LONDON : England survived some anxious moments to complete a three-wicket
victory over India under a full moon at the Oval on Friday night in a
rain-reduced third one-day international.Chasing 218 from 43
overs under the Duckworth/Lewis system after an hour's rain break in the
day-night match, England survived a wobble in mid-innings to get over
the line with seven balls to spare.England lead 2-0 in the
five-match series after the first game was rained out. The teams meet
again at Lord's on Sunday and in Cardiff next Friday.World Cup
champions India, who lost their place at the top of the world rankings
during a 4-0 whitewash in the test series, rallied from 58 for five to
reach 234 for seven from their 50 overs.All-rounder Ravindra
Jadeja, an injury replacement for Gautam Gambhir, stroked the ball
beautifully to score 78 from 89 deliveries. He added 112 with captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (69) and 59 from 31 balls with Ravichandran Ashwin
(36 not out).Alastair Cook asked India to bat after winning the
toss and won an immediate reward when Ajinkya Rahane, who had scored 155
from 120 balls in his three previous one-day internationals, was
dismissed without scoring, caught behind prodding at James Anderson's
fourth delivery of the day.Anderson then ran out Rahul Dravid
(2), swooping from mid-off to pick up the ball and throw down the stumps
at the batsman's end in one motion.Dravid, who had been late
starting after Parthiv Patel had pushed the ball into the off and then
hesitated before running, looked distinctly unimpressed with his
partner's calling, swishing his bat in irritation as he to the pavilion.Patel
did not linger, departing for three when Anderson uprooted his
off-stump and Virat Kholi (7) edged Anderson to give wicketkeeper Craig
Kieswetter his second catch and compound India's misery.Dhoni
smacked his second ball for four and Suresh Raina launched Anderson into
the crowd for the only six of the innings. Raina reached 21 before he
tried to swipe Broad to leg and was caught behind.RESCUE ACTWith the innings in disarray, Dhoni and Jadeja batted with skill and judgment.Jadeja
drove Broad lavishly through extra cover then struck the pace bowlers
for consecutive boundaries and sliced Graeme Swann to the third man
boundary.Dhoni dismissed Ravi Bopara to the boundary with a
wristy flick and brought up his half-century from 69 balls to a huge
cheer from the substantial Indian contingent in the crowd.The
singles continued to come freely but neither batsmen could penetrate the
field and 11 overs were bowled without a boundary before Jadeja leg
glanced Anderson for a four to bring up his half-century.Dhoni
skied a low full toss from Tim Bresnan to Cook at mid-off and Jadeja was
caught by Ian Bell off Jade Dernbach but India still took 51 from the
batting powerplay and 84 from the final 10 overs.England began
brightly with Kieswetter lofting Praveen Kumar for six over the
mid-wicket boundary, sweeping a second to fine leg from the same bowler
and driving a third off Munaf Patel over long-off.He lost Cook
lbw to Patel for 23 off the last ball of the compulsory powerplay, after
the pair had put on 63 off 62 balls for the first wicket, and survived a
straightforward caught-and-bowled chance to Patel on 41.Kieswetter
went to 51 when he was comprehensively bowled middle stump by slow
left-armer Jadeja. Jonathan Trott (11) followed five balls later, bowled
by off-spinner Ashwin by a delivery which slid past the outside of his
bat.Rain began to fall and the players left the field with
England 95 for three, sufficient for victory under the Duckworth/Lewis
method for deciding rained-out matches.On their return Ian Bell
was run out for 23 when wicketkeeper Dhoni threw down the stumps and Ben
Stokes, who struck a six but who could make little of the spinners, was
bowled for 20 trying to sweep Ashwin.India were back in the
game but Bopara (40) and Tim Bresnan (28) took advantage of the slippery
ball and wet outfield to add 60 for the seventh wicket and set up an
ultimately comfortable victory. (Reuters)
