Mumbai ODI: Kohli, Raina seal victory at Wankhede

Vineet Ramakrishnan/Zeenews Sports Bureau Mumbai: Like a well-oiled machine the young guns of team India took charge and blew away the England challenge to go 4-0 up in the series at the Wankhede in Mumbai against England. Virat Kohli once again was the chief architect of the victory with an enterprising yet solid unbeaten knock of 86. He along with Suresh Raina (80) sealed the deal in the most professional of all manners. Raina turned into monster soon after he got to his fifty dispatching the England bowlers at will. His 62 ball 80 which included 12 boundaries was very much instrumental in putting India in a winning position. Steven Finn was the only bowler who looked in good form as he had provided the early breakthroughs, but Raina was particularly severe against the lanky pacer. Finn finished with a impressive haul of 10-0-45-3 but he failed to get any support from the other bowlers. Debutant Stuart Meaker bowled with pace, but on a slow pitch that was the maximum he could do. Kohli was the epitome of composure in cricketing terms and Raina on the other hand paced his innings well and took on the bowling to give India a clear advantage in the run chase. They combined well to build a solid partnership (131) that took India from a precarious situation to a match winning one as England bowlers were not able to maintain the early pressure they had created. Led by Finn, the England bowlers had kept a check on Indian run flow early on frustrating the batters with top three wickets falling cheaply. Finn was at his best as he removed Parthiv (8) and Gambhir (1) rattling their stumps with uppish deliveries and pace. But England failed to continue the momentum and once Finn’s fiery spell was replaced by inexperienced Scott Borthwick’s leg spin and Stuart Meaker, India found themselves in familiar territories and were at ease from that point onwards. Out of form Tim Bresnan did well to contain but was not effective. Earlier in the England innings, an impressive bowling performance lead by Ashwin and Jadeja helped India bundle out England for a score of 220 in the 4th ODI in front of a rather thin crowd at the Wankhede. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja lead the bowling attack but the young debutant Varun Aaron impressed with three wickets all them bowled. Moreover, the rookie pacer regularly clocked above 142 km/h. For England Tim Bresnan held his ground in the later part of the innings with a brisk run a ball 45. The top order all clicked but failed to get a move on. Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar provided the timely breakthrough which did not allow the England batsmen to build on a good partnership. Varun Aaron cleaned up the tail as the young debutant finished with a tally of three wickets. Tim Bresnan was the last man out as he waged a lone battle in the fag end of the innings. In the middle overs Indian spinners took charge as Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin choked the England run flow and put the inexperienced England middle order under pressure. Ravi Bopara was scalped by Jadeja whereas the young Bairstow again failed to click. England had again lost wickets in quick succession as Kevin Pietersen was holed out in the deep mid-wicket region by Manoj Tiwary off the bowling off Ravichandran Ashwin for 41. This vital breakthrough peged the England run rate back. It was the best first 10 overs for England as they got 61 runs in the stipulated powerplay overs despite losing Alastair Cook and Keiswetter quickly. The main problem with the England innings was that none of the top four could get a move on from the starts they got. Indian bowlers did well to break the partnership at regular intervals.