England v India – 5th One Day International – Match Recap
India 304 v England
241 (34 overs) - England won by 6 wickets (with 10 balls remaining) (D/L method)
Hosts England beat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 by six wickets in the fifth match of the five-match series at Cardiff to earn a 3-0 victory over the tourists India, after chasing a revised target of 241 runs from 34 overs in a rain effected match.
After winning the toss, England put India into bat in a bid to restrict the visitors on meagre total to whitewash the series after already having won the event by 2-0.
However, unexpectedly India who have had a terrible summer in England this year, perhaps gave their best batting performance in the last match of a two-month long tour where they lost the four-match Test series by 4-0 and then went down in the only T20 match
of the tour.
The Indians desperately needed a win in their last outing as they had won nothing against the Poms which cost them their number one stature in Test cricket.
The Indian openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajinkya-Rahane-c970 provided a defiant start to the Indian innings as they clobbered a partnership of 52 runs.
India suffered their first loss when opener Rahane was removed by Jade Dernbach when the batsman after playing a knock of 26 runs off 47 deliveries was caught by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566 at third-man.
In the 16th over, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501.
It was then time for India’s “Wall” http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737 to form an insurmountable partnership which left the English agonising as the batsmen stood defiant against the opposition, aiming to score a mammoth tally to beat the hosts.
The presence of the batsmen was a spot of bother for the English skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 who was getting desperate to see an end to the dangerous partnership.
It was on the last delivery of the 42nd over when England finally managed to grab the wicket of Dravid who after playing a tamed innings of 69 runs in his last One Day International (ODI) found his way back to the pavilion under the standing ovation
from the Cardiff crowd.
The Dravid/ Kohli partnership had brought 170 runs in the Indian tally which by the time of Dravid’s wicket had reached to 227 runs.
Before Dravid’s demise, Kholi had managed to score his sixth one-day hundred in the same over, however, the batsman also perished after scoring 107 runs in the 44th over when he was given out hit-wicket while trying to play a delivery by Swann.
Later, it was the blitz of an innings by the Indian skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 who smashed 50 runs off 26 deliveries to help his side post a daunting target of 305 runs for the English.
However, during the break Cardiff experienced showers forcing the Duckworth–Lewis method (D/L method) to come into play which revised the target to 241 runs from 34 overs.
England put the foot on the paddle early on as the openers Cook and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/C-Kieswetter-c1206 batted superbly well against the Indian bowlers.
England suffered their first loss in the fifth over when Kieswetter was given leg-before wicket off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Vinay-Kumar-c2237. The batsman lost his wicket after scoring 21 runs off 17 deliveries. At the time of his departure England had managed to post
27 runs on the board.
Cook was then joined by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576 as both batsmen reduced the Indian bowling to rubble by smashing sensational shots all around the park, giving the spectators at Cardiff plenty to cheer about.
The two batsmen fancied a partnership of 79 runs that included a 50-run knock from the skipper who was dismissed on the penultimate delivery of the 18th over when Kohli bolted a delivery right into the stumps of the batsman. At this point the
English had posted 106 runs on the board with plenty of batting still to come.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597 then departed after scoring 26 runs which was followed by Trott’s wicket who fell to his demise after clobbering a hefty innings of 63 runs off 60 deliveries.
The sight of Trott walking back to the pavilion was a sign for India to make a comeback in the match as England were facing a rise in the required run rate to win the match.
However, the arrival of the 21-year-old debutant http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 their third match against the Indians as
the youngster remained unbeaten on 41 runs while his partner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RS-Bopara-c2373 carried the bat after putting 37 runs on the board.
Bairstow was named as the Man of the Match while India’s skipper MS Dhoni was named as the Player of the Series.
With this loss, India will now return back home without winning a single match in England this season.
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