By IANS
Manchester : A record unbroken eighth-wicket partnership between Stuart Broad and Ravi Bopara snatched a three-wicket win for England when India were cruising in the fourth One-day International here Thursday.
The win, achieved with two overs to spare, gave England a 3-1 advantage in the seven-match series.
Broad (45 not out, 73 balls, 3x4s) and Bopara (43 not out, 82 balls, 3x4s) added unconquered 99 after England, chasing India’s 212, had lost seven wickets for 114 runs. The partnership was not only England’s best against India but against all countries.
Before showing his batting skill, the lanky pacer Broad had taken four Indian wickets for 51. His all-round performance earned him the Man of the Match award in the day-night encounter at Old Trafford.
Earlier, captain Rahul Dravid won the toss but the Indian batting failed to rise to the great heights of the recent Test series that they had won 1-0. Only Yuvraj Singh (71, 104 balls, 5x4s, 1×6) and Sachin Tendulkar (55, 86 balls, 9x4s) came good as the team was all out in 49.4 overs.
The only consolation for India was some aggressive and effective bowling by pacers Ajit Agarkar, who took four wickets, and Zaheer Khan.
They bowled well in the early part of the innings to reduce England to 35 for three, then 81 for four and finally 95 for five. Two more batsmen returned to the pavilion by the time the total reached 114.
After that Broad and Bopara took over, intelligently scoring runs and running between the wickets. They also took a few risks as they ran extra run, putting pressure on the fielders.
Together, they scored 99 in 24.1 overs at a rate of 4.09 runs per over. The total they were chasing may not have been too high, but there was no denying that the pressure on the two inexperienced tailenders was much.
While they gained in confidence, the Indian bowlers, especially spinners Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla, lost the sting that Agarkar and Zaheer had showed at the start of the innings.
Zaheer opened the floodgates when he castled left-hander Alastair Cook for nought with a beauty. It was the fifth ball of the innings and England were yet to score a run.
Agarkar struck next, having wicket-keeper Matt Prior caught by Powar. England: 14 for two.
Agarkar bowled sharp in-cutter that in-form Ian Bell (24) left for the wicket-keeper. But he was bewildered to turn back and see the ball dislodging the bails.
The Mumbai bowler took another prized scalp as he had the measure of Kevin Pieterson (18), who was caught by Piyush Chawla.
An unstoppable Agarkar next accounted for the danger man Andrew Flintoff (5) when he failed to put the ball down and Yuvraj Singh held him at point.
Owais Shah also did not last long and was dismissed by Powar.
Then, Broad and Bopara took over and took England to victory.
Agarkar’s final figures read 10-0-60-4. Zaheer bowled well but managed only one wicket.
Earlier, most of the Indian batsmen failed to get going.
After Sourav Ganguly (9), Dinesh Karthik (4) and Dravid (1) had got out cheaply, Tendulkar and Yuvraj added 71 for the fourth wicket to infuse some respectability into the innings.
The partnership was broken when Tendulkar was dismissed. He tried to play a pull shot against part time off-spinner Pieterson but top edge the ball and Flintoff held a good running catch near the boundary.
Another good stand was between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj. They added 37 at a rate of 4.53, which was slightly better than the one for the fourth wicket.
Although two 31-runs stands – between Yuvraj and Power and between Zaheer and Chawla – followed, they were just not enough to take India to a formidable total.
As Dravid conceded later, India fell short by about 25 runs.
SCOREBOARD
Fourth One-day International, India vs. England, Old Trafford, Manchester
India:
Sourav Ganguly c Bell b Anderson 9
Sachin Tendulkar c Flintoff b Pietersen 55
Dinesh Karthik c Prior b Broad 4
Rahul Dravid c Prior b Flintoff 1
Yuvraj Singh b Broad 71
Mahendra Singh Dhoni b Panesar 13
Ajit Agarkar c Prior b Broad 6
Ramesh Powar c Bell b Broad 7
Piyush Chawla not out 13
Zaheer Khan c Collingwood b Anderson 20
Rudra Pratap Singh c Bopara b Anderson 0
Extras: (leg byes 4, wides 8, no balls 1) 13
Total: (all out in 49.4 overs) 212
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Ganguly, 3.2 overs), 2-31 (Karthik, 10.2), 3-32 (Dravid, 11.6), 4-103 (Tendulkar, 29.3), 5-140 (Dhoni, 37.4), 6-147 (Agarkar, 38.6), 7-178 (Yuvraj, 44.2), 8-179 (Powar, 44.4), 9-210 (Khan, 49.2)
Bowling:
Stuart Broad 10 1 51 4 (1nb, 1w)
James Anderson 9.4 2 38 3 (2w)
Andrew Flintoff 10 3 31 1 (1w)
Monty Panesar 10 0 39 1
Paul Collingwood 9 0 43 0
Kevin Pietersen 1 0 6 1 6.00
England:
Alastair Cook b Khan 0
Matt Prior c Powar b Agarkar 4
Ian Bell b Agarkar 24
Kevin Pietersen c Chawla b Agarkar 18
Paul Collingwood run out (Singh/Dhoni) 47
Andrew Flintoff c Yuvraj b Agarkar 5
Owais Shah c Karthik b Powar 8
Ravi Bopara not out 43
Stuart Broad not out 45
Extras: (lb 5, w 13, nb 1) 19
Total: (for seven wickets in 48 overs) 213
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Cook, 0.5 overs), 2-14 (Prior, 3.1), 3-35 (Bell, 5.5), 4-81 (Pietersen, 14.4), 5-95 (Flintoff, 16.3), 6-110 (Shah, 21.2), 7-114 (Collingwood, 23.5)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 9 1 45 1
Ajit Agarkar 10 0 60 4 (1nb, 3w)
Rudra Pratap Singh 6 0 22 0 (1w)
Piyush Chawla 10 0 43 0 (4w)
Ramesh Powar 10 0 26 1 (1w)
Yuvraj Singh 2 0 8 0
Sachin Tendulkar 1 0 4 0
Result: England won by three wickets
Series: England lead 3-1
Man of the Match: Stuart Broad (England)
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Mark Benson (England)
TV umpire: Ian Gould (England)
Referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)