Ranchi: Mahendra Singh Dhoni will remember this win for a long, long time, as the Indian skipper not only won the inaugural match at his home ground, but a seven-wicket victory against England, apart from giving the hosts a 2-1 lead, will go a long way in giving Team India a lot of confidence before going into the match against the visitors at Mohali and Dharamshala.
If it were the bowlers who triggered the English collapse and restricted them for a paltry 156, the batsmen, sans Ajinkya Rahane, made sure that they steered India to a comprehensive win as a gift to their captain infront of his home crowd at JSCA Stadium in Ranchi on Saturday.
Virat Kohli was the wreckor-in-chief for England as he not only steadied the Indian innings after Rahane went out for a duck, but also ensured that India win it comprehensively with plenty of wickets and overs in their hands. Kohli made 77 off 79 balls, inclusive of nine 4s and two 6s. Earlier, Gautam Gambhir and Rahane came out to open for the hosts but Rahane was again clean-bowled by Finn for no score. Gambhir too looked scratchy in the beginning, but went on to build the innings with Virat before falling off to Tredwell for 33.
Yuvraj Singh too fell to Tredwell but the southpaw played a cameo of 30 runs off 21 balls and along with Kohli took the match away from the visitors. Dhoni, who promoted himself up the order infront of his home crowd, finished up the game along with Kohli with 21.5 overs remaining.
Earlier, England once again fell flat against slow bowlers as the Indian bowling attack skittled them out for a paltry 155. Jadeja once again produced an impressive spell with three wickets for 19 runs, while off-spinner Ashwin and pacer Ishant Sharma took two wickets each.
Dhoni called it right at the toss and put England to bat and reduced them to 98 for six from 68 for three at one stage. After the fall of Pietersen, English batsmen showed little appetite to stay at the crease as the Indian slow bowlers made their presence felt in front of a capacity crowd of 39,000 at the JSCA Stadium which is hosting its first international match.
Joe Root was the England top-scorer with 39 as the visiting top-order failed miserably.