A perfectly placed cool and calm innings (35 off 31 balls) by skipper MS Dhoni coupled with top order heroics from Ajinkya Rahane (91) and Gautam Gambhir (58) helped India chase down 298 and seal the five match ODI series 3-0, beating England by five wickets at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh.
Both teams went into the match with following line-ups:
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: Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav
England won the toss, elected to bat and got off to a bad start as skipper Alastair Cook departed in the fourth over, trapped leg before off Vinay Kumar. Kieswetter scored the first boundary for the visitors in the fifth over.
The pair of Kieswetter and Trott played cautiously till the eighth over taking the score to 26, Kieswetter then launched into Praveen Kumar depositing him into the stands over mid wicket and followed it up with another one off Vinay Kumar in the next over. The pair added 45 runs for the second wicket before Kieswetter inside edged one onto to the stumps off part-timer, Kohli, in the 13th over.
Trott and Pietersen then took over the reins as they put the Indian bowlers to cleaners, adding 24 runs from the next three overs. The pair scored 29 runs from the bowling powerplay. Pietersen looked in ominous touch as he brought up his half-century from just 48 balls with a boundary through backward point.
Jadeja finally got the breakthrough for the home side in the 30th over when he had Pietersen trapped in front. Pietersen's 61 ball innings of 64 included nine hits to the fence. Trott then brought up his half-century off 71 balls, he along with Bopara added 41 runs from nine overs before the latter was cleaned up with a brilliant swinging Yorker by Praveen Kumar in the 39th over.
England could manage just 30 runs from the batting power play, but Trott and Samit Patel made up for it as they clobbered Indian bowlers for 91 runs off the last 10 overs, adding 103 runs off 12 overs for the fifth wicket to help England post a challenging total of 298.
Samit Patel remained unbeaten on 70 off just 48 balls with seven hits to the fence and two over it, while Trott missed out on his century by just two runs as he remained unbeaten on 98 off 116 balls with eight hits to the fence.
In reply, India got off to a good start as the openers added 79 runs from sixteen overs. Bresnan finally got the crucial breakthrough when he had Patel trapped in front for 36 in the 16th over. Gambhir got a life line when he was dropped on 17 by keeper Kieswetter off Samit Patel.
Rahane looked confident and positive as he brought up his half-century off 59 balls. Gambhir too brought up his half-century in style with a smashing six over extra cover. The pair added 111 runs from 18 overs before Gambhir departed in the 34th over courtesy a brilliant catch by Pietersen off Finn.
Poor English fielding continued as Kieswetter dropped Kohli in the 37th over and Kohli added insult to injury with two cracking boundaries through mid wicket. Rahane unluckily missed out on a deserving century when he was caught for 91 at mid off off a slower one from Finn. Rahane's 104-ball innings included six hits to the fence.
Three wickets in next five overs turned the match around as Raina was the next to depart, caught at cover off Bresnan in the next over and two overs later Swann trapped well-settled Kohli plumb in front to reduce the home side to 235 for 5.
With 60 required off 48 balls, Dhoni and Jadeja played sensibly to bring the equation down to 30 from 18. The pair then took on Finn, scoring 13 runs from the 48th over and then a poor over from Dernbach, conceding 10 runs brought the equation down to seven from six balls.
Dhoni finished off the match in style with two thumping boundaries over cover to wrap up a five wicket victory and seal the series 3-0. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 35 off 31 balls with three hits to the fence, while Jadeja remained unbeaten on 26 off 24 deliveries with two hits to the fence. The pair added crucial unbeaten 64 runs from 7.4 overs for the sixth wicket.
Ajinkya Rahane was named the man of the match for his classy innings of 91 from 104 deliveries.
Scores: England: 298/4, India: 300/5
Man of the Match: Ajinkya Rahane.
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