New Delhi, Oct 17: India took a 2-0 lead against England in the five-match ODI series being played between the two sides after the hosts stormed to an eight-wicket victory against the visitors here at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. After R Vinay Kumar’s four-wicket haul restricted England to a modest score of 237, Virat Kohli struck his seventh ODI century (112*) to guide India to victory.
Earlier, after winning the toss and opting to bat first, England stumbled their way to a sub-par score. Openers Alastair Cook and Craig Kieswetter fell without opening their account to give India a stranglehold of the match early on. However, despite that woeful start, England recovered.
Jonathan Trott struck a brisk 37-ball 34 while Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara added 73 for the fourth wicket to stabilize the England innings. But then, with the score reading 121 for three, Bopara (36) was trapped lbw by R Ashwin bowling round the wicket. Four deliveries later, without any change in the England score, Pietersen (46) made his way back to the dressing room, having edged a delivery from Umesh Yadav to MS Dhoni.
At that stage, England were threatening to fold for a score less than 200. But Jonny Bairstow (35) and Samit Patel (42) strung together another fruitful partnership for the visitors that took them past the 200-run mark. And though both batsmen once again fell in quick succession to one another, the England tail wagged long enough to put up a fighting score of 237.
For India, R Vinay Kumar was the pick of the bowlers. The Karnataka lad did the initial damage to the England side by picking up the wickets of Kieswetter and Trott and then returned to pick up the scalps of Tim Bresnan (12) and Graeme Swann (7) later in the innings.
Chasing a modest total on a slowish Delhi track was always going to be difficult and that task got only tougher for the hosts as Parthiv Patel (12) and Ajinkya Rahane (14) were removed by Tim Bresnan before the seventh over had been completed.
However, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir then shared an unbeaten 209-run stand for the third wicket, the second-highest partnership at this venue, to take the game away from England. Kohli was the chief aggressor as he helped himself to his second ODI hundred in three games off just 89 deliveries. India eventually won the match with 13.2 overs still left to be bowled in the match.
The third ODI between the two sides will be played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali on the 20th of October.
Brief Scores – India 238 /2 in 36.4 overs (Virat Kohli 112*, Gautam Gambhir 84*, Tim Bresnan 2/41) beat England 237 all out in 48.2 overs (Kevin Pietersen 46, Samit Patel 42, R Vinay Kumar 4/30, Umesh Yadav 2/50) by eight wickets
Man-of-the-match: Virat Kohli for his sensational innings of 112* (off 98 balls) that powered India to an eight-wicket win
