Kochi: India finally found their winning touch as they relied on a brilliant all-round display to thrash England by an emphatic 127 runs in the second ODI on Tuesday.
India first posted a competitive 285, riding on captain MS Dhoni’s 72 and Ravindra Jadeja’s 61, before the bowlers skittled out the visitors for a paltry 158 in just 36 overs to level the five-match series 1-1.
It was a convincing and morale-boosting victory for the Indians who have struggled of late even in home conditions, losing the ODI series to arch-rivals Pakistan and the Test series against England.
The hosts did well in all departments of the game, though the batting of the top order continued to be a concern with Gautam Gambhir (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (4) failing to deliver while the form of Virat Kohli remained patchy though he scored 37.
It was Dhoni’s 66-ball 72 and Jadeja’s blistering unbeaten knock of 61 in just 37 balls which provided the late flourish to the Indian innings. Suresh Raina (55) and Yuvraj Singh (32), who was distinctly unlucky to be given out LBW, were the other notable contributors.
With the stadium providing ample assistance to the bowlers in the second half, the Indians exploited the conditions to the hilt to bundle out the visitors with Kevin Pietersen being the top-scorer with a 58-ball 42.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-29), Ravichandran Ashwin (3-39) and Jadeja (2-12) were the pick of the Indian bowlers to give the hosts a resounding victory in front of a capacity crowd.
The two teams will now travel to Ranchi for the third one-dayer to be played on January 19.
It was rookie Shami Ahmed who gave India an early breakthrough with the wicket of Ian Bell (1) who chased a wide ball only to take an edge to Dhoni in the second over of the England run chase.
Just as England looked like settling down after the initial jolt, Bhuvneshawr Kumar rocked the visitors run chase with a double strike in three deliveries.
Cook, who was looking solid, missed a good length delivery off Kumar, the first ball of the 11th over, and the umpire signalled the dismissal of the batsman. Cook’s 17 came from 27 balls and was studded with three boundaries.
Two balls later, Kumar dealt a massive jolt to England innings by taking the wicket of Pietersen with a gem of a delivery. Pietersen was bowled off a sharp in-cutter which, after pitching at good length, jagged past the inside edge of the batsman’s angled bat before crashing onto the wickets.
Kumar returned four overs later to remove Eoin Morgan for a duck with captain Dhoni holding a superb, low catch to his left to leave England at 73 for four in the 15th over.
The quick jolts led England to slow down with Joe Root (36) and Craig Kieswetter (18) trying to consolidate rather than being adventurous and at the halfway mark they were 106 for four with the asking rate over seven an over.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been struggling for some time, played his part with three wickets in his two overs as he polished off the England tail – James Tredwell (1), Steven Finn (0) and Jade Dernbach (2).
Jadeja was named Man-of-the-Match. (PTI)