A gritty stroke-filled innings of 53 off 39 deliveries coupled with a fiery bowling spell of 3/22 from Steven Finn helped England crush India by six wickets and achieve a consolation victory of the tour in the one-off T20 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
India won the toss, elected to bat and got off to a horror start as openers Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa departed in the first two overs of the game. Steven Finn had Rahane brilliantly caught behind for a duck in the first over, while Bresnan removed Uthappa in the similar manner in the next over to reduce India to 5 for 2.
Virat Kohli, who got off the mark with a brilliantly flicked boundary through midwicket, added three more boundaries to his total before holing out to deep midwicket off Bresnan, trying to play one shot too many.
Suresh Raina. Who got off the mark in aggressive style with a thumping six over Finn's head, then took over the reins as he clobbered Bresnan for a boundary straight down the ground, cut Swann for a boundary through point and slog swept him for a humongous six over deep midwicket, scoring 16 runs from his over.
Raina and Manoj Tiwary added 40 for the fourth wicket before the latter was cleaned up by Samit Patel, trying to slog sweep across the line, completely missing out on flat and straight delivery. Raina produced a brilliantly flicked boundary through square leg off Finn before hitting one straight to Bairstow at point on 39.
Raina's 29-ball innings included four hits to the fence and two over it. It got worse for India when Jadeja inside edged one onto his stumps off the next delivery from Finn. Pathan and Dhoni added 17 cautious runs from 4.2 overs before Bopara wrecked havoc, cleaning up Pathan and Praveen Kumar in space of three deliveries to reduce India to 91/8 in the 17th over.
Dhoni and Ashwin then took the score to some respectability as they added 29 runs from the last 19 deliveries to take India to 120/9. Dhoni was run out on 21 off the final delivery of the innings, while Ashwin remained unbeaten on 17 off 11 deliveries.
In reply, England Openers got off to a decent start as they scored 20 runs off the first three overs. Dhoni brought on Jadeja in the fourth over and as always the latter didn't disappoint his captain as he removed Kieswetter for 12.
The moment of the match came in the next over when Raina dropped Pietersen at long leg. Pietersen made them pay for the miss as he clobbered Pathan for a boundary and a six in the next over, but Pathan hit back with the wicket of Hales, having him caught at deep mid wicket for 11.
Pietersen then went on a rampage as he mauled Pathan for six and four and then clobbered Praveen Kumar for consecutive boundaries. Samit Patel provided a useful helping hand as the pair put on 60 runs from 7.3 overs.
Pietersen brought up his half-century from 34 balls. With 21 required from 33 balls, Kohli provided the much needed breakthrough, removing Samit Patel caught at cover. Raina trapped Pietersen leg before wicket to reduce England to 106 for 4 in the 16th over.
With 15 required off 24 balls, Bopara and Bairstow made sure that there were no more slip-ups as they wrapped up the match in the 19th over with an unbeaten partnership of 15 from 2.5 overs.
Kevin Pietersen was named the man of the match for his brilliant stroke-filled innings of 53 off 39 deliveries which included five hits to the fence and three over it.
Score: India: 120/9, England: 121/4
Man of the Match: Kevin Pietersen
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