Sehwag smashes India to victory

England were trounced by nine wickets in the second Test against India at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium.

India cruised to their modest 144-run victory target with Virender Sehwag shrugging off his recent malaise to hit an unbeaten half-century, which came up in a three-figure stand with captain Rahul Dravid.

Although Matthew Hoggard struck after lunch to give the briefest glimmer of hope it was in vain as the Indians made serene progress before letting loose.

Yorkshire swing bowler Hoggard, winning his 50th cap, trapped Wasim Jaffer leg before wicket in the third over of the afternoon session.

But Sehwag, whose previous three innings in the series yielded a paltry 13 runs, powered India home in front of a healthy fifth day crowd.

The noise levels increased as Liam Plunkett was plundered for 21 runs in two overs and Paul Collingwood was lofted for a towering six in an over which cost 11.

England were even denied a consolatory success in between when Andrew Strauss dropped Rahul Dravid, on 31, at slip off left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.

Sehwag's blitz propelled him to an unbeaten 76 alongside Dravid, who hit 42 not out.

Captain Andrew Flintoff tried his best to save the match in the first session but was let down by wickets falling around him.

Flintoff struck his second half-century of the contest to follow up his four wickets but defeat was inevitable after England collapsed for the second time in the match.

Resuming just 74 runs to the good with half the side dismissed, the tourists slumped in the opening hour after debut fast bowler Munaf Patel sliced through the lower order.

Any hope of defending a sizeable score rested with Flintoff, who continued to play responsibly in testing conditions.

And he found a willing ally in best mate Steve Harmison as the pair shared 42 for the ninth wicket.

But both fell in consecutive overs as England were restricted to 181 all out.

Harmison lunged at Anil Kumble to be brilliantly stumped by Mahendra Dhoni while Flintoff holed out to deep square leg to hand teenager leg spinner Piyush Chawla a prize first international scalp.

Flintoff's innings of 51, from 106 deliveries, was reflective of the responsibility with which has has played since taking over the leadership of the side from injury victim Michael Vaughan.

He did have some moments of good fortune, most notably when umpire Darrell Hair missed the fact an attempted sweep off Harbhajan Singh brushed the glove on its way through to Dhoni.

That perhaps redressed the balance of fortune somewhat after Kevin Pietersen was adjudged out by Hair playing a similar stroke when the ball hit his forearm yesterday - a decision which Pietersen reacted to with clear dissent, for which he may yet be censured for by match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

Wrist spinner Anil Kumble caused Flintoff discomfort when the ball leapt off the pitch to strike the shoulder of the bat and looped short of point while Patel ducked one back to spark a vociferous caught behind appeal, when the noise which caused the excitement was a brush of the trousers.

Such was Flintoff's watchful approach he struck only four boundaries, cover driving and sweeping Kumble and using his feet to loft Harbhajan short of the rope at long-on today.

He walked to the crease unbeaten on 16 to witness a disastrous start: Geraint Jones greeted the first ball with a cover-driven four but departed in the same over as he played on to a short-of-a-length delivery from Patel.

Patel's ability to reverse swing the ball caused mayhem in a spell of 8-2-15-3 as Liam Plunkett and Matthew Hoggard were both cleaned up by yorkers which tailed in from outside off stump.

The first trapped Plunkett leg before while Hoggard's boot re-directed a delivery into the stumps.

India v England

Mohali India beat England by 9 wkts

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

M 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