India reinstate supremacy; seal series with 4-0 lead

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Bangalore, : India sealed the ODI series against England with a thrilling 19 run win at Bangalore. The match proved to be a thriller despite the loss of numerous overs. The visitors were done in by the high run-rate, partly due to the Duckworth-Lewis system coming into play but primarily because of the brilliant all-round performance of Dhoni’s men.

Virender Sehwag won the Man of the Match prize for his blitzkrieg half-century that set the pace for the win.


The last wicket to be taken was the eighth wicket of Paul Collingwood perishing to a super catch by Sachin Tendulkar.

Graeme Swann fell to a terrible mix-up on the pitch that got him run out at 5 runs. The previous over had seen a Gautam Gambhir flier to get rid of dangerman Samit Patel off a Zaheer special. With six wickets gone and the run-rate going beyond the roof, India smelled the sweet fragrance of victory in front of an enthralled home crowd.

Just before this, Ishant Sharma had made his presence felt at Bangalore as he stuck a fatal blow to England in the form of Andrew Flintoff’s wicket. The batsman was caught by Zaheer Khan and the fall brought out Samit Patel to the crease who started the festivities with a cracking boundary.

Prior to this, Owais Shah’s brilliant innings came to an end after Zaheer Khan got him caught by Sachin Tendulkar at cover point. Shah contributed 72 runs to the team’s cause.

Shah earlier waged a valiant battle despite the mounting odds and hit a blistering fifty at a time when his team needed it the most. His effort took the team’s total past the 100 run-mark.

Ishant Sharma had also claimed the prized scalp of England skipper Kevin Pietersen. The batsman was bowled with a length delivery on the off stump at a score of 5 runs.

Earlier, India’s ace tweaker Harbhajan Singh spun havoc for England as he claimed the wicket of Ian Bell. The batsman was clean bowled at a score of 12 runs.

England had suffered their first setback in the run chase early on as Munaf Patel got the desired breakthrough in the form of Ravi Bopara’s wicket. The batsman was caught brilliantly by Ishant Sharma at mid-on. He departed after scoring a run, bringing out Owais Shah to the crease.

As per the D/L method, India's score jumped up to 197. England would need 198 off the 22 overs to seal their first win of the series.

Indian Innings

India posted a good total of 166 runs in the stipulated 22 overs even as MS Dhoni fell victim to Samit Patel after scoring 9 runs. The innings was ended with Yusuf Pathan who cracked the last delivery for a massive six that set the solid target for the visitors.

England spinner Graeme Swann had spun into action in the penultimate over as he got the prized scalp of Gautam Gambhir. The batsman walked back after scoring 40 runs off 37 balls.

India lost their second wicket in the form of Virender Sehwag when the batsman was trying to slog one out of the park off a Swann delivery. He departed after cracking 69 quick runs as there were less than five overs left in the innings upon the restart of play.

The fourth ODI against England resumed after the second hiccup of the rain gods and the match was reduced to 22 overs a side.

Revised Conditions: Two bowlers can bowl 5 overs each, three bowlers can bowl 4 overs each. The bowling and the batting powerplays will consist of 2 overs each.

India’s blasting opener Virender Sehwag had resumed play with a vengeance as he slammed his 32nd ODI fifty against a stiff England bowling attack. However, the play was delayed again due to incessant rain that left the fate of the fourth ODI headed towards the doldrums.

Prior to this, Gautam Gambhir came in to replace Sachin at the crease and got into business without wasting any time. He struck four boundaries in quick succession to take India to 61 for the loss of one wicket at the end of over number 10.

Virender Sehwag also completed 6000 runs in ODIs when the batsman reached the score of 36 runs.

Sachin Tendulkar could not celebrate his return to the ODI side after a hiatus of more than seven months as Stuart Broad played spoilsport and rattled his stumps. Sachin departed after scoring 11 runs.

Toss

England skipper Kevin Pietersen won the toss and chose to bowl first in the first day night game of the Hero Honda Cup here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

India have brought in Sachin Tendulkar with Rohit Sharma making way for the Master while England are fielding an unchanged squad. With 3-0 down already, it is do or die situation for the visiting Brits. They simply cannot afford to lose this match.

The dew factor is likely to play a major role later in the evening and this might have prompted Pietersen’s decision to give his bowlers a chance to exploit the moisture in the wicket.

England - Ravinder Bopara, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen(c), Owais Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Matthew Prior(w), Samit Patel, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Stephen Harmison

India - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni(w/c), Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel


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