Cuttack ODI: England surprise India with double whammy

Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were dismissed in quick succession in the fifth one-dayer at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Wednesday. While Sehwag fell short of his century by 9 runs, Yuvraj made 6 runs.

England suffered the wrath of Virender Sehwag at the start of Indian innings as he talked only with fours and sixes. Virender Sehwag made a 41-ball half-century that included 10 fours and a six. The Indian opener also provided a flying start as he contributed 24 runs to India's total of 32 after 5 overs.

Sachin Tendulkar made his half-century and departed soon after as he was clean bowled on Steven Harmison's delivery. Sachin completed his 90th ODI fifty in 54 balls. Meanwhile, India were 134/0 after 19 overs.

Earlier, England were 270/4 in the stipulated 50 overs. Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah provided the depth to England innings with their unbeaten individual scores of 111 and 66 runs respectively.

With the series already in their hand, India allowed England to get off to a steady start. Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan gave away 11 extras in the first two overs of the innings. The one-off LBW appeal from both the bowlers did not reap any fruitful results. The fielding also looked wayward at the start as there were too many misfields.

Openers Ravi Bopara and Alistair Cook took advantage of India's poor fielding and piled on runs at a quick pace. England were 29/0 after 5 overs.

The tourists lost their first wicket as Cook edged Zaheer's outgoing delivery that went into the hands of Sachin Tendulkar standing at first slip. He made 10 runs. England lost the wicket of Cook in the 6th over but the run-carnage did not stop as Kevin Pietersen and Bopara added 35 runs for the 2nd wicket partnership in just 24 balls.

Zaheer struck again in the 10th over to break another developing partnership. Bopara slammed the ball into the hands of Yuvraj Singh, who took the simple catch at backward point. Bopara made 24 runs as England were 68/2 after 10 overs.

With a two-wicket loss, India were able to restrict England's scoring rate. England, who began scoring at the rate of almost 6 runs per over with 29 runs at the end of 5 overs, slumped to nearly 5 runs per over after 18 overs. England's slow run-rate was evident as the tourists scored only 13 runs in the second powerplay.

England skipper Kevin Pietersen defied all the odds and notched up 3,000 runs in ODI cricket with a six over long-on.

Pietersen's grit failed to impress his team-mates as the wickets kept falling at the other end as Paul Collingwood (40) and Andrew Flintoff (0) were dismissed in quick succession. While Collingwood was caught by Zaheer Khan on Harbhajan Singh's delivery, Flintoff was caught by Tendulkar on Ishant Sharma's ball.

England, though, recovered from the jolts as Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah gathered 112 runs for the fifth wicket partnership in just 116 balls.

Pietersen also completed his seventh ODI century in 109 balls to take England's score beyond 250 runs. Pietersen made the highest score by any English captain on Indian soil.

India, though, won the toss and elected to bowl against England. India made two changes in the squad as they included Irfan Pathan in place of Munaf Patel and Gautam Gambhir made way for Rohit Sharma. England included Alistair Cook in place of Ian Bell and Jimmy Anderson was left out to make way for Steven Harmison.

Teams:

England: Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Owais Shah, Samit Patel, Matt Prior (wk), Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison.

India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan.

Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Suresh Shastri (India)
TV umpire: Shavir Tarapore (India)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

Highlights:
Toss: India, who elected to bowl first.

England
50 runs for 1 wicket in 7.3 overs (48 balls), Extras 13
100 runs for 2 wickets in 19.1 overs (119 balls), Extras 14
150 runs for 2 wickets in 29.1 overs (179 balls), Extras 18
200 runs for 4 wickets in 40.4 overs (248 balls), Extras 19
250 runs for 4 wickets in 47.3 overs (289 balls), Extras 19

India
50 runs for no loss in 7.5 overs (49 balls), Extras 4
100 runs for no loss in 14.1 overs (89 balls), Extras 6
150 runs for 1 wicket in 22.1 overs (139 balls), Extras 8


Source: indiatoday.digitaltoday.in