Jonathan Trott scored a majestic unbeaten 98 and stitched two crucial partnerships with Kevin Pietersen and Samit Patel to guide England to a challenging 298 for four against India in the third cricket one—dayer here on Thursday.
Trott anchored the England innings during his 116—ball unconquered knock, and together with Pietersen (64) and Patel (70 not out) added 101 and unbeaten 103 runs, respectively.
Trott crafted his innings beautifully, playing cautiously initially when Pietersen was going great guns but opened up later on in Patel’s company.
Trott and Patel took the task to the opposition and sent the Indian bowlers on a leather hunt to pile up a huge 91 runs in the last 10 overs.
Patel was the more aggressive of the two as he did not spare a single Indian bowler en route to his quickfire half—century that came off just 43 balls, studded with seven boundaries and two huge hits over the fence.
All the Indian bowlers bled runs today with left—arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja being the most economical among the wicket—takers, with figures of one for 41 from his eight overs.
England, however, did not have the best of starts after electing to bat as they lost captain Alastair Cook early in the fourth over with the scoreboard reading eight.
Cook was dismissed lbw to a R Viany Kumar delivery that jabbed in after pitching.
Handed a difficult lifeline by Praveen Kumar off his own bowling in the ninth over, Craig Kieswetter finally broke the shackles, hitting the pacer over the deep midwicket fence to bring up England’s first six of the innings.
Kieswetter meted out the same treat to Vinay Kumar in the next over, but this time with a slash over the third man boundary.
Virat Kohli, who was bought into the attack in the 11th over replacing Praveen, broke the 53—run second wicket partnership, dismissing the dangerous Kieswetter, who played on a full delivery onto the stumps.
But then came in Pietersen, who gave momentum to the England innings, and with Trott put up a century stand.
After the initial calm period, Pietersen and Trott milked the Indian bowlers perfectly with ones and twos with boundaries in between to lay the platform for the visitors.
Pietersen was at his fluent best and struck Jadeja for two boundaries in the 25th over to rush to his half—century in just 48 balls.
Since his arrival at the crease, Pietersen was in a murderous mood and did not even get bogged down by Umesh Yadav’s pace, clobbering the pacer for back—to—back fours in the 27th over.
But soon after bringing up the 100—run partnership for the third wicket in just 98 balls, the dangerous—looking Pietersen departed one run later, lbw to Jadeja after scoring a fluent 64 off 61 balls, during which he hit nine boundaries.
Dhoni’s decision to bring Jadeja in place of R Ashwin from the other end bore fruit as he scalped the vital wicket of Pietersen with the first delivery, a decision which did not impress the right—handed batsman at all.
Dhoni’s bowling changes turned out to be masterstroke today as his decision to replace Vinay Kumar with Praveen in the 39th over yielded yet another wicket for India.
Praveen uprooted Ravi Bopara’s (24 off 32) middle stump with a swinging yorker, which the batsman failed to dig out and ended up playing on.
Bopara hit three fours during his stay and added 41 runs with Trott for the fourth wicket that came off 54 balls.
But then a set Trott and new man in Patel joined hands and used their long handle to great effect to take England near the 300—run mark.
Scores:
England:
Alastair Cook lbw b Vinay 3
Craig Kieswetter b Kohli 36
Jonathan Trott not out 98
Kevin Pietersen lbw b Jadeja 64
Ravi Bopara b Praveen 24
Samit Patel not out 70
Extras: (LB—1, W—2) 3
Total: (For 4 wkts in 50 overs) 298
Fall of wickets: 1/8 2/53 3/154 4/195
Bowling: Praveen 10—0—56—1, Vinay 9—1—64—1, Kohli 3—0—20—1, Yadav 10—0—71—0, Ashwin 10—0—45—0, Jadeja 8—0—41—1.
