3rd ODI: Ind v. WI: Dhoni lead by Example, give India 2-1 lead!

In the last over thriller, a superb six by Dhoni over midwicket brought the equation from 10 in 5 balls to 4 in 4 balls.

Dhoni as said during the press meet earlier, took sometime to stay in the crease but finished well for India.

Frequent rain brought the match to 27 overs a side. The match started with 41 overs-a-side, but rain reduced it to 39 overs.

Rain again halted the match in the 10th over and reduced the game to 36 overs. In the same over, the match was redued to 27 overs.

Sarwan's innings gave West Indies the upper hand. He scored 62 in 59 balls with 5 fours and a six. West Indies finished with 186 in 27 overs.

The target was not easy to chase as the outfield was also slow due to rain. Based on duckworth-lewis method, the target was revised to 159 in 22 overs.

Karthick and Gambhir gave a good start with a 84-run partnership in 12 overs. Yuvaraj was out for 2. Dhoni then played a good innings and was not out with 46 in 34 balls.

He ensured that he stayed in the crease to ensure that he did not pass the pressure to the tail enders. India reached the victory target with a ball to spare.

Scoreboard:

Match: 3rd ODI
Date: Sunday July 3, 2009
Teams: India v. West Indies
Captains: MS Dhoni and C Gayle
Toss: India, decided to field
Venue: Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Result: India won by 6 wickets with 1 ball remaining
Series Result: India lead the series 2-1
Man of the Match: MS Dhoni off India

West Indies Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Gayle	c Dhoni b Nehra	27	14	6	0
R Morton	st Dhoni b Harbhajan	22	34	2	0
R Sarwan	run out (Gambhir/Dhoni)	62	59	5	1
Chanderpaul	c Nehra b Y Pathan	15	14	2	0
DJ Bravo	c Dhoni b Nehra	14	19	1	0
DM Bravo	b Nehra	21	15	3	0
Ramdin	not out	14	6	1	1
J Taylor	c I Sharma b Harbhajan	1	2	0	0
Extras	(lb 7, w 2, nb 1)	10	-	-	-
Total	for 7 wkts in 27 overs	186	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-27 (Gayle, 3.4 ov), 2-78 (Morton, 12.3 ov), 3-125 (Chanderpaul, 18.3 ov), 4-135 (Sarwan, 20.5 ov), 5-170 (DM Bravo, 25.1 ov), 6-173 (DJ Bravo, 25.6 ov), 7-186 (Taylor, 26.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
I Sharma	5	0	35	0
A Nehra	5	1	21	3
RP Singh	5	0	34	0
Harbhajan	5	0	35	2
Yuvraj	2	0	19	0
R Sharma	1	0	7	0
Y Pathan	4	0	28	1

India Innings: (159 to win in 22 overs)

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
D Karthik	run out (Rampaul)	47	43	5	1
Gambhir	c Ramdin b Benn	44	38	2	0
Dhoni	not out	46	34	2	1
Yuvraj Singh	c DM Bravo b Bernard	2	6	0	0
R Sharma	c Bernard b DJ Bravo	11	9	0	0
Y Pathan	not out	1	2	0	0
Extras	(lb 4, w 3, nb 1)	8	-	-	-
Total	for 4 wkts in 21.5 overs	159	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-84 (Karthik, 12.1 ov), 2-108 (Gambhir, 15.1 ov), 3-117 (Yuvraj Singh, 16.6 ov), 4-148 (RG Sharma, 20.5 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
J Taylor	3.5	0	39	0
R Rampaul	4	0	26	0
DJ Bravo	4	0	27	1
Bernard	3	0	21	1
Benn	5	0	31	1
Gayle	2	0	11	0

5th ODI: Ind v. Eng: Sehwag put India 5-0 Up!

In the 5th ODI played in Kanpur, India beat England one more time and lead the series 5-0. With two more matches to go, England has to find some tactics to handle the Indians.

Kevin Pietersen was surprised when Dhoni elected to field and expressed it during the interview after the toss.

Cook replaced Bell and opened the innings with Bopara. England started slowly and also lost wickets in between. Kevin Pietersen played a captain's innings and scored an unbeaten 111 off 128 balls with 10 fours and a six. He built a good 89-run partnership of with Collingwood and took the score to 157 at the end of 30 overs. Flintoff out for a duck on the third ball he faced. He was caught by Tendulkar of Ishanth Sharma. Pietersen then built another partnership with with Shah (66 not out) took the score to 270.

Once though to be a 300+ score was restricted by the Indian bowlers who really bowled well. The spinners curtailed and in the later overs, the pace bowlers helped India to have a reasonable target.

Chase started with Sehwag and Tendulkar opening the innings. Gambhir was given rest and replaced by Rohit Sharma. Tendulkar and Sehwag added another 100-run partnership to their list of partnership. They added 136 runs for the first wicket with Sachin bowled one more time between the bat and pad. He scored his 90th fifty.

Sehwag was smashing the ball to boundaries at the other end. He reached his 33rd ODI fifty in just 41 balls with 10 fours and a six. He hit 20 runs of Swann's first over which included 3 fours, a six and a two.

Yuvaraj was promoted to No. 3, but could not stay in the crease for long. He checked his shot of the ball pitched on middle and gave a return catch to Bopara. Sehwag got out in the next next ball, unlucky to be given leg before. The ball was clearly missing the leg stump but Broad was lucky to get the wicket.

Dhoni and Rain scored fifty each and took the score closer to the target. Dhoni was leg before to Swann, but Rain and Rohit completed the formalities with 6.2 overs to spare.

Sehwag was declared man of the match for his swashbuckling innings of 91 in 72 balls with 15 fours and a six.

Scoreboard:

Match: 5th ODI
Venue: Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Teams: India and England
Captains: MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen
Toss: India won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: India won by 6 wickets with 38 balls remaining
Series Result: India leading by 5-0
Man of the Match: Virendera Sehwag (India)

England 270 for 4 in 50 overs (RS Bopara 24, AN Cook 11, KP Pietersen 111 not out, PD Collingwood 40, A Flintoff 0, OA Shah 66 not out, Extras--18 (lb 14, w 4), Irfan Pathan 10-1-57-0, Zaheer 10-1-60-2, Ishanth Sharma 10-0-54-1, Harbahajan 10-0-47-1, Yuvaraj Singh 10-0-38-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-33 (Cook, 5.5 ov), 2-68 (Bopara, 9.5 ov), 3-157 (Collingwood, 29.6 ov), 4-158 (Flintoff, 30.4 ov)

India 273 for 4 in 43.4 overs (Sehwag 91, Tendulkar 50, Yuvaraj Singh 6, Dhoni 50, Raina 53 not out, Rohit Sharma 8 not out, Extras--15 (lb 5, w 8, nb 2), Harmison 10-1-50-1, Broad 8.4-0-54-1, Flintoff 9-0-43-0, Patel 3-0-23-0, Swann 7-0-56-1, Bopara 6-1-42-1)

Fall of Wickets: 1-136 (Tendulkar, 19.5 ov), 2-156 (Yuvraj Singh, 22.6 ov), 3-156 (Sehwag, 23.1 ov), 4-250 (Dhoni, 40.6 ov)

4th ODI: Ind v. Eng: India win series, up 4-0!

India beat England in the crucial 4th ODI by 19 runs and lead the 7-match series by 4-0. England has to play for pride in the next three ODI matches as the result has no impact on the series.

The weather forecast indicated rain though the match was started on time. India opened with Sehwag and Sachin after put into bat by Pietersen.

Sachin was bowled through a beauty by Broad. The ball pitched on the off, came in, Tendulkar missed the line and the off stump was knocked out.

The rain stopped play at the end of 14 overs. At the time, India were 82 for 1 with Sehwag on 45 and Gambhir on 23. After bowling one more over, the confusion started with the power play overs that should be decided by India. As per D/L method, the power play was over for India and they couldn't chose their powerplay overs. What a stupid logic? The match was reduced by 6 overs.

Again at the end of 17 overs, rain intervened when India were 106 for 1. The play was stopped for almost 3 hours. When the play resumed, the match was reduced to 22 overs a side.

If India scores another 38 runs in the 5 remaining overs, regardless of the wickets lost by India, England's target would be 181 in 22 overs as per D/L method.

In the last 5 overs, India scored 60 runs and set a target of 198 in 22 overs. Yuvaraj Singh hammered 25 off just 11 balls with 3 sixes. While Pathan hit a six off the last ball. Sehwag was out for 69 in the 18th over. He consumed just 57 balls and hit 9 fours and 3 sixes.

What a strange rule? The batting team scores 166 and set a target of 198!

England did not do well in the power play. At the end of 6 overs, they were 38 for 1. The Indian bowlers restricted England very well.

Shah tried from one end to take England closer to the target, but the brilliant effort was curtailed by short of overs. He scored 72 off 48 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes before caught by Tendulkar of Zaheer.

Flintoff, though scored 41 off 30 balls which included 3 fours and a six, could not do much except play out the crucial overs in the middle than scoring fours and sixes. His scoring came in the 2 power play overs chose by England.

Sehwag was given the bike for the man of the match award for his firing 69. With this victory, India win the series regardless of what happens in the remaining 3 matches. Sure that India will rest some of the fast bowlers and key players and give chance to others.

Scoreboard:

Match: 4th ODI
Venue: Chinnasamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Teams: India and England
Captains: MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen
Toss: England won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: India won by 19 runs by D/L method
Series Result: India leading by 4-0
Man of the Match: Virendera Sehwag (India)
Overs: Match was stopped twice due to rain; first time, the match was reduced by 6 overs and the next time, the match was reduced to 22 overs a side

India 166 for 4 in 22 overs (Sehwag 69, Sachin 11, Gambhir 40, Yuvaraj 25 not out, MS Dhoni 9, Y Pathan 6 not out, Extras--6 (b 1, lb 1, w 4), Anderson 5-0-33-0, Broad 6-1-49-1, Flintoff 5-0-20-0, Patel 3-0-24-0, Swann 2-0-21-2, Pietersen 1-0-17-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-38 (Tendulkar, 7.5 ov), 2-117 (Sehwag, 18.1 ov), 3-142 (Gambhir, 20.2 ov), 4-160 (Dhoni, 21.5 ov)

England 178 for 8 in 22 overs (India won by D/L Method: Target 198 in 22 overs)(Bopara 1, Bell 12, Shah 72, Pietersen 5, Flintoff 41, Collingwood 22, Patel 11, Swann 5, Prior 0 not out, Broad 0 not out, Extras--9 (b 3, lb 2, w 3, nb 1), Zaheer Khan 5-0-20-2, Munaf Patel 4-1-22-2, I Shrama 5-0-41-2, Yusuf Pathan 1-0-17-0, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-42-1, Yuvaraj Singh 3-0-31-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-1 (Bopara, 1.2 ov), 2-44 (Bell, 7.4 ov), 3-52 (Pietersen, 8.5 ov), 4-134 (Shah, 16.5 ov), 5-141 (Flintoff, 17.4 ov), 6-161 (Patel, 19.6 ov), 7-178 (Swann, 21.4 ov), 8-178 (Collingwood, 21.5 ov)