Filed under: Cricket, England Cricket, ODIs, India Cricket
4th ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL, LORD'S: India 280-5 (Suresh Raina 84, MS Dhoni 78no). England 270-8 (Ravi Bopara 96, Ian Bell 54, RP Singh 3-59). Match tied (D/L).Ravi Bopara came agonisingly close to guiding England to victory at Lord's in a bitter sweet experience and a controversial tie.
Bopara fell four short of his maiden international century, after showing all the maturity and calm nerves to prove he has what it takes at the highest level.
But he will still feel he missed a huge opportunity to return to the England dressing room a match-winning hero after the rain and Duckworth Lewis calculations scrambled his mind in the penultimate over.
Bopara holed out to Ravindra Jadeja in the deep off the bolwing of Munaf Patel, moments after his 50-run seventh wicket parthership with Graeme Swann had been ended.
And the two late wickets cost England their lead on D/L to the consternation of the England dressing room and team director Andy Flower who felt the umpires should have taken the players from the field much earlier, when England were ahead on D/L.
Bopara's crucial innings was still enough to deprive India of what looked like being their first victory of a miserable tour and give England the series victory, after MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina smashed a sequence of records for India's sixth-wicket partnership.
India's fighting qualities had been questioned enough times during the 4-0 Test series defeat, but the World Champions have shown resilience of late in the 50-over format.
They battled hard before losing narrowly at the Oval and they dug deep again to pull themselves out of a dangerous nose-dive after Swann struck twice in his first over and Stuart Broad chipped in with two wicketsm before leaving field with a triceps injury, to reduce the tourists to 110-4.
England expected to make in-roads after winning the toss on one of the greenest strips seen for an ODI game at Lord's, but once again they found resistance in the shape of the Indian captain.
Dhoni was part of the rescue act in the previous game and he played a captain's innings once more in tandem with Raina as they added a brilliant 169 to hoist India to an imposing total.
Raina has been a new man in the coloured uniform and struck a half century off 58 balls, before falling 16 short of what would have been an excellent century to a wonderful catch by Ben Stokes.
Dhoni's second successive fifty came in the same number of balls and the last 14 overs brought 140 runs in India's explosive finish, as England's death bowling suffered, but the rain came at just the wrong moment to leave the game to end on a sour note.
REACTION:
Alastair Cook was not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed with the result:
"It was touch and go and we ended up batting for Duckworth Lewis because we did not know when the rain would come.
"Ravi and Swanny got us very close and then we ended up being defensive because we were not sure about the weather. I suppose in the end a tie was a fair result."
On the batting of Bopara:
"It was hard for him, because you cannot control the weather, but it was an outstanding knock to get us back in the game and it was great to see him produce at this level and deliver on the big stage."
On whether England's bowlers could have done more after reducing India to 110-4:
"The partnership that came at that stage was a fantastic one and we did everything we could to break it. We bowled well for 40-odd overs.
"Our death bowling might not have been as good as we would have liked and we have to improve on that. If we had kept them to 250 it would have been a great effort."
On the injury to Broad:
"He has gone for a scan and it is too early to say whether he will be fit for Cardiff. We will know better in the next 48 hours."
On the final game in Cardiff:
"It is always about the England team and we want to go there and we would love to finish the series with a win."
Dhoni was philosophical about coming so close to the first victory on tour:
"We will not complain too much. Our bowlers did a very good job, irrespective of the rain and we have to remember that God has been on our side at other times.
"It has been a challenge for us because not a lot has gone for us on the tour, but we accept the result with an open heart."
On the batting of Raina:
"He has done really well for us. He is a batsman that has batted at six, but can bat up the order and he has so much firepower.
"Once he is set he can destroy some of the best bowling in the world and he will gain a lot of confidence from this for the future."
On the final match in Cardiff:
"We have lost the series and we have not won anything on tour, so we go there and we will give it our best shot to try to win before we go home."
PLAY OF THE DAY: Dhoni timed his acceleration to perfection and his pick up six off James Anderson, after two successive fours was of the highest quality.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: Munaf Patel had suffered another difficult day, but his wonderful run out of Swann and his first wicket, that of Bopara at least ensured India grabbed a tie from the game.
WHAT IT MEANS: After two months of hard slog and wondering what they had to do to lower England colours, India finally looked as if they had found a way to win before the rain intervened. It was hard on them, but they will take great heart for the last game in Cardiff.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/09/11/4th-odi-england-v-india-bopara-falls-agonisingly-short-as-rain/
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