Flintoff removed Zaheer Khan (7) and Amit Mishra (23) to
drop curtains on the Indian innings.