India 3-157 (Virat Kohli 77*, Gautam Gambhir 33, James Tredwell 2-29) beat England 155 (Joe Root 39, Tim Bresnan 25, Ravindra Jadeja 3-19) by seven wickets.
The lethal bowling power house of India destroyed the strong batting of England and Virat Kohli produced a brilliant knock as the hosts won the match easily.
England was bowled out cheaply for 155 runs with 46 balls to spare from the allotted 50 overs. India smashed 157 runs in 28.1 overs for the loss of just three wickets without any problem.
Virat Kohli (India) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his match winning unbeaten knock of 77 runs.
The third One Day International of the five match series was played on Saturday, January 19, 2013, at HEC International Cricket Stadium Complex, Ranchi.
The Indian captain, MS Dhoni, won the toss and put England in to bat first, keeping in view the dew factor while bowling second. The English skipper, Alastair Cook opened the innings along with Ian Bell in a defensive mode and they collected 20 runs from the first seven overs. The young fast bowler, Shami Ahmed, removed Cook in the next over for 17 when he was declared leg before wicket. The first wicket fell at 24 as Kevin Pietersen walked in the center and Bell hit two back to back fours in the 11th over. Pietersen produced the same result in the next over but was caught behind by Dhoni off Ishant Sharma at 17 as the score reached 68.
Ian Bell followed Pietersen at the same score on the second ball of the 16th over for 25 as Joe Root and Eoin Morgan got together at the crease. The pair started the repair work and enhanced the score to 97 in 23.4 overs when Eoin Morgan was gone after scoring 10 runs. Ravindra Jadeja struck twice in the next over and removed Craig Kieswetter and Samit Patel when both batsmen were unable to open their accounts. The visitors were reeling at 6-98 in 25 overs when Tim Bresnan associated with Root and started picking up few runs.
The batsmen hit a few boundaries in between their innings and raised the score to 145 as Joe Root was caught behind by Dhoni off Ishant Sharma for 39 from 57 balls with 4 fours. Tim Bresnan was clean bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin for 25 off 37 with 3 fours as the innings of England came to an end at 155 in 42.2 0vers.
Ravindra Jadeja was the supreme bowler with three wickets, Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin held two each whereas Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed and Suresh Raina shared one wicket each.
The Blue Shirts lost an early wicket at 11 when Steven Finn uprooted the stumps of Ajinkya Rahane for a duck. Virat Kohli joined in next with Gautam Gambhir who was playing well at the other side. Kohli dispatched 3 consecutive fours in the sixth over off Jade Dernbach as Gambhir kept on cruising from the other side. The first fifty of the innings appeared on board in the 11th over with a couple of fours from Kohli who looked like being in a great nick.
The duo took the score to 78 when Gautam Gambhir was caught by Joe Root at mid-on at the bowling of James Tredwell for 33 scored from 53 deliveries with 4 fours. Yuvraj Singh dropped in next as Virat Kohli achieved his 4000 runs in ODI on the fifth ball of the 20th over and became the fastest player for India to achieve that milestone in 96 matches. He scored his 22nd half century on the first ball of the 21st over and the much awaited fifty for him was attained after six innings. Yuvraj Singh hit two boundaries as the first hundred of the innings was displayed on the screen after the end of the 21st over.
Virat Kohli hit the first six of the match in the next over and Yuvraj Singh added 10 runs in the 23rd over. The flow of runs was speeded up as Kohli sent the ball flying and rolling over the fence and Yuvraj also got another 2 fours. The third wicket partnership accumulated 66 runs off just 48 deliveries as James Tredwell destroyed the wood of Yuvraj for 30 from 21 balls with 6 fours. Virat Kohli remained unbeaten for 77 off 79 comprising 2 big sixes and 9 fours, MS Dhoni secured his end with 10 as the Men in Blue powered 157 with 21.5 overs to spare.
James Tredwell was the most impressive bowler among the four by taking two wickets whereas Steven Finn claimed one.
India won the match comprehensively by a huge margin of seven wickets and leads the five match series 2-1. The fourth ODI of the series will be played on January 23, 2013, at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh.
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