England beat India to lead series

India continued their bad form in the current English tour as they were defeated by the hosts by three wickets in the third One Day International match here on Friday.

Ravi Bopara played the role of an anchor to help the home side reach the winning runs in a rain affected match with his well made 40 runs before losing his wicket to Indian spinner Ashwin.

Broad (5*) and Swann (9*) remained not out till the end as they ensured the second consecutive ODI victory for the home team and take a 2-0 lead in the series.

India lost their chance to at least win the ODI series and put some balm to the white wash they had suffered at the hands of England in the Test matches.

Riding on a gutsy innings of 78 runs by R Jadeja, India had managed to pose a total of 234 runs for the loss of seven wickets in a match where the top order of the visitors had collapsed dramatically to stand at 58 runs for the loss of five wickets at a particular junction of the match.

Chasing the revised target of 218 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 43 overs, England reached the target in just 41.5 overs.

The English opening pair of Kiwestter (51) and Cook (23) had given their side a good start to the match till Cook was shown the doors of the pavillion by Patel as English score card showed 63 runs for the loss of one wicket.

Kiwestter was soon dismissed by Jadeja who uprooted his stumps to shoe the young english batsmen the way back to the pavilion on Friday night.

While England were attempting to emerge from the loss of Kiwestter´s wicket Ashwin bowled a wonderful ball to dismiss Trott as England score card showed 89 runs for the loss of three wickets.

Rain disrupted the game soon and made the target get revised for England by D/L method.

Ashwin was on fire on Friday as he managed to trouble the opposition with his off breaks. He picked up three wickets in the match. Jadeja also managed to take 2 wickets in the game and thus giving his side some hopes of making a comeback in the tour that has been a nightmarish one for Dhoni and his men.

Indian spinners kept in picking wicket in the match at crucial junctures till Bopara and Bresnan (23) played the role of a guide to help theit team reach the winning target.

Earlier, the Indian batting line up had collapsed dramatically as five batsmen were dismissed quite quickly by the English bowlers.

Dhoni (69) and Jadeja(78 ) turned the tides around to help India reach a challenging total of 234 runs. Ashwin (36) and Raina (23) had contributed some handsome runs with the willow.

With this loss, Dhoni can now expect to win the last two match of the series and at least manage a draw as they have already lost the hope of winning the series.

Jadeja was named the player of the match for his all- round performance on Friday night.