Trott anchors as England post 298

50 overs England 298 for 4 (Trott 98*, Patel 70*) v India
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen gave England a solid platform © AFP Enlarge
Related Links Players/Officials: Jade Dernbach | MS Dhoni | Virat Kohli Matches: India v England at Mohali Series/Tournaments: England tour of India Teams: England | India

Jonathan Trott anchored England's most impressive batting performance of the series with a calmly paced 98 not out from 116 balls, and shared in a pair of key partnerships with Kevin Pietersen and Samit Patel, as India were set a challenging target of 299 in the third ODI in Mohali. Pietersen made a bold 64 from 61 balls before falling lbw to the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja, while Patel's sparky hitting in the final ten overs carried him to a career-best 70 from 43 balls, as India's effortless dominance in the series to date received its first significant challenge.

Needing a victory to stay in the series, Alastair Cook gave England an early leg-up by winning the toss, because in 19 matches at the Punjab CA Stadium, 14 have been won by the side batting first. The captain himself was unable to capitalise - he was trapped lbw by Vinay Kumar for 3 - but Craig Kieswetter produced a sprightly 36 from 38 balls, including a brace of sixes in consecutive overs, to kickstart the innings and ensure that England's batting frailties of the first two matches were not revisited.

However, the key man, as so often, was Trott, whose tempo is immoveable regardless of the format of the game. This was his first significant innings since being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year, and it was a reprisal of the role he had played at the World Cup in March. He picked off eight boundaries after coming to the crease in the fourth over of the innings, and was denied his fourth ODI hundred by a sharp piece of fielding at short fine leg, when he paddle-swept the penultimate ball of the innings for a single. Though he missed out on his milestone, the net gain was England's, as Patel blazed Vinay Kumar's final ball of the innings into the long-on stands for six.

The debate will rage about Trott's approach to one-day cricket, but seeing as England collapsed in a heap in the first two matches, the backbone he provided to this performance was self-evident. Both of his major partners, Pietersen and Patel, thrived on the right to go for their strokes, and as history has shown time and again at Mohali, chasing under the lights is never an easy task. The last team to falter at this venue was Pakistan in the World Cup semi-final seven months ago.

Pietersen and Trott came together with England wobbling on 53 for 2, with Kieswetter having ruined his good start by steering a wide ball from Virat Kohli into his leg stump. But the pair soon settled into a comfortable accumulative rhythm. Pietersen glanced his second ball through fine leg for four, whereupon Trott responded with three fours in four balls from Yadav and Kohli. A thick outside edge off Ashwin gifted Pietersen another boundary, but there was nothing fortuitous about his subsequent assault on Praveen Kumar, as he helped himself to four further fours in consecutive overs.

As so often, it was the introduction of a left-arm spinner that dented Pietersen's momentum, but crucially India let their opportunity for a breakthrough slip past. Ravindra Jadeja sent down five consecutive dot-balls, which tempted Pietersen into a suicidal single from the sixth. Trott, on 32 at the time, barely responded to the call, and would have been out by the length of the pitch had the shy from midwicket been remotely accurate. But MS Dhoni behind the stumps was forced to dive to intercept, and the chance was lost.

It would soon prove costly, even though Pietersen was unable to convert his fine start into a flying finish. Jadeja, from round the wicket, tweaked one into his front pad to send him on his way in the 30th over, whereupon Ravi Bopara followed up with 24 from 32 balls - a promising innings that included three fours but was ended by a superb swinging yorker from Praveen, which flattened his middle stump from the first ball of his eighth over.

Patel appeared at No. 6 - a surprising promotion with Jonny Bairstow still to come - but with a licence to play his strokes, he responded supremely. His second ball was hooked for two to the deep midwicket boundary, and he continued in the same aggressive vein thereafter. Umesh Yadav was dispatched in the same direction for his first boundary, while Vinay was manipulated through the leg side for consecutive fours - the second of which was upgraded after an intervention from the third umpire.

However, it was in the final four overs that Patel really found his range, as England built on a promising position of 255 for 4 with 43 further runs in 24 deliveries. Vinay was belted over midwicket for the first of Patel's two sixes, while Yadav's figures were further dented by two more fours from the final two balls of his spell. Trott was little more than a spectator by this stage, as he worked the singles and handed over the strike, and though he was left shaking his head in frustration after falling short of his century, his solidity paid rich dividends for England's hopes in the series.

India 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Vinay Kumar, 11 Umesh Yadav

England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ravi Bopara, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach