12:27 PM
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England, raising hopes of pulling one back with a final fling, fell into the familiar pattern as Team India completed a clean sweep of the five-match Airtel ODI series with another emphatic win on Tuesday. Overcoming a mid-innings crisis, the Indians first scrambled to a formidable 271 for 7 in their quota of overs and then weathered a rollicking opening stand of 129 runs to win the fifth ODI by 95 runs.
After failing to record a single victory on their disastrous tour of England in the summer, the 5-0 scoreline would have brought Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men great satisfaction, especially in the light of the fact that several leading players had to skip the series through injuries.
The skipper led from the front on Tuesday, boosting a sagging run-rate with a flurry of sixes in the final overs after England skipper Alastair Cook had completed a clean sweep of the toss and put the hosts in.
After making a cautious start, Dhoni bludgeoned his way to an unbeaten 69-ball 75, his stature as the 'best finisher in ODIs' well reflected in the rare record of not being dismissed during the entire series.
England launched a rapid, credible reply with Craig Kieswetter and Cook taking the fight to the Indians with controlled aggression. While the new ball and the early overs of spin made no impression on the free-flowing English openers, it all changed after India's pace-bowling find Varun Aaron made the breakthrough by beating skipper Cook with an angular delivery. The spinners took over from there.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin spun a web around the batsmen as they shared the bowling Powerplay, which produced four wickets for just 10 runs. Manoj Tiwary, who had looked a trifle tight in an opening over that cost 13 runs, came back with more flight and belief. As wickets fell at regular intervals and the slow strangulation began, it was all a familiar tale.
Jadeja, who picked up four wickets, was adjudged Man of the Match while Dhoni was a very popular choice for the Man of the Series honour. But it all came after some anxious moments. The hosts, 80 for no loss with the new opening combination of Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir cruising along, were rocked by three wickets that fell in the space of just nine deliveries and the addition of one run.
It all started with Gambhir dragging the ball onto his stumps as he tried to force Finn off the back foot to cover, his dismissal a replay of the one in Mumbai on Sunday. Five balls later, Finn sent back Virat Kohli in a classical 'set-piece', beating the in-form batsman with one that left him and following it up with a sharp in-cutter that kissed the off-stump as Kohli shouldered arms.
Rahane departed, driving Tim Bresnan far from his front-foot, Craig Kieswetter reacting quickly to pull off a sharp one-handed catch on his right and make amends for failing to grab a Gambhir edge off Stuart Meaker when the batsman was 25. The bowling Powerplay produced just 10 runs, 6 of them from a Graeme Swann over.
The skipper led from the front on Tuesday, boosting a sagging run-rate with a flurry of sixes in the final overs after England skipper Alastair Cook had completed a clean sweep of the toss and put the hosts in.
After making a cautious start, Dhoni bludgeoned his way to an unbeaten 69-ball 75, his stature as the 'best finisher in ODIs' well reflected in the rare record of not being dismissed during the entire series.
England launched a rapid, credible reply with Craig Kieswetter and Cook taking the fight to the Indians with controlled aggression. While the new ball and the early overs of spin made no impression on the free-flowing English openers, it all changed after India's pace-bowling find Varun Aaron made the breakthrough by beating skipper Cook with an angular delivery. The spinners took over from there.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin spun a web around the batsmen as they shared the bowling Powerplay, which produced four wickets for just 10 runs. Manoj Tiwary, who had looked a trifle tight in an opening over that cost 13 runs, came back with more flight and belief. As wickets fell at regular intervals and the slow strangulation began, it was all a familiar tale.
Jadeja, who picked up four wickets, was adjudged Man of the Match while Dhoni was a very popular choice for the Man of the Series honour. But it all came after some anxious moments. The hosts, 80 for no loss with the new opening combination of Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir cruising along, were rocked by three wickets that fell in the space of just nine deliveries and the addition of one run.
It all started with Gambhir dragging the ball onto his stumps as he tried to force Finn off the back foot to cover, his dismissal a replay of the one in Mumbai on Sunday. Five balls later, Finn sent back Virat Kohli in a classical 'set-piece', beating the in-form batsman with one that left him and following it up with a sharp in-cutter that kissed the off-stump as Kohli shouldered arms.
Rahane departed, driving Tim Bresnan far from his front-foot, Craig Kieswetter reacting quickly to pull off a sharp one-handed catch on his right and make amends for failing to grab a Gambhir edge off Stuart Meaker when the batsman was 25. The bowling Powerplay produced just 10 runs, 6 of them from a Graeme Swann over.
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