India win by 7 wickets in Ranchi
RANCHI: India strolled to a seven-wicket win over England in the third ODI at the JSCA International Stadium here Saturday, taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
India needing just 156 runs to win, overhauled the target in only 28.1 overs with 131 balls to spare. Virat Kohli returned to form, scoring an unbeaten 77 off 79 balls while Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh chipped in with 33 and 30 runs respectively to complete the rout.
Earlier England fell flat against slow bowlers as a disciplined Indian bowling attack skittled them out for a paltry 155 in their third cricket one-dayer here on Saturday.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja once again produced a magical spell taking 3/19, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pacer Ishant Sharma took two wickets each.
Quelling the element of doubts about his availability after he was hit on right thumb at Friday's practice, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had everything right from the toss in the first match at his home venue.
First, he called it right at the toss, put England to bat and reduced them to 98 for six from 68 for three at one stage.
Even there was a bit of luck going in the skipper's favour as a poor umpiring decision by Indian official S Ravi gave the home side the prized scalp of Kevin Pietersen.
After the fall of Pietersen, English batsmen showed little appetite to stay at the crease as the Indian slow bowlers made their presence felt in front of a capacity crowd of 39,000 at the JSCA Stadium which is hosting its first international match in East Indian city Ranchi.
Joe Root was the England top-scorer with 39 as the visiting top-order failed miserably.
After being reduced to 98 for six, Root and Tim Bresnan stitched 47 runs for the seventh wicket but after the fall of the former, it was all over for England.
Ian Bell was super slow to start with as he took 11 balls to get off the mark, putting pressure on skipper Alastair Cook.
Indian new ball bowlers of Bhvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed got some movement and pace off the pitch hosting its first international match, as the English openers had that element of doubt to play their shots.
News Posted: 19 January, 2013
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