Kohli, Raina power India to six-wicket victory
Kohli (86*), Raina (80), Aaron (3/24) shine as India inch closer to a series rout by recording yet another easy victory against the listless Englishmen.
On the eve of the fourth ODI, Jonathan Trott was asked if he foresaw a 5-0 outcome in the series. The England batsman replied with an emphatic “no” and affirmed that England want to win the remaining two ODIs. It turned out to be a misplaced conviction as England batted worse than Geoffrey Boycott’s mom. A 5-0 verdict now looks inevitable.
The visitors woefully exposed their discomfort against spin bowling on a slow wicket at the Wankhede here on Sunday.R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja spun a web around the batsmen by taking five wickets between them before Varun Aaron came back to wrap up the tail.
The England innings lasted just over 46 overs but their struggle looked as if it was for eternity. Batsmen after batsmen came and looked helpless giving an impression that batting on the wicket was like solving a Rubik’s puzzle. The pitch sure was a little slow and low, but on the same strip India cantered to their victory target of 221 breaking little sweat. They lost only four wickets and achieved the target with almost 10 overs left.
There was not a single half-century in the England innings although Tim Bresnan (45), Kevin Pietersen (41), Jonathan Trott and Craig Kieswetter (29) had good starts. None could handle the Indian spinners with conviction. Ashwin (3 for 38) and Jadeja (2 for 21) were turned into Shane Warne. The two spinners were scarcely tested.
Kieswetter hit a few shots off Ashwin but he was not good enough to last too long. Pietersen tried to establish his authority but he was caught at deep mid-wicket. Trott tried to anchor the innings — something he did so well in the previous match at Mohali — but he had no answer to an in-swinger from Vinay Kumar. But for Bresnan’s effort late in the innings, England’s total would have been far less than 200.
If spin was difficult to handle, Aaron became too hot for the Englishmen. Generating good pace, the debutant struck to right line and length and rattled the English batsmen with pace and accuracy. He clean bowled three batsmen, Scott Borthwick and Stuart Meaker besides Bresnan.
India had little difficulty chasing down the target. They would have knocked off the runs in less than 35 overs if Suresh Raina had curbed his recklessness. Raina batted well till the point he got out, but a little bit of circumspection would have given the batsman a well-deserved century. He was in hurry to finish the job; he made 80.
Virat Kohli was quite unlike Raina. He avoided risks and saw India home comfortably. His 86-run knock contained a few classy shots. With scores of 37, 112 not out, 35 and 86 not out, Kohli has made it his series. There could be little competition for him for the Man of the Series award.
In the beginning, India stumbled in their pursuit of 221. Parthiv Patel (8), Ajinkya Rahane (20) and Gautam Gambhir (1) got out in quick succession to raise England’s hopes of an upset. But Raina and Kohli ensured that there were no further hiccups.