From the iSport Cricket Pavilion: A brutal innings of 87* off 70 balls from skipper MS Dhoni coupled with a crucial bowling spell of 3/34 from Ravindra Jadeja helped India defend 300 and crush England by 126 runs in the first one day International at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad.
Both Teams went into the match with following line-ups:
India: Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav
England: Alastair Cook(c), Craig Kieswetter(w), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonathan Bairstow, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach
India won the toss, elected to bat and got off to a lucky start as opener Ajinkya Rahane was dropped in the second over by Trott at second slip off Finn. The openers were cautious to start off with against the pace and accuracy of Finn as they added 16 runs from the first three overs.
India's luck ran out in the next over as Parthiv Patel was unluckily run out when Rahane's straight drive ricochet off the fingers of Finn to hit the stumps with Parthiv Patel backing up too far at the non-striker's end.
Gambhir, in at no.3, looked confident at the wicket as he scored a boundary each off the next three overs. The pair of Rahane and Gambhir added 35 for the second wicket before the former's struggling innings of 15 off 41 came to an end in the 12th over when he was stumped off Swann, trying to up the ante.
The next four overs yielded 18 runs. England decided to take the bowling powerplay in the 17th over and achieved success in the next over as Dernbach trapped Gambhir leg before wicket with back of the hand special slower one. The bowling powerplay yielded just 20 runs.
Kohli and Raina then took a cautious approach adding 44 runs from the next eleven overs which included just a single boundary. Kohli finally succumbed to pressure in the 29th over when he hit one straight to long off off Samit Patel.
Raina, who was playing a sensible innings until now, shifted gears in the batting powerplay (36-40) as he dispatched a Dernbach full toss to the square leg boundary and followed it up with the mauling of Bresnan, hitting him for back-to-back four and six to bring up his half-century off just 52 deliveries.
Dhoni and Raina then took Finn to the cleaners, hitting him 14 off the first four balls of the 39th over. Raina unselfishly threw away his wicket off the next ball, top-edging a slog-sweep in the hands of Point. The Indians scored a staggering 59 runs from the powerplay.
Dhoni paced his innings well and brought up his half-century from 48 balls to take the total to 236/5 in the 44th over. Jadeja then took on Samit Patel, hitting him for back-to-back sixes straight over the bowler's head. The pair added 65 from just seven overs before Jadeja's cameo of 27 off 22 deliveries came to an end in the 46th over after being unluckily run out in the same fashion as Parthiv Patel.
Dhoni unleashed his Helicopter shots from then on and added 40 runs along with Ashwin and Praven Kumar from the last four overs to help India post a humongous total of 301. Dhoni was unbeaten on 87 from 70 balls with ten hits to the fence and one over it.
In reply, England got off to a bad start losing Kieswetter in just the third over of the innings, caught behind off Praveen Kumar. Alastair Cook and Pietersen added 33 for the second wicket and just when it looked the partnership was settling down, a brilliant piece of fielding by Ashwin helped India gain the crucial wicket of Pietersen.
Pietersen nudged one to mid on and set off for single, but Ashwin was quick his feet and bang on target as he produced a direct hit at the bowler's end with Pietersen just short of his crease. Cook carried on his good form as he brought up his half-century from 50 deliveries. He along with Trott resurrected the innings adding 73 runs before finally holing out to deep midwicket off Jadeja in an effort to accelerate the scoring.
Jadeja then cleaned up an uncharacteristic Trott (26 off 42) to make it 120 for 3 in the 25th over. With 179 required from 25 overs at a rate of 7.16, pressure got to the English batsmen as they lost three wickets from next five overs.
Bopara and Bairstow were caught and bowled off Ashwin and Jadeja respectively, while Bresnan was stumped off Ashwin in the 30th over. With 160 required from 20 overs and just three wickets in hand, Ashwin and Umesh Yadav wrapped up the match in next seven overs, bowling England out for 174, winning the match by 126 runs.
MS Dhoni was named the man of the match for his brutal innings of 87 from 70 balls.
Scores: India: 300/7; England: 174/10
Man of the Match: MS Dhoni
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