Southampton, Sep 6: Alastair Cook played a remarkably poised innings (80 off 63 balls) while Craig Kieswetter (46 off 25 balls) flayed the Indian attack to give England a comprehensive victory in the second One-Day International of the five-match series. With the first ODI having been abandoned due to rain, England now take a 1-0 lead against the Indians.
Earlier, after incessant rain forced the match to be reduced to a 23-over-a side contest, India made first use of the wicket with Alastair Cook winning the toss and opting to field.
Parthiv Patel continued from where he left off in Chester-le-Street as he hit 26 off Tim Bresnan's opening two overs. However, the feisty opener didn’t last very long; Patel’s 18-ball 28 cameo was brought to an end by James Anderson.
Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Dravid then took charge of the Indian innings and shared a 79-run stand that got the visitors to a good position to put up a competitive score. Rahane brought up his second half-century of the tour before he was caught and bowled by Swann while Dravid, too, fell to the same bowler when he offered a catch to James Anderson at midwicket.
As was the case with India in the second ODI, frequent wickets towards the end of their innings slowed down their momentum. However, another blustery knock from Suresh Raina (49 from 19 deliveries) proved just how invaluable the southpaw was in the limited overs’ format.
India finished at 187 for the loss of eight wickets with Swann and Tim Bresnan taking three wickets each.
If Parthiv Patel gave India’s innings a fillip at the top, Craig Kieswetter did the same for England. The wicketkeeper-batsman plundered the medium pace of Praveen Kumar and R Vinay Kumar, hitting four fours and three sixes, to give the hosts an exceptional start to their run chase. By the time Vinay Kumar had Kieswetter trapped lbw, the England batsman had brought down the required rate by almost a run an over.
With Alastair Cook determined not to throw away the dazzling start given by his opening partner, England were always in control of proceedings. R Ashwin dismissed Ian Bell (25 off 16) and Ravi Bopara (24 off 20) but proved far too expensive on the night; the offspinner gave away 42 runs from his five overs. In the end it was skipper Cook’s 63-ball 80 that took England home with seven wickets and five deliveries to spare.
Brief scores: England 188/3 in 22.1 overs (Alastair Cook 80*, Craig Kieswetter 46, R Ashwin 2/42) beat India 187/8 in 23.0 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 54, Suresh Raina 40, Graeme Swann 3/33, Tim Bresnan 3/43) by seven wickets
Man-of-the-match: Alastair Cook for his unbeaten 63-ball 80 that helped England to a seven-wicket win
