England win sixth ODI by five wickets
England win sixth ODI by five wickets
Bell and Strauss had steadied the England innings before Harbhajan and Powar claimed crucial breakthroughs.

New Delhi/Jamshedpur: England won the sixth One Day International against India in Jamshedpur by five wickets, registering their first victory in the series.

Andrew Strauss was named the Man of the Match for his power-packed innings of 74 in 85 balls.

England batsmen powered their team to a flying start and the regular fall of wickets did little to stop the flow of runs.

Earlier in the day, after a faltering start, Team India had managed to pull themselves together towards the end, setting England a target of 224.

Indian Team surely missed the experience of Rahul Dravid and it showed.

The game again raised questions on the inclusion of out-of-form Sehwag and Kaif in the Indian side.

When England came out to chase the total of 224, Strauss and Bell took England off to a fine start by putting up 30 runs in the first six overs.

But, just when it seemed that England had got an upper hand in the game, Bell fell to a Harbhajan delivery for 46.

Soon, Vikarm Solanki, too, fell to a Ramesh Powar delivery for just seven runs.

Andrew Strauss, who suffered a muscular cramp during the Indian innings, was retired hurt and Paul Collingwood came out to bat. He steadied the England innings with Pieterson before Harbhajan caught and bowled Pietrson for 33.

He had added up 33 crucial runs to the England scorecard in just 40 balls with the help of four boundaries.

Harbhajan claimed yet another wicket soon after when he send England wicket-keeper M Prior for just three runs.

But this spurt of wickets did not do much to swing fortunes in India's favour as England needed to make just 14 runs when Prior fell.

Plunkett, too, fell to a Powar delivery for a duck, soon.

Earlier in the day, after having won the toss and electing to bat against England in the sixth ODI at Jamshedpur's Keenan Stadium on Wednesday, India couldn't have gotten off to a worse start.

The top order fell like nine pins to England's pace attack. Skipper Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Venugopal were sent packing by a fiery England bowling attack without putting much on the Indian scoreboard.

At 15.3 overs India stood at 79 for 5.

Local boy Mahender Singh Dhoni and stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag came out to open for India.

But Sehwag's poor run continued when he was sent packing in the very first over off a James Anderson delivery.

He was caught in the slips by Vikram Solanki for just four runs.

In his last six innings, the Indian opener has crossed the 50-run mark just once and his average has been a poor 28.2.

Mohammad Kaif came out to join Dhoni on the crease and steadied the innings for a while.

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Dhoni smashed the England bowlers all over the boundary lines and added some quick runs on the scoreboard. But just as it seemed that India was recovering from the early loss, Kaif fell to S Mahmood for 15 off 21 balls.

Yuvraj came out to join Dhoni, who shone despite wickets falling all around him.

But Yuvraj, too, fell when L Plunkett struck in his first over, sending him back for just four runs.

Suresh Raina, who followed Yuvraj on the pitch was quick to follow him to the pavilion after he was caught by M Prior off a Plunkett delivery putting India deeper into trouble.

Venugopal Ram, too, went to an Anderson delivery for 11.

Just when Mahender Singh Dhoni was in sight of his first ODI ton against England, his magic run was cut short by Mahmood.

Dhoni was caught by Vikram Solanki for 96.

Harbhajan Singh, who came out with Powar, could not last longer either. In a decision that was referred to the third umpire, Bhajji was declared bowled out by K Pieterson.

Powar, who was piling up runs with Dhoni, completed his half century in 78 balls.

He completed his 50 runs with four boundaries and one six.

But he too, couldn't stick around longer and fell to Collingwood after scoring 54 runs. At the time India were 209/8.

R P Singh who walked to the crease, couldn't survive longer either. He scored just seven runs before falling to Mahmood.

It was the third wicket for Mahmood and he has become the highest wicket taker.

The final blow fell when V R V Singh was caught by Blackwell off an Anderson delivery, wrapping India's innings up at 223.

England need 224 to win.

England made three changes to their side. Captain Andrew Flintoff sat out holding out the captain's baton to Andrew Strauss. Geriant Jones and Gareth Batty are also sitting out making way for Liam Plunkett, Sajid Mahmood and Ian Bell.

Rahul Dravid is being rested for this tie and Virender Sehwag is leading the side. VRV Singh will make his international debut in place of Dravid. Others left out of the side are Irfan Pathan, A Agarkar and Sreesanth. R P Singh, V Rao and Munaf Patel are being drafted in for them.

TeamsIndia: V Sehwag (Captain), Y Singh, Md Kaif, S Raina, M S Dhoni, H Singh, R Power, R P Singh, V Rao, M Patel, V R V Singh.England: A Strauss (Captain), J Andersen, I Bell, I Blackwell, P Collingwood, M Hoggard, S Mahmood, K Pietersen, L Plunkett, M Prior, V Solanki.Umpires: K Hariharan and Rudy Koertzen.

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