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MOHALI, Mar 13 (AFP): Munaf Patel bagged seven wickets in his debut game and Virender Sehwag regained his form with a blazing 76 not out as India shattered England's dreams with an emphatic nine-wicket win in the second Test Monday.
England, seeking their first Test series victory in India in 21 years, go into the third and final Test at Mumbai Saturday hoping only to square the series after the first Test ended in a draw.
Seamer Patel ended England's hopes of setting a stiff target with three quick wickets in his inspiring opening spell to finish with 4-25. He had taken three scalps in the first innings.
England could set only a modest 144-run target off 70 overs on the fifth and final day despite captain Andrew Flintoff's brave 51 under pressure. The tourists, trailing by 38 runs on first innings, were dismissed for 181 after resuming on 112-5.
India rode on opener Sehwag's 11th Test half-century to get the job done just before the tea- break, reaching 144-1 in 33 overs.
Sehwag put on 105 for the unbroken second wicket with skipper Rahul Dravid, who remained unbeaten on 42.
The Indian opener, who had failed in his previous three innings of the series, returned to form with an aggressive 89- ball knock including one six and nine fours.
Injury-hit England, who had fought well at Nagpur without key batsmen Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, had little chance of repeating their performance after their batting failure in the second innings.
Their pacemen tried hard, but found the target too small to defend on a fifth- day track which was still good for batting. They tasted just one success when swing bowler Matthew Hoggard trapped Wasim Jaffer (17) leg-before.
England always faced a stiff task after losing five wickets for 112 in Sunday's last session. Their slim hopes of matching India depended on a big partnership Monday, but only Steve Harmison could give his captain company in a crisis.
SCOREBOARD
England 1st innings: 300
India 1st innings: 338
England 2nd innings (overnight 112-5):
A Strauss c Dhoni b Kumble 13
A Cook c Dhoni b Patel 2
I Bell c Dhoni b Kumble 57
K Pietersen c Dravid b Harbhajan 4
P Collingwood c Dravid b Kumble 14
A Flintoff c Patel b Chawla 51
G Jones b Patel 5
L Plunkett lbw b Patel 1
M Hoggard b Patel 4
S Harmison st Dhoni b Kumble 13
M Panesar not out 0
Extras: (lb10, nb6, w1) 17
Total: 181
Overs: 76.1
India 2nd innings (target 144):
W Jaffer lbw b Hoggard 17
V Sehwag not out 76
R Dravid not out 42
Extras: (b4, lb5) 9
Total: (for one wicket) 144
Overs: 33
Result: India win by nine wickets
Third Test: Mumbai (March 18-22)
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