India v England 2008-09

At Cuttack, November 26, 2008 (day/night). India won by six wickets. Toss: India.

	Owais Shah and Kevin Pietersen's unbroken century-stand was in vain © Getty Images Enlarge
Related Links Tour and tournament reports : India v England 2008-09 Players/Officials: Kevin Pietersen | Virender Sehwag | Owais Shah Matches: India v England at Cuttack Series/Tournaments: England tour of India Teams: England | India

In what proved to be the final game of the series, India, having rested Gambhir and Munaf Patel, mocked what history suggested was a challenging target of 271 by winning with 38 balls to spare.

Pietersen responded to his own call for an England batsman to score a hundred, despite a cracked rib, but the injury may have contributed towards a failure to accelerate: his first fifty came from 59 balls, with seven fours, the second from 60, with two fours and a six. The Indian seam attack also bowled tightly during the final powerplay, conceding only 32 runs between the 40th and 45th overs. Shah, England's brightest spot in a dreadful fortnight, outscored his captain with 66 from 57 balls in their unbroken stand of 112.

But England sprayed the new ball wastefully, offering Tendulkar and Sehwag every chance to cut. Sehwag scored his fourth fifty of the series, from 41 balls, and was unlucky to be given out nine short of a hundred. With Yuvraj Singh dismissed the previous ball, England had a sniff, especially with uneven bounce at one end, but they proved unable to build pressure on Dhoni and Raina.

Man of the Match: V. Sehwag.
Man of the Series: Yuvraj Singh.