A blistering innings of 112* off 98 deliveries from Virat Kohli coupled with a classy innings of 84 off 90 deliveries from Gautam Gambhir helped India chase down 237 in just 36.4 overs, to crush England by eight wickets and take a 2-0 lead in the five match ODI series at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, Delhi.
Line-ups:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c&wk), Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.
England: Alastair Cook (c), Craig Kieswetter (wk), Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonny Bairstow, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach.
England won the toss, elected to bat, but got off to a bad start as they lost skipper Alastair Cook for a duck off just the fourth delivery of the innings, caught at backward point off Praveen Kumar.
Kieswetter departed in the next over when he edged one to slip off Vinay Kumar, England were in dire straits as both the openers were back in the hut without opening their accounts. After a shaky start and cautious approach, Trott scored three back-to-back boundaries off Praveen Kumar and Pietersen followed him with another as the pair scored 17 runs from the fifth over.
Trott looked in terrific touch as he added another four boundaries in the next three overs before a lazy shot outside off stump brought his downfall, as he was caught behind off Vinay Kumar. Pietersen and Bopara added 14 runs from the next five overs before Bopara broke the deadlock in the 16th over, the first over of the bowling powerplay, smashing Umesh Yadav for three boundaries in the over.
The pair added just 27 runs from the bowling powerplay, but Pietersen, who was playing an uncharacteristically slow innings, then launched into Ravindra Jadeja, hitting him for back-to-back sixes straight down the ground in the 22nd over.
The 73-run partnership was finally ended by Ashwin when he trapped Bopara leg before wicket for 36 in the 25th over. Pietersen departed in the very next over, caught behind off Umesh Yadav for 46 as England were reduced to 121/5 in the 26th over.
The pair of Jonny Bairstow and Samit Patel then resurrected the innings with a solid partnership of 86 for the sixth wicket as the visitors scored 36 of their batting powerplay from (35-40 overs) to take the score to 199/5 in the 41st over.
Umesh Yadav finally broke the partnership when he trapped Patel plumb in front for 42 in the 42nd over and Jadeja removed Bairstow in the next over, caught at long off to turn the tide in India's favour. Vinay Kumar then ripped through the lower order to restrict the visitors to 237.
In reply, India got off to a bad start as Parthiv Patel, who was lucky to survive a dropped chance in the third over, departed an over later, chipping one to mid on off Bresnan. Ajinkya Rahane showed glimpses of class when he whipped one off pads for a boundary and followed it up with a six via a pull of Bresnan, but the same shot brought about his downfall in the next delivery as he top-edged one to fine leg off Bresnan.
Kohli opened his account with an edgy boundary, but followed it up with a classy flick through square leg. Gambhir also got into the act scoring three boundaries off Finn to take the score to 53 for 1 in the 10th over. The pair played sensibly adding 27 runs off the bowling powerplay.
Kohli and Gambhir then brought up their half-centuries off 45 and 62 deliveries. The pair dominated the English bowling from then on as both the batsmen unleashed an amazing array of strokes all round the wicket.
Kohli was particularly aggressive as he brought up his century off just 89 balls with a boundary and a single off Dernbach. Gambhir played the helping hand as the duo marched on to 200-run partnership off just 174 balls.
Kohli wrapped up the match in style with a boundary through midwicket in the 37th over to seal an emphatic eight wicket victory with 80 balls to spare. Kohli remained unbeaten on 112 off 98 deliveries with 16 hits to the fence and Gambhir remained unbeaten on 84 off 90 deliveries with 10 hits to the fence.
Virat Kohli was named the man of the match for his stupendous innings of 112 off 98 deliveries.
Scores: England: 237/10, India: 238/2
Man of the Match: Virat Kohli
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