The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : India wins a thriller, clinches series

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Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008
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India wins a thriller, clinches series

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

The two rain-breaks totalled 306 minutes
Sehwag reaches 6,000 runs in ODIs

Bangalore: The rains threw up an abridged game high on adrenaline and the Indians were equal to the task.

After the skies opened up twice and robbed 306 minutes of play, umpires Daryl Harper and Amiesh Saheba deemed that a 22-overs-a-side game would fit into a damp night and M.S. Dhoni’s men found warmth in a 19-run victory over England in the fourth ODI of the seven-match series at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday night.

India won the series with an unassailable 4-0 lead. Virender Sehwag was chosen Man-of-the-Match.

Early stumble

Chasing India’s 166 that was revised to 198 as the target, thanks to the rain-influenced Duckworth Lewis equation, England slumped to 178 for eight in 22 overs.The chase stumbled as Ravi Bopara got out to a tumbling catch by Ishant Sharma and Ian Bell lost his timber to Harbhajan Singh.

Owais Shah had other ideas as his power-packed 72 (48b, 9x4, 3x6) in tandem with Andrew Flintoff’s (41) lusty hits, almost took the game away from the Indians.

However, the Indians were always in with a sniff after Pietersen dragged Ishant onto his stumps. At 52 for three in 8.5 overs, the match was at its tipping point and it was India that surged ahead despite Shah and Flintoff’s 82-run fourth-wicket partnership off 48 deliveries.

Shah hammered sixes off Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh and Munaf Patel while Flintoff dented the roof over the mid-wicket stand off Harbhajan Singh. The batting power-play taken by England in the 17th and 18th overs proved fatal as two wickets fell while only 14 runs were gained with an incisive Zaheer Khan forcing a steepler from Shah and Ishant scalping Flintoff.

The contest was over at that moment.

Earlier Dhoni’s men smiled despite the grim weather as Sehwag’s 69 (57b, 9x4, 3x6) that had audacity and disdain written all over it, helped India finish with 166 for four in 22 overs.

Sehwag’s knock also found apt reflections in the stunning shots essayed by Gautam Gambhir (40) and Yuvraj Singh (25 n.o.) as the Indians got into Twenty20 mode when play resumed past nine after 17 overs were bowled in the earlier two rain-affected sessions.

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