dabbed to short third man, and finally England win in India!
India vs England, Only T20I at Kolkata, Oct 29 2011 - Ball by Ball Commentary
There you have it, England's first win in India since 2006, and it's by six wickets. The early dismissals hurt India's effort, and they struggled to add any real impetus to the innings - especially once Raina was dismissed. England's reply had its nervy moments, but there was never the weight of runs to really set their hearts racing. Read all about today's game in Andrew Miller's bulletin.
"Liam, you believe it or not but I am really emotional about this. I WILL miss you. But I wish you the best of luck, wherever you are..." Thanks Anees, I'm a touch emotional too, to be honest. If any of you would like to follow whatever it is I do next (clue: wacky shenanigans) then feel free to find me on Twitter. As a special thank you to all of you who have made my time here special, here's a little treat: it's the story of how I got into cricket.
"Bopara is the new Waqar, Jadeja is the new Warne (not my analogies) AND Liam is quitting cricinfo. What is this world coming to?" We live in strange times, Sabeen.
"For God's sake Liam. You never published my comments. Please do it now." Oh alright, Anjul, there you go.
"Bad captaincy by Dhoni today, dissapointed. First of all, he persisted with Yusuf Pathan and he ended up giving away a very precious expensive over - offspin! 2 right-handers batting would have thought Manoj Tiwary would be a better option, Jadeja's figures says it all...P.S Let's actually have 1 match-related post published now, will miss you Liam! :( Thanks for such great comms at Cricinfo!" Still, Punit, a job well done by Dhoni during this tour as a whole. He was the man of the ODI series, after all.
"I'm pained that Liam is leaving. I can't read the whole commentary because the hotel internet is worse than a dial up. I don't comment on Cricinfo at all, but Liam deserves a goodbye. Thanks for making me giggle like a school girl." Any time, Ravikiran Dinakar.
By the way, I assure you we will have the match presentations and interviews in a moment!
Samit Patel is presented with a motorcycle for his all-round effport
"We were 15 runs short," says MS Dhoni. "It was the sort of wicket where you'd aim for 150 odd runs. We didn't get off to a good start. It was very slow, so it was very difficult. They used the slower ball very well. Ashwin played some shots, and that's why we reached 120 odd runs. No point thinking about the Australian series right now, what's important is the next few days off and then back for the Tests. It'll be a good series for the youngsters, especially the bowlers."
Kevin Pietersen is the Man of the Match for his half-century. "Tricky wicket," he says. "It's one of those wickets were the first six overs you've got to take a risk or two. Luckily i was dropped! It's a good place to come and play as a batter, but a lot of us underperformed. But believe me, we tried our hardest. We've got a lot of work to do technique-wise here in the subcontinent. But we'll continue to give our best and try to improve. We've tried really hard on this trip, although we came unstuck in the one-dayers."
"It's been a very tough month for us," admits Graeme Swann. "We've played some abjectly horrible cricket, but it came together today. Finn has been the shining star for us for the whole month, I brought him on today when I needed a wicket and he provided. We know that we played some poor cricket for five games, and one swallow doesn't make a summer."
And that is just about that. It's sad to say goodbye. I hope you've all enjoyed my commentary efforts, and indeed, that you continue to enjoy cricinfo. It's been great. Thank you, one and all, and goodbye.
All the fielders are in now.
pushed to point, straight to the fielder
another shovel goes to leg, scores level
turned off the pads into the leg side, a quick single taken
"Can we have a mini-collapse please?" It'll have to be a pretty major one now, Rakesh Kumar.
flicked to leg, one more taken
"Where's me tuk-tuk," asks Bumble on the TV commentary. "Start me tuk-tuk."
squeezed through point for a couple
toe-ended to extra cover
a big appeal as Bopara is hit on the pad! But not given. This looked far, far closer than the Pietersen dismissal
a tight single! Bairstow played it down close on the off side, but Bopara called straight away. All the same, they had to hurry!
Dhoni's got to bring the field in.
nudged into space at point, and there's an easy single to be had
what's happened here? Bopara played and missed outside off, and the ball popped outside Dhoni's gloves. Yep, it's given as byes, so no bat on it
Bopara threads a drive through cover, and they're back for two
a slow legcutter is pushed defensively to extra cover
driven straight to mid off, no single on offer
that'll help! Much too short from Kohli, and this ball just sat up and asked to be hit. Bopara did just that, pulling it hard to wide long on
a square drive is stopped at point, the crowd cheering it's approval
Handy over from Raina, there. Could he be the real allrounder of the day? Am I allowed to change my choice?
pushed defensively back down the track
he's given him! Pietersen swivelled into a reverse sweep but missed the ball and was struck on the pad. Raina was bowling round the wicket, however, and this looked to have pitched outside leg. But he's got to go, and to his credit he does so without complaining. Is there still hope for India?
pushed through flat and fast, and it's chopped to extra cover
dead-batted through point, one more to the total