50 overs India 271 for 8 (Dhoni 75*) v England
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Related Links
Matches:
India v England at Kolkata
Series/Tournaments:
England tour of India
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Dhoni's unbeaten 75 from 69 balls lifted their total from a dicey 123
for 4, and took his recent tally to 330 runs without dismissal in his
past six ODI innings - an Indian record. It was his second half-century
of the current series and his sixth in his past seven against England,
in which time he has been extracted just the once, for 69 in the third
of the five-match series at The Oval in September.
After winning the toss for the fourth match in a row, Alastair Cook this
time chose to bowl first in muggy conditions at Eden Gardens, but in
front of a sparsely populated stadium, England's initial efforts were
flat in the extreme. Basic errors littered England's play, with Gautam
Gambhir gifted two boundaries as, first, the slip cordon and, then,
Stuart Meaker at third man let the ball roll through their grasp.
At the other end, Ajinkya Rahane continued his impressively fluent start
to international cricket with six fours in a 61-ball innings of 42, and
at 71 for 0 after 15 overs, India's hopes of exacting instant
retribution for their Test-series whitewash in the summer were looking
extremely rosy. The only real chance in that period was a life for
Gambhir on 25, who edged Meaker high to Craig Kieswetter's left, and
away for four as the keeper mistimed his leap.
However, the advent of the bowling Powerplay brought the free scoring to
a dramatic halt, as India scraped together 10 runs in the next five
overs for the loss of three key wickets. After one over from Swann, Cook
reverted to his frontline seamers, Tim Bresnan and Finn, who responded
with a double-wicket maiden to lift his team-mates' flagging morale.
First to go was Gambhir for 38, in near-identical fashion to his
dismissal by Finn at Mumbai, as a lifting delivery outside off nipped
off the inside edge and into the stumps. Then, after welcoming Virat
Kohli with a series of excellent deliveries in the channel outside off,
he bowled him with a final-ball beauty that zipped off the seam and
crashed into off stump as the batsman offered no stroke.
Four balls and no runs later, and Bresnan was into the act as well, as
Kieswetter atoned for his earlier miss with a soaring leap to his right
to cling on to a flying edge. A second consecutive maiden for Finn was
then followed by an equally frugal first over from Ravi Bopara, and
India's collapse should have been four wickets for one run in 25 balls
when Swann at slip dropped his clanger.
Suitably liberated, Raina followed up with a slashing cut for four in an
over that went for 10, and with the newly recalled Manoj Tiwary
settling into an aggressive but comfortable rhythm at the other end,
England's brief bubble of optimism looked in danger of bursting. The
pair added 42 runs for the fourth wicket in six overs before Tiwary's
cameo ended at 24 from 30 balls with a snick to the keeper off Meaker,
but it wasn't until a fortuitous run-out of Raina that England really
regained their footing.
In the first match in Hyderabad, Raina had been reprieved at a crucial
juncture of India's innings when most observers believed he should have
been sent on his way. This time, his luck ran out as he dived for his
crease to beat a shy from square leg from Bopara, only for his bat to
bounce up after it had passed the line. To the naked eye, he appeared to
be in by two feet, but the third umpire's call was the correct one, and
he was on his way for 38 from 46 balls.
Ravindra Jadeja got off the mark with a first-ball drive for four off
Finn, and had reached a run-a-ball 21 by the time Bell clung onto a
full-blooded pull at midwicket to give Samit Patel his first wicket of
the day. Patel's fellow spinner, Swann, however, had another below-par
day at the office, and his figures received a bruising when Dhoni
clubbed him for two sixes in three balls in an eighth over that went for
16.
However, Dhoni saved his most savage assault for the new boy, Meaker,
whom he battered for a massive six over wide long-on in a penultimate
over that went for 21. That tally included another aberration from
Kieswetter, who let a slower-ball bouncer dribble away off his pads for
five wides. Praveen Kumar then slogged Patel's next ball over midwicket
for six before being caught on the boundary one delivery later, but
Dhoni completed the assault with 2, 2, 6, 2, as India put themselves
firmly in sight of their coveted 5-0 whitewash.
