England 298/4 in 50 overs (Kieswetter 33, Trott 98*, Pietersen 64, Samit Patel 70*) lost to India 300/5 in 49.2 overs (Parthiv 39, Rahane 91, Gambhir 57, Kohli 35, Dhoni 35*) by five wickets and 4 balls to spare.
Ajinkya Rahane – India seal series with victory in Mohali
With 30 runs to get from the last three overs, it looked like India had let the game slip away from their hands. But Captain Cool Dhoni, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja, ensured that India reached home with four balls to spare thus taking an unassailable lead in the series. Chasing 298 on a Mohali track was always going to be difficult but with 100 balls to spare, it seemed India had all but wrapped up the series as Rahane and Gambhir put on a 111 run stand that took India to 190 for only the loss of Parthiv Patel. But four wickets in the next eight overs leveled things up for the visitors before Dhoni chose to take the chase in his own hands yet again.
Only five teams have successfully chased down a total in Mohali in 19 attempts and therefore it was no surprise that Cook chose to bat first on winning the toss. But that was the only thing that went right for him in the day as he was trapped in front early in the day by Vinay Kumar. Pietersen, who came in at the fall of Kieswetter at 53, built a 100 run partnership with Trott as England upped the ante and tried to seize the initiative. The fall of Pietersen and Bopara didn’t bother Trott much as he continued ticking away easy singles and twos. Samit Patel, promoted ahead of Bairstow, proved his worth as he smashed 70 runs of 42 balls, thus taking England to striking distance of 300 as Trott himself was stranded on 98.
Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane, the duo that impressed in England, started steadily again as they put on 79 runs in 15 overs before Patel was adjudged LBW to Bresnan. But England’s hopes of building up momentum with the wicket faded as Gambhir and Rahane tackled the English bowlers without much trouble. The regular singles and two accompanied with the odd boundary kept the required run rate in check as the target got closer and closer.
It required an outstanding effort to separate the duo and this came in the form of Pietersen’s stunning catch at covers to dismiss Gambhir. Rahane missed out on his century a few overs later as he got the leading edge mopping up an easy catch to Cook at mid-off. Raina came and went in the blink of an eye and when Kohli was trapped in front by Swann with 65 runs still to get, the balance seemed to have tilted in favour of the Poms. But Dhoni ensured that he stayed till the end and fittingly finished it off with two boundaries to seal the match and the series with 2 matches to spare.
Tags: Ajinkya Rahane, Cricket, England, Gautam Gambhir, India, MS Dhoni, ODI Series
