Mohali, Oct 20: India took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against England after they beat the visitors by five wickets in a closely contested game here at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali today. After England posted an impressive score of 298, Ajinkya Rahane (91) and MS Dhoni (35*) played crucial knocks to help the hosts secure their third successive win of the series.
England batted first on the Mohali wicket after captain, Alastair Cook, won the toss. However, the visitors, once again, had a disappointing start as Cook (3) was trapped lbw by R Vinay Kumar in the fourth over of the innings. Craig Kieswetter made a brisk 38-ball 38 before a delivery from part-time bowler Virat Kohli found the inside edge of Kieswetter’s bat and uprooted his leg-stump. England were 53 for two in 12.1 overs at that stage.
Kevin Pietersen then produced his best knock of this series with a 61-ball 64. The England No. 4 added 101 runs for the fourth wicket with Jonathan Trott before he was trapped lbw by Ravindra Jadeja. Ravi Bopara, coming in at No. 5, made 24 before he dragged a Praveen Kumar Yorker onto his stumps.
But with Jonathan Trott standing tall, England maintained a solid run-rate right through their innings. The 200-run mark was raised in 39.1 overs (just above 5.00 an over). Trott, who has been England’s highest run-scorer in ODIs this year, remained unbeaten right through the visitors’ innings and was unlucky to finish at 98, two runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century.
However, the England innings received a late flourish thanks to Samit Patel being promoted ahead of Jonny Bairstow in the batting order. Patel struck an unbeaten 70 off just 43 deliveres (strike-rate of 162.79) to help England score a whopping 103 runs in the last 12 overs. That cameo from Patel helped England to a mammoth score of 298 in 50 overs.
However, on a wicket where the ball was coming on to the bat nicely, the Indian openers gave the hosts the perfect start to chase down England’s score. Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane added 79 for the opening wicket in just 15.4 overs before Patel (38) was trapped lbw by Tim Bresnan.
Rahane then combined with Gautam Gambhir and added 111 for the second wicket. Their partnership threatened to give India an easy win when Gambhir (58) was out caught brilliantly by Kevin Pietersen off Steven Finn’s bowling. Rahane, under pressure for his lackluster form, meanwhile worked his way into the 90s but fell short of the three-figure mark. The Indian opener was caught by Alastair Cook at mid-off for 91.
The hosts, who were still sitting pretty at the fall of Rahane’s wicket with the score at 212 for three in 37.5 overs, then lost two quick wickets to give England the upper hand. Suresh Raina went without opening his account, the southpaw caught by Pietersen at mid-off while Virat Kohli (35) was trapped lbw by Graeme Swann with India needing 64 to win off 51 deliveries.
In the end, though, it was MS Dhoni who once again played a brilliant knock under pressure to take India home. The Indian captain stuck a 65-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (26* off 24) and remained unbeaten on 35* (31 balls) to take the hosts past the target with four deliveries to spare.
The fourth ODI between the two sides will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the 23rd of October.
Brief Scores – India 300/5 in 49.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 91, Gautam Gambhir 58, MS Dhoni 35*, Steven Finn 2/44) beat England 298/4 in 50.0 overs (Jonathan Trott 98*, Samit Patel 70*, Virat Kohli 1/20) by five wickets
Man-of-the-match: Ajinkya Rahane for his well paced innings of 91 (104b, 4X6)
