0
KOCHI, April 6: A fine 65 from Rahul Dravid helped India win the fourth One-day International against England by four wickets on Thursday to take an unassailable 4-0 lead in the seven-match series.
The India captain struck nine fours in his 73-ball innings and shared in half-century partnerships with Virender Sehwag (26) and Irfan Pathan (46). The hosts achieved the target of 238 with 2.4 overs to spare.
In-form left-hander Yuvraj Singh, declared man of the match for his all-round effort (two for 34), scored a sparkling 48 and put on 72 for the fifth wicket with Suresh Raina (21) to guide the team to victory.
Kevin Pietersen scored an entertaining 77 after the visitors chose to bat but the Indian spinners reined in a rampaging England to bowl them out for 237, eight balls short of using up the full 50 overs.
The 33-year-old Dravid put on 54 for the first wicket with Sehwag and 76 for the second with Irfan Pathan before driving paceman Andrew Flintoff uppishly to Matthew Hoggard at mid-off.
India lost Pathan and an out-of-form Mohammad Kaif (five) at same score of 152, but Yuvraj and Raina took the side 14 runs short of the target before falling at the same score of 224.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (10) and Ramesh Powar (two) saw the team through.
The 25-year-old Pietersen lashed six fours and two sixes from 82 balls in his seventh one-day fifty and helped lift England from 27 for two to 153 for three before he top-edged a sweep off off spinner Harbhajan Singh to Yuvraj at square leg.Pietersen missed the third one-dayer in Goa through illness but returned to dominate the Indian attack and put on 90 for the third wicket with Paul Collingwood (36).
His exit sparked a collapse with the visitors losing Andrew Flintoff and Vikram Solanki both for 12.
The spinners took control of the match with accurate bowling in the middle overs.
Wicket-keeper Geraint Jones was the only other batsman to figure and his plucky 49 helped prop up the tail.
There were two run outs in the frantic final push, while India operated their four spinners in turns from both ends between the 17th and 47th overs and they shared six wickets.
Scoreboard
ENGLAND:
A.J. Strauss lbw b Pathan 7
M.J. Prior c Dhoni b Sreesanth 14
K. P. Pietersen c Yuvraj b Harbhajan 77
P. D. Collingwood c and b Yuvraj 36
A. Flintoff c Dravid b Yuvraj 12
V. S. Solanki b Powar 12
G. O. Jones run out 49
I. D. Blackwell c and b Sehwag 6
G. J. Batty lbw b Sehwag 2
M.J. Hoggard run out 7
J. M. Anderson not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-11, W-1, NB-2) 14
TOTAL (all out, 48.4 overs) 237
FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-27, 3-117, 4-153, 5-155, 6-172, 7-197, 8-203, 9-231.
BOWLING: Irfan Pathan 4.4-0-27-1 (1nb); Sreesanth 5-0-29-1; Agarkar 5-0-28-0; Harbhajan Singh 10-1-36-1; Powar 10-0-41-1; Yuvraj Singh 8-1-34-2; Sehwag 6-0-31-2 (1nb, 1w).
INDIA:
V. Sehwag c Solanki b Blackwell 26
R. Dravid c Hoggard b Flintoff 65
Irfan Pathan st Prior b Blackwell 46
Mohammad Kaif c Anderson b Flintoff 5
Yuvraj Singh c Prior b Anderson 48
S. K. Raina c Blackwell b Anderson 21
M.S. Dhoni not out 10
R.R. Powar not out 2
EXTRAS (B-1, W-7, NB-7) 15
TOTAL (for six wkts, 47.2 overs) 238
FALL OF WKTS: 1-54, 2-130, 3-152, 4-152, 5-224, 6-224.
DID NOT BAT: A.B. Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, S. Sreesanth.
BOWLING: Anderson 10-1-53-2; Hoggard 9-0-59-0 (3nb, 4w); Flintoff 8-0-33-2 (3nb, 1w); Blackwell 10-1-41-2; Batty 8.2-0-41-0 (1nb, 2w); Collingwood 2-0-10-0.
UMPIRES: K. Hariharan (India) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).
TV UMPIRE: A.V. Jayaprakash (India).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Yuvraj Singh.
NEXT MATCH: Guhawati on Sunday.—Reuters
