After four games in their seven-match One-Day International series in 2007, India were staring down the barrel against England, trailing 1-3. But they won a rain-affected match in Leeds to put themselves in sight of a memorable comeback. The Oval in London then played the perfect host for the sixth ODI on September 5 as India levelled the series 3-3, thanks to a fantastic innings from Sachin Tendulkar.
England won the toss and chose to bat first against the Indian pace attack led by Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar. Under Rahul Dravid's leadership, India got off to a brilliant start with Khan taking the wicket of Alastair Cook on the second ball of the match. Agarkar picked up England's second wicket in the fourth over, dismissing Matt Prior leg-before-wicket. After that, however, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen stabilised the England innings with both hitting half centuries.
The Indian bowlers were taken to the rafters after Owais Shah and Luke Wright came to the crease. Shah hit his maiden century (107) and Wright, making his ODI debut, smashed a 39-ball 50 to take England to 316/6 in 50 overs.
Chasing 317 to win at The Oval was a tricky task for the Indian batsman. But they knew they had the calibre to do it and with Sachin Tendulkar scoring three 50-plus scores in the previous five ODIs, the stage was set for an epic battle. In walked Sourav Ganguly and Tendulkar, India’s most famous partnership till date and they knew they had to get the job done.
However, on that day, Ganguly preferred being the non-striker. Tendulkar was in the zone and looked set to score a century after being denied by a single run in the second ODI at Bristol. He hit some exquisite boundaries all around the park and reached his fifty in 41 balls with nine boundaries, all delivered with immaculate timing.
No Indian batsman had hit a century in the series and Tendulkar looked set to get one. He hit Paul Collingwood for two authoritative boundaries and then smashed Dimitri Mascarenhas for a huge six. Unfortunately, he fell for 94 to Monty Panesar, which must have left him fuming. However, he set the tone of the match and despite a late collapse, India went on to win by two wickets.
