By IANS
Birmingham : Ian Bell shone as a batsman and a fielder to guide England to a 42-run win over India in the third One-day International here Monday, giving the hosts a 2-1 advantage in the seven-match series.
Bell smashed 79 (89 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) and kept one end going and returned to grab two catches that helped him win the Man of the Match award at Edgbaston.
Thanks largely to Bell’s knock and captain Paul Collingwood’s 44 (53 balls, 2x4s, 1×6), England made 281 for eight wickets in 50 overs after India won the toss and opted to bowl.
Left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh captured three wickets while off-spinner Ramesh Powar took two.
In reply, the Indian batting line-up, which had put up 300-plus total in the second match Bristol Friday, failed to emulate that performance and the team was bowled out for 239 in 48.1 overs.
Several batsmen got out to indiscreet shots.
Only Sourav Ganguly (72, 104 balls, 9x4s, 1×6), who completed 11,000 runs during the day, captain Rahul Dravid (56, 61 balls, 7x4s, 1×6) and Yuvraj Singh (45, 39 balls, 4x4s, 1×6) posed a bit of challenge for the English bowlers.
Pacer James Anderson bagged three wickets while Chris Tremlett and Collingwood took two wickets apiece.
The fourth match will be played in Manchester Thursday.
Rahul Dravid won the toss against turned to his bowlers to exploit the conditions, much like the first match. India had lost that encounter in Southmpton.
Alastair Cook (40, 56 balls, 4x4s) and wicket-keeper Matt Prior (34, 40 balls, 4x4s) gave England a solid start of 76 at a rate of five and half runs per over. This turned out to be the highest stand of the innings.
Cook and danger man Kevin Pieterson departed in quick succession soon after Prior. Cook also got one ‘life’ when Rudra Pratap Singh dropped a catch off Zaheer Khan when he had scored 11 (England at 31/0).
Then Collingwood and Bell resurrected the innings with their 75-run partnership for the fourth wicket – the second highest for England.
The England innings revolved around Bell who stayed put at one end while wickets fell at regular intervals at the other.
Sachin Tendulkar, who had scored a fine 99 in Bristol, and Ganguly, who was playing his 298th match, gave a slow but decent enough start chasing at a shade over 5.62 runs per over.
Before the total could touch 100, India had lost Tendulkar (8) and Dinesh Karthik (0).
The onus was now on Ganguly and Dravid to bring the innings back on the rails. And there were successful to a great extent as they added 104 in 19 overs at a rapid rate of 5.47.
They took the total to 140 when Dravid was out. And nine runs later Ganguly too perished, putting a lot of pressure on Yuvraj and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Yuvraj and Dhoni, however, rose to the task and scored 41 for the fifth wicket at 6.30 runs/over.
But once Dhoni was out to an indiscret shot, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the batsmen – including the run out of Yuvraj because of Zaheer Khan’s refusal to take a run – were back in the pavilion.
The English players bowled and fielded like professionals, despite the absence of an injured Andrew Flintoff.
Anderson was not only the best bowler on display but he was the most accurate too. He conceded just 4.49 runs/per over to finish with three for 32 in 9.1 overs.
SCOREBOARD
Third One-day International, India vs. England, Edgbaston, Birmingham
England:
Alastair Cook c Yuvraj b Powar 40
Matt Prior c Chawla b Patel 34
Ian Bell c Karthik b R.P. Singh 79
Kevin Pietersen st Dhoni b Chawla 9
Paul Collingwood c sub (Robin Uthappa) b Powar 44
Owais Shah b Yuvraj 19
Ravi Bopara c Dravid b R.P. Singh 10
Stuart Broad c Yuvraj b R.P. Singh 10
Chris Tremlett not out 19
James Anderson not out 0
Extras: (byes 1, leg byes 5, wides 7, no balls 4) 17
Total: (for 8 wickets in 50 overs) 281
Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Prior, 13.4 overs), 2-92 (Cook, 18.1), 3-118 (Pietersen, 23.6), 4-193 (Collingwood, 38.4), 5-226 (Shah, 43.2), 6-246 (Bopara, 45.3), 7-255 (Bell, 47.3), 8-273 (Broad, 49.3)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 10 0 49 0 (1w)
Rudra Pratap Singh 9 1 55 3 (2w)
Munaf Patel 5 0 37 1 (4nb)
Ramesh Powar 10 0 45 2 (3w)
Piyush Chawla 9 0 50 1
Yuvraj Singh 7 0 39 1
India:
Sourav Ganguly c Prior b Tremlett 72
Sachin Tendulkar c Collingwood b Anderson 8
Dinesh Karthik c Cook b Broad 0
Rahul Dravid b Tremlett 56
Yuvraj Singh run out (Bell/Panesar) 45
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Collingwood b Anderson 13
Ramesh Powar c Bell b Collingwood 6
Piyush Chawla c Bell b Collingwood 1
Zaheer Khan b Panesar 11
Rudra Pratap Singh not out 12
Munaf Patel b Anderson 2
Extras: (lb 8, w 3, nb 2) 13
Total: (all out in 48.1 overs) 239
Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Tendulkar, 9.6 overs), 2-36 (Karthik, 10.5), 3-140 (Dravid, 29.5), 4-149 (Ganguly, 31.5), 5-190 (Dhoni, 38.2), 6-210 (Powar, 42.1), 7-213 (Chawla, 42.5), 8-214 (Yuvraj, 43.3), 9-234 (Khan, 47.1)
Bowling:
Stuart Broad 9 1 34 1 (1w)
James Anderson 9.1 3 32 3
Chris Tremlett 8 0 57 2 (2nb, 1w)
Monty Panesar 10 0 51 1
Paul Collingwood 10 0 45 2 (1w)
Ravi Bopara 2 0 12 0
Result: England won by 42 runs
Series: England lead 2-1 seven-ODI series
Man of the Match: Ian Bell (England)
Umpires: Mark Benson (England) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
TV umpire: P.J. Hartley (England)
Referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)