Gone in 60 minutes

Consider this:

8226; Three out leg-before, two caught just outside the off-stump, one at long-leg, one at short-leg and one at fine-leg

8226; The longest partnership of the day was the 42-run stand for the fourth wicket between Dravid and Tendulkar

8226; Four wickets were picked up by right-arm off-spinner Shaun Udal 8212; for the record, England8217;s third-choice spinner for this series, not even considered for the team8217;s practice games.

As chaos descended, one senior India player not in he team was overheard complaining bitterly to a colleague about the lack of a gameplan, about how the youngsters had no idea of what was expected of them.

It all seemed so unreal, especially given the state of play in the hour before lunch. Overnight batsmen Wasim Jaffer and Anil Kumble had departed early but Tendulkar 8212; showing glimpses of his old class 8212; and Dravid steadied the boat, the latter taking 60 balls to score just nine runs.

England, as captain Andrew Flintoff accepted in the end, 8216;8216;went through their most nervous sessions in that period.8217;8217;

Then the teams went in to lunch where, as Flintoff said, they listened to Johnny Cash8217;s Ring of Fire. It certainly left the Indians sorely singed.

Flintoff8217;s third ball of the first over after lunch swayed outside the off-stump and, as the crowd held its breath, Dravid edged it behind. He returned to the pavilion visibly upset, pounding his bat in frustration, almost as though he knew what would follow. He wasn8217;t wrong.

Two overs later, an inside edge off Udal saw Tendulkar walking back and Dhoni joined Yuvraj Singh in the middle.

Flintoff kept coming in from one end, bowling in three-over spells, keeping himself fresh in time to come back and bowl wicket-taking deliveries.

The damage, though, was being done by Udal who kept pitching his deliveries neatly at good length, waiting for the batsman to come down the line. The temptation was too much for Dhoni to resist and he had a massive, mistimed hit to the mid-off region; a nervous Monty Panesar hilariously dropped it. Two balls later, lesson obviously not learnt, he repeated the shot and this time Panesar held it.

England knew the value of the wicket and celebrated accordingly. 8216;8216;When Dhoni got out, we were sure that it was just a matter of time,8217;8217; Flintoff later said.

The next three wickets fell for just eight runs. 8216;8216;They were just panicky8217;8217;, said Dravid of the collapse. 8216;8216;Short of experience to tackle such situations.8217;8217;

That was half the story. What the captain didn8217;t say in public, and one hopes it was said within the confines of the dressing-room, was that India seemed to have given up the fight.

SCOREBOARD

England 1st innings 400
India 1st innings 279
England 2nd innings 191
India 2nd innings
Overnight 18-1

Wasim Jaffer lbw Flintoff 10
Irfan Pathan b Anderson 6
Anil Kumble lbw Hoggard 8
Rahul Dravid c Jones b Flintoff 9
Sachin Tendulkar c Bell b Udal 34
Yuvraj Singh c Collingwood b Flintoff 12
Virender Sehwag lbw Anderson 0
MS Dhoni c Panesar b Udal 5
Harbhajan Singh c Hoggard b Udal 6
S Sreesunth not out 0
Munaf Patel c Hoggard b Udal 1
Extras b1, lb4, nb3, w1 9
Total all out, 48.2 overs 100
Fall of Wickets: 1/6, 2/21, 3/33, 4/75, 5/76, 6/77, 7/92, 8/99, 9/99
Bowling: M Hoggard 12-6-13-1, J Anderson 12-2-39-2, M Panesar 4-1-15-0, A Flintoff 11-4-14-3, S Udal 9.2-3-14-4