Mon, 17 Oct 2011 - India vs England, England Tour of India 2011-12, 2nd ODI - Bulletin

Kohli, Gambhir power India to 2-0 lead

An all-round display by India in the second ODI ensured that England were comprehensively beaten by eight wickets to go 2-0 up in the five match series. England were restricted to a below par total of 237 mainly due to Vinay Kumar’s bowling but the real Indian domination came in the second half as Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir put on an unbeaten 209, the target was overhauled with 80 balls spare. Kohli reached his seventh ton in one-dayers while as Gambhir ended with 84, their partnership best ever India stand for third wicket.

England are now left with a massive task to stage a come back as they need to win all the reaming matches in the series and the way India is playing right now, that seems highly unlikely.

After they had been restricted to 237, England needed wickets upfront to derail the chase and they succeeded in doing that partly. Both the openers, Parthiv Patel and Ajinkye Rahane tried to play aggressively but lost their wickets to some spirited bowling by Tim Bresnan. At 29 for 2 in the seventh over, the visitors were well and truly in the game and one more wicket at this stage would have put India under tremendous pressure.

However, that was the last of the English smiles; from that point onwards it was India all the way. Gambhir and Kohli were edgy in the beginning with few nicks evading the fielders with narrowest of margins. The close calls led to some heated debated between the English bowlers and the two batsmen. That probably spurred them to concentrate harder and it showed the way the two applied themselves.

The hallmark of their partnership was risk free cricket as Kohli was the first one to settle into a rhythm. Making full of the short boundaries and quick outfield, he unfurled some silken drives on the up that sped through the covers. Even though, Gambhir struggled to hit the ball in front of the stumps yet he was adept at the late cut to keep the chase going.

With regular singles, the boundaries also began to flow as Indian chase was gaining strength quickly. The 100 of the innings was crossed in the 18th over and the next hundred took only 15 more. Although, the two Delhi boys were going neck to neck till the 70’s but Kohli accelerated with a flurry of boundaries to reach his second century against England with a single. Eventually, the target was surpassed in the 37th over, with the duo finishing on 112 and 84 not out respectively.

Earlier, England kept losing wickets at crucial junctures throughout the innings that never picked up the momentum to concern India. Barring a couple of big partnerships, the visitors were more often than not chasing the game as Indian bowlers led by Vinay Kumar’s career best 4 for 30 kept the runs under control. Actually, England could never fully recover from the disastrous start after they were reduced to 0 for 2, despite others in their batting line-up getting decent starts the target for India was limited only to 238 on a track full of runs.

Alistair Cook’s decision to bat first immediately back fired as he was caught at point off only the fourth ball of the innings and when Craig Kieswetter deflected a Vinay Kumar out swinger into the lone slip’s hands, England had lost both their openers without getting off the mark. Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen then set about the rebuilding process with a little counter punch as Praveen Kumar was smashed for four boundaries in one over. Trott hit few more scoring shots before Vinay’s testing line on the off-stump got better of the right hander, at the end of ten overs England were 48 for 3.

If Pietersen couldn’t carry on the rebuilding with Trott, he joined forces with Ravi Bopara to lift England out of the dumps. Pietersen looked good in his 55-ball 46 knock that included successive sixes off Ravindra Jadeja. The duo added 73 in 14.5 overs to take their team to relative safety before the bowlers struck once again. R Ashwin trapped Bopara LBW for 26 and three balls later Umesh Yadav had Pietersen chasing a wide one to be caught behind. The seemingly good position was lost once again and the rescue act had to begin all over again for England.

At 121 for 5, Jonny Bairstow and Samit Patel got together and the rookies did not disappoint. Due to their enterprising 86 run stand that had was full of quality strokes, a solid platform was laid for a final charge which might have taken the team past the par total of 250. First, they consolidated with singles and doubles but increased the tempo in the batting power play which yielded 39. But, the pattern of the fall of wickets repeated itself as the two settled batsmen were dismissed within a space of nine deliveries. Vinay returned to claim two more victims in the 46th over to finish with impressive four wicket haul as England squandered a good platform 207 for 5 to be all-out for 237.