So India take the series 3-2. It comes as a relief in a season in which they haven't really had much to cheer about. Alan Gardener's match report is being updated as i type. Thanks for all your comments and feedback. This is Devashish Fuloria signing off, ciao ciao.
Presentation
Alastair Cook: "It was good win, it was a good toss to win, but our bowlers bowled really well. Bresnan and Finn got early breakthroughs today. Our top four got runs and Bell played a fantastic knock. The pitch was doing something all day, so it was important to stick around with wickets in hands, it is important with the new regulations. We have good positives to take from this series. It has been a fantastic three months in India. "
Ian Bell is the man of the match for his super century"Our bowlers set up the win but 220 odd was a good target to chase. I really love opening the batting and hopefully I can continue do this in future. "
Suresh Raina gets the Man of the Series award. "When we came to this series, we had lost to Pakistan and England in Tests, so this win has been good. Today we were probably 20-30 runs short, but still we batted well in this series. When you bat 6, 7 you don't get many opportunities, but this series, our top order didn't get runs, so I got time in the middle. "
MS Dhoni: "Series was as tight as the Test series. We should have won this game, maybe we should have batted more sensibly. But it is a young side and it will learn with time. Thankfully, in three games, we didn't have to bowl those death overs, it remains an area of concern. Today bowlers got some help, maybe there were a little short today. The bowlers did well this series because the conditions really helped them too. Ishant was a big positive, he bowled really well throughout the series, if you look spell by spell. Fielding is a big positive. Jadeja's form solves the allrounder problem to an extent too."
An utterly brilliant and well-paced century by Ian Bell takes England home comfortably with a few overs to spare. He played some effortless shots and took his time, but didn't give it away at all and made sure he finished the job. England make it 2-3 in the series and there are some smiles now that they head-off to a limited-overs tour to NZ. The win puts England level with India on the ODI ranking points at 119, but India are slightly ahead after taking the decimals into account. India kept the pressure on during the initial part of the innings but England kept building up partnerships and thwarted the home side. Morgan made a welcome return to form with an unbeaten 40 too.
Raina's Uncle: "Man of the Match should be Raina! if he hand't scored 83, Bell wouldn't have had the opportunity of scoring a 100!"
Musawwir: "@Raina's Uncle: Don't worry! That's exactly they are going to do it. Remember the previous series...?" I won't be surprised if Dhoni sweeps the MoM and MoS awards.
P.S.: Dan: "Novak wins third set 6-3"