England beats India by 3 wickets to reach tri-series final

January 30, 2015 10:25 am | Updated November 16, 2021 01:28 pm IST - PERTH

James Taylor hit a gritty 82 as England posted a three-wicket victory over India and secured a place in the tri-series final.

James Taylor hit a gritty 82 as England posted a three-wicket victory over India and secured a place in the tri-series final.

India were on Friday knocked out of the tri-series after yet another spineless display as England recovered from a top-order collapse to record a three-wicket victory and secure a place in the final.

India’s batsmen let the team down badly as they frittered away a good start to be bundled out for 200 in 48.1 overs, losing as many as nine wickets for 97 runs from a relatively comfortable 103 for one.

England were tottering at 66 for five at one stage but staged a gritty fightback through James Taylor (82) and Jos Buttler (67) as their stand steered the team home with 19 balls to spare at the WACA ground. England will now take on Australia in the final on Sunday.

While it was a mixture of variable bounce and poor application, which resulted in India’s batting downfall, it was Ajinkya Rahane, who some what proved to be a saving grace with a patient knock of 73 as his teammates did not show the stomach for a fight.

On the other hand, it was diminutive Taylor along with wicketkeeper batsman Buttler, who showed a lot of resolve despite losing the top five as their 125-run partnership guided Eoin Morgan’s team home.

Taylor hit only four boundaries in his 122 ball innings but played the role of a sheet anchor to perfection. Buttler had seven fours in 77 balls to his credit.

While Stuart Binny (3/33) is slowly making a case for himself in the starting XI with three top-order wickets, India’s bowling line-up is yet to bear a settled look and inspire confidence as they are set to begin the Cup defence in hardly two weeks’ time.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.