India Vs England, 5th ODI, Cardiff
September 16, 2011
CARDIFF: India’s miserable tour of England ended without a win as “England team” spanked “India” under Duckworth-Lewis(D/L) method in the rain-affected fifth and final one-dayer with Rahul Dravid finishing his illustrious ODI career on a losing side on Friday.
Chasing a colossal target of 305 set by India, thanks to a luminous century by Virat Kohli (107 off 93 deliveries); England got a revised target of 241 in 34 over’s after rain interrupted play yet again. They accomplished there objective with ten balls remaining.
For India, Kohli joined Dravid (69 off 79 balls) when India lost the wicket of Parthiv Patel with the score at 57-2, and the two batsmen kept the scoreboard moving, first with singles and then with occasional boundaries sharing 170 runs partnership at 6.37 runs per over.This is Kohli’s sixth ODI century from 64 matches while for Dravid it was his 83rd half-century in his 344th and final match in the shorter format of the game.
The 170-run stand (off 160 balls) between the two batsmen ended with the wicket of Dravid, who was bowled after failing to pick Graeme Swann’s flighted delivery.
After then, Skipper MS Dhoni took the charge and boosted up Indian innings by making blazing 50 runs off 26 balls with five fours and two sixes at an impressive strike rate of 192.30
But A stupendous knock by debutant Jonny Bairstow (41 off 21) and some useful contributions by Ravi Bopara (37 off 22), Jonathan Trott (63 off 60) and Ian Bell (26 off 21) ensured England an effortless triumph over India.
They were whitewashed 0-4 in the four-match Test series, beaten in the one-off Twenty20 international before ending the tour by losing the five-match ODI series 0-3.
The disappointing performance meant that India will slip to fifth position in the ICC ODI rankings while England will be a rung above.
