India v England, 2014
Wisden's review of the fourth ODI, India v England, 2014
David Clough
15-Apr-2015
At Birmingham, September 2. India won by nine wickets. Toss: India. One-day international debut: D. S. Kulkarni.
England racked up their fifth one-day defeat in six series, a sequence broken only by their win in the Caribbean earlier in the year, when Stuart Broad had stood in as captain. Dhoni, by contrast, was celebrating his 91st victory - an Indian record. This time, at the scene of India's triumph in the Champions Trophy final the previous summer, England were undone by the tourists' seamers. Their batsmen then raced to a humiliatingly easy win with almost 20 overs in hand. Though conditions were glorious for batting, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was back to the miserly, probing figure who had thrived at the start of the Test series: Hales was restricted by a tighter line, and Cook poked compliantly to gully. Ballance, playing instead of Ian Bell - who had broken a toe while facing prematch throwdowns - departed to a leading edge against Mohammed Shami, and a recovery from Root and Morgan foundered all too predictably against spin. It fell to Ali to take the initiative. Using his feet to the slow bowlers - a tactic that proved beyond most of his colleagues throughout the series - he raced to a 37-ball half-century. His efforts were greeted by boos from a crowd full of British Asians. Despite Ali's efforts, India's batsmen were left with little to do. Rahane compiled a maiden one-day international hundred, and Dhawan almost followed him to three figures, facing just 81 balls and putting together his only meaningful score of the tour. The result equalled England's worst home defeat by wickets in the format: India had also won by nine at The Oval in 1986.
Man of the Match: A. M. Rahane.
England racked up their fifth one-day defeat in six series, a sequence broken only by their win in the Caribbean earlier in the year, when Stuart Broad had stood in as captain. Dhoni, by contrast, was celebrating his 91st victory - an Indian record. This time, at the scene of India's triumph in the Champions Trophy final the previous summer, England were undone by the tourists' seamers. Their batsmen then raced to a humiliatingly easy win with almost 20 overs in hand. Though conditions were glorious for batting, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was back to the miserly, probing figure who had thrived at the start of the Test series: Hales was restricted by a tighter line, and Cook poked compliantly to gully. Ballance, playing instead of Ian Bell - who had broken a toe while facing prematch throwdowns - departed to a leading edge against Mohammed Shami, and a recovery from Root and Morgan foundered all too predictably against spin. It fell to Ali to take the initiative. Using his feet to the slow bowlers - a tactic that proved beyond most of his colleagues throughout the series - he raced to a 37-ball half-century. His efforts were greeted by boos from a crowd full of British Asians. Despite Ali's efforts, India's batsmen were left with little to do. Rahane compiled a maiden one-day international hundred, and Dhawan almost followed him to three figures, facing just 81 balls and putting together his only meaningful score of the tour. The result equalled England's worst home defeat by wickets in the format: India had also won by nine at The Oval in 1986.
Man of the Match: A. M. Rahane.