Paceman R Vinay Kumar produced his best ODI bowling figures with a four—wicket haul as India restricted England to 237 all out in the second cricket one—dayer against India here today.
Electing to bat, the visitors lost both their openers Alastair Cook and Craig Kieswetter for ducks within the first two overs and could never really recover from the early jolts though there were some periods of English fightback at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
Karnataka speedster Kumar was the pick of the Indian bowlers with a career—best figure of 9—1—30—4, eclipsing his previous best of 2 for 51 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2010.
Most of the English batsmen Kevin Pietersen (46), Samit Patel (42), Ravi Bopara (36), Jonathan Bairstow (35) and Jonathan Trott (34) —— got the starts but could not translate them into big knocks.
The England innings could not have begun on a more disastrous note as they lost both the openers Cook and Kieswetter within the first two overs and without a single run on the board.
It turned out to be a dramatic start to the proceedings as paceman Praveen Kumar evicted England’s captain in the fourth ball of his first over and then Vinay Kumar dealt another blow for the visitors by accounting for Kieswetter in his first over.
Cook perished to a rather poor stroke as he tried to cut a delivery wide outside the off stump and Ravindra Jadeja took a smart catch at point.
England:
Alastair Cook c Jadeja b P Kumar 0
Craig Kieswetter c Kohli b V Kumar 0
Jonathan Trott c Dhoni b V Kumar 34
Kevin Pietersen c Dhoni b Yadav 46
Ravi Bopara lbw b Ashwin 36
Jonny Bairstow c Kohli b Jadeja 35
Samit Patel lbw b Yadav 42
Tim Bresnan c Raina b V Kumar 12
Graeme Swann b V Kumar 7
Steve Finn not out 6
Jade Dernbach run out 3
Extras (LB—5 WD—11) 16
Total (All out for 237 in 48.2 overs) 237
Fall of Wickets: 1—0, 2—0, 3—48, 4—121, 5—121, 6—207, 7—211, 8—227, 9—228.
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 9—1—40—1, R Vinay Kumar 9—1—30—4, Virat Kohli 5—0—18—1, Umesh Yadav 8.2—0—50—2, R Ashwin 10—0—56—1, Ravindra Jadeja 7—0—38—1.