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.
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.