Mumbai ODI: Kohli, Raina seal victory at Wankhede

Mumbai: Like a well-oiled machine the young guns of team India took charge and blew away the England challenge to go 4-0 up in the series at the Wankhede in Mumbai against England.

Virat Kohli once again was the chief architect of the victory with an enterprising yet solid unbeaten knock of 86. He along with Suresh Raina (80) sealed the deal in the most professional of all manners. Raina turned into monster soon after he got to his fifty dispatching the England bowlers at will. His 62 ball 80 which included 12 boundaries was very much instrumental in putting India in a winning position.

Steven Finn was the only bowler who looked in good form as he had provided the early breakthroughs, but Raina was particularly severe against the lanky pacer.

Finn finished with a impressive haul of 10-0-45-3 but he failed to get any support from the other bowlers. Debutant Stuart Meaker bowled with pace, but on a slow pitch that was the maximum he could do.

Kohli was the epitome of composure in cricketing terms and Raina on the other hand paced his innings well and took on the bowling to give India a clear advantage in the run chase.

They combined well to build a solid partnership (131) that took India from a precarious situation to a match winning one as England bowlers were not able to maintain the early pressure they had created.

Led by Finn, the England bowlers had kept a check on Indian run flow early on frustrating the batters with top three wickets falling cheaply. Finn was at his best as he removed Parthiv (8) and Gambhir (1) rattling their stumps with uppish deliveries and pace.

But England failed to continue the momentum and once Finn’s fiery spell was replaced by inexperienced Scott Borthwick’s leg spin and Stuart Meaker, India found themselves in familiar territories and were at ease from that point onwards. Out of form Tim Bresnan did well to contain but was not effective.

Earlier in the England innings, an impressive bowling performance lead by Ashwin and Jadeja helped India bundle out England for a score of 220 in the 4th ODI in front of a rather thin crowd at the Wankhede.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja lead the bowling attack but the young debutant Varun Aaron impressed with three wickets all them bowled. Moreover, the rookie pacer regularly clocked above 142 km/h.

For England Tim Bresnan held his ground in the later part of the innings with a brisk run a ball 45. The top order all clicked but failed to get a move on. Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar provided the timely breakthrough which did not allow the England batsmen to build on a good partnership.

Varun Aaron cleaned up the tail as the young debutant finished with a tally of three wickets. Tim Bresnan was the last man out as he waged a lone battle in the fag end of the innings.

In the middle overs Indian spinners took charge as Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin choked the England run flow and put the inexperienced England middle order under pressure. Ravi Bopara was scalped by Jadeja whereas the young Bairstow again failed to click.

England had again lost wickets in quick succession as Kevin Pietersen was holed out in the deep mid-wicket region by Manoj Tiwary off the bowling off Ravichandran Ashwin for 41.

This vital breakthrough peged the England run rate back.

It was the best first 10 overs for England as they got 61 runs in the stipulated powerplay overs despite losing Alastair Cook and Keiswetter quickly.

The main problem with the England innings was that none of the top four could get a move on from the starts they got. Indian bowlers did well to break the partnership at regular intervals.

Dhoni aims 5-0 whitewash after win in Mumbai

Mumbai: The stage is set for a 5-0 whitewash with India`s yet another comprehensive win over England on Sunday and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni says the team will leave no stone unturned in terms of preparations for the fifth and final One-dayer in Kolkata.

India hammered England in the fourth ODI by six wickets with 9.5 overs to spare to go ahead 4-0 in the series.

"We have played good cricket in the last few days. There have been instances when we were under pressure but we came out well. If we have won four games it does not mean we will win fifth also. We have to play well and we will go we prepared for the game," Dhoni said after the match.

The last ODI is scheduled for October 25.

Dhoni said after England`s flourishing start, they thought of chasing close to 270 runs but the spinners turned the tide in his team`s favour.

"They got a good start. After 10 overs we thought they will get 270 plus. But there was a twist in the tale. Spinners got more and more turn as the game progressed and that helped us restrain them," he said.

Dhoni also said pacer Varun Aaron, who made his debut, was a good addition to the team.

"He bowled quick. If you can bowl quick, it`s difficult to rotate the strike. Now we have both Umesh Yadav and Aaron and we can make a good choice according to the conditions," he said.


Dhoni was also happy with team`s fielding. "We have improved a lot. Those 10 runs (saved) matter. Overall it has become a good fielding unit."

A dejected Alastair Cook blamed lack of partnership for his side`s defeat.

"We fell short again. In Indian conditions, you need to score 270, 280. We lost wickets in cluster today. 220 was never going to be enough. We kept losing wickets," the England skipper said.

"We have not performed to our potential. We have not played as well as we would have liked to. The guys would definitely want to win in Kolkata," he added.

Suresh Raina, who scored a quick-fire 80 off just 62 balls, was adjudged Man-of-the-Match.

"The partnership with Virat was crucial. Me and Virat spoke to each other and he said, `we have to be together for about 100 runs`. He said `we`ll rotate strike and wait for the loose deliveries to play our shots`," he said.

Raina was bowled by Steve Finn when the diminutive left-hander went for a big shot to eventually miss put on a century.

"I had decided to play my natural game. But I won`t repeat that mistake again. We will try to win it 5-0," he said.

South Australian Redbacks vs Royal Challengers Bangalore - 20-20

Over 20RCB 215/8
Arun Karthik* 6(2), Sreenath Aravind 6(3)

Bangalore needed 14 runs from the final over and not many would have given them a chance. That too, with 6 needed on the last ball, Arun karthik probably played the most important knock of his life to secure the match for Bangalore.

At the half-way mark, everyone felt that it was game over for Bangalore. But Gayle and Dilshan powered them to a tremendous start. Once he fell, Dilshan and Kohli had a wonderful partnership and things seemed to be going away from the Redbacks. But Tait came back to produce an almost match-winning spell with a 5-wicket haul.

At the half-way mark, everyone felt that it was game over for Bangalore. But Gayle and Dilshan powered them to a tremendous start. Once he fell, Dilshan and Kohli had a wonderful partnership and things seemed to be going away from the Redbacks. But Tait came back to produce an almost match-winning spell with a 5-wicket haul.

Castrol Index Update - A thrilling win off the last ball for Royal Challengers Bangalore to seal a spot in the semis. In spite of a victory, they finish three points behind South Australia (67) on the Index. Daniel Harris was the top performer of the match, bagging a value of 89 while Kohli topped the chart for RCB with ratings of 65.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs South Australia Streaming | CLT20 Live Score

Is the South Australian Redbacks’ ploy of playing three specialist spinners in the Champions League backfiring on them? The strategy may have worked well from them in the Big Bash competition where the matches were played on bigger grounds. But here the smaller grounds make it more difficult for the bowlers as even a mishit may go for a six.

On Sunday, against a rampaging Jon-Jon Smuts, the Redbacks were at the receiving end of his willow as the Warriors tore the spin attack to shreds. Skipper Michael Klinger and coach Darren Berry will have to give a rethink on their strategy as they take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Group B match at the RJIC Stadium, on Tuesday night.

The way Yusuf Pathan smashed four consecutive sixes off part-time spinner Arul Suppiah will undoubtedly play on the mind of the Redbacks. The Knight Riders have a strong batting line-up and containing them will not be that easy.

Klinger admitted that his side didn’t bowl well. “We gave loose deliveries too often,” he said. “We normally execute very well with the kind of deliveries we want to bowl, but today they were hitting them,” he said after his side suffered an embarrassing 50-run loss to the Warriors.

He, however, did not lay the entire blame on the bowlers. “They played better than us. There are no excuses. We did not execute our basic skills well and lost wickets regularly. The run rate was high and they did well to contain us,” Klinger said.