New Delhi: 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 on Monday.
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.
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.
Vinay Kumar bowled a tidy opening spell and took the wicket of Swann and Bresnan towrds the end to cut short the English innings. (PTI)