Kohli, Gambhir Power India to an Emphatic 8-wicket Win


New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI): Local heroes Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir gave ample display of their class as India relied on a clinical display to spank England by eight wickets in the second cricket one-dayer and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series here today.

The Indians first restricted the visitors to 237 all out riding on paceman Vinay Kumar's career-best effort of 4 for 30 before Kohli (112 not out) and Gambhir (84 not out) rattled up the required runs -- with as many as 80 balls to spare on a good batting track at the Ferozshah Kotla.

After the bowlers produced a disciplined show to dismiss England in 48.2 overs, Kohli and Gambhir took centrestage with a record 209-run partnership to script another huge win for the hosts following the resounding 126-run victory in the first game in Hyderabad on October 14.

The Delhi duo set a new record for the third wicket partnership against England, eclipsing the previous best of 175 between Navjot Singh Siddhu and Mohammad Azharuddin.

This partnership was also the highest third wicket partnership at the Kotla, surpassing the record of Sachin Tendulkar and Azharuddin who had stitched 175 runs.

Kohli took a single off Dernbach to not only notch up his 7th ODI ton but but also record the first century by an Indian at the Kotla in 15 years.

Tendulkar was the last Indian to hit a century during the 1996 World Cup match against Sri Lanka.

Electing to bat, most of the English batsmen -- Kevin Pietersen (46), Samit Patel (42), Ravi Bopara (36), Jonathan Bairstow (35) and Jonathan Trott (34) -- got the starts but could not translate them into big knocks after losing both their openers for a duck.

The Indians also had a poor start as they were struggling to 29 for two at one stage before the Gambhir-Kohli assault completely changed the complexion of the game.

Both teams will now travel to Mohali for the third game to be played on October 20.

Parthiv Patel got a reprieve when he was on 10 as was dropped by Graeme Swann in second slip off the bowling of Tim Bresnan. But that did not prove too costly for the visitors as the diminutive left hander returned to the pavilion soon after.

Patel tried to chip the ball over the in-field but could not time his shot properly and captain Cook took a superb catch at mid-on region with Bresnan doing the damage.

Young Ajinkya Rahane smashed Bresnan for a four and six before another impetuous stroke saw him return to the pavilion. He mistimed his hook and Dernbach held on to a simple catch at long leg as India suddenly slumped to 29 for 2.

Gambhir and Kohli then played sensibly to steady the innings as the pair first got their eye before unleasing some delightful strokes. The pair stitched 209 runs for the third wicket which took the game away from the visitors.

Although Gambhir was a trifle tentative in the early stages of his innings, he grew in confidence as the two Delhi lads unleashed a barrage of strokes to entertain the crowd.

None of the English bowlers could make much of an impact on the Kotla track which seemed quite good for batting.

Earlier, the England innings could not have begun on a more disastrous note as they lost both the openers Cook and Kieswetter within the first two overs and without a single run on the board.It turned out to be a dramatic start to the proceedings as paceman Praveen Kumar evicted England's captain in the fourth ball of his first over and then Vinay Kumar dealt another blow for the visitors by accounting for Kieswetter in his first over.

Cook perished to a rather poor stroke as he tried to cut a delivery wide outside the off stump and Ravindra Jadeja took a smart catch at point.

Even before the crowd at the Kotla had completed the celebrations, the visitors suffered another jolt when Vinay Kumar got rid of Kieswetter who edged an outgoing delivery to Virat Kohli in the lone slip.

Reeling at a precarious 0 for two, the experienced Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen survived a few anxious moments early in their innings.

Trott and Pietersen added 48 runs for the third wicket before Vinay Kumar struck again by dismissing Trott, who edged an outgoing delivery to Dhoni behind the stumps. His knock of 34 came off 37 deliveries and contained seven boundaries.

Vinay Kumar bowled a tidy opening spell of 7-1-25-2 and was replaced by Umesh Yadav who proved to be expensive with Ravi Bopara smashing him for three bounderies in his first over.

Pietersen and Bopara steadied the innings to some extent and ensured that there were no further setbacks. Just when the duo looked like bailing England out of trouble, the Indians bounced back into the game by sending back the two set batsmen in quick succession. From 121 for three, the visitors slumped to 121 for five in the span of three deliveries.

Ashwin trapped Bopara leg before to break the fourth wicket partnership which was assuming dangerous proportions before Yadav accounted for Pietersen, who nicked the ball to Dhoni who held on to a low catch. Pietersen waited at the boundary line as the television umpire Sudhir Asnani checked television replays to adjudge whether the catch was taken cleanly. The crowd cheered lustily when it became clear that the catch was taken cleanly.

The duo of Jonathan Bairstow and Samit Patel then took it upon themselves the responsibility of re-building the English innings, keeping the scoreboard ticking with gentle nudges and pushes while ocassionally going for the big hits.

England took the batting Powerplay in the 36th over and Patel singled out Ashwin for special treatment by lifting him for a huge six over mid-wicket region. The batting Powerplay did not really hurt India with only 36 runs coming off five overs.

The sixth-wicket partnership between Bairstow and Patel yielded a vital 86 runs before Umesh Yadav provided the breakthrough much to the relief of the Indians. Patel was trapped leg before for 42 which came off 53 balls and was laced with two fours and as many sixes.

Soon, Bairstow (35) also joined him in the pavilion with Kohli taking a well-judged catch in the deep off Jadeja.

  

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Comment on this article

  • nitin, koundal

    Mon, Oct 17 2011

    After a long time.......soon after dhoni became caipton..India has occupied the topmost position throughout the world of cricket.

    Batsman like kohli, gambhir, raina, pathan, are our weopons.

    Tendulkar is a evergreen forest.

    Cricket is religion.

    Go India Go............hum tumhare saath hain

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse


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