Cricket

India v England, 5th ODI: India make it 5-0

Virender Sehwag helped India win the fifth one-dayer with a scintillating 91 as India thumped England by six wickets to stretch their lead to 5-0 at the Barabati Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing a victory target of 271, openers Sehwag (91) and Sachin Tendulkar (50) made it look like a stroll in the park and raised 136 runs in less that 20 overs before a mini collapse rekindled England’s hopes of securing that elusive win in the series.Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50) and Suresh Raina (53 not out), however, played sensible cricket as the hosts got past the target with 6.2 overs to spare.

Earlier put in to bat, Kevin Pietersen (111 not out) added 89 runs with Paul Collingwood (40) and another 112 for the unconquered fifth wicket with Owais Shah (66 not out) to guide England to a respectable total of 270 for four wickets.

Sehwag was at his swashbuckling best and it was a bad omen for the visitors when the Delhi opener carved three boundaries in a Steve Harmison over.Tendulkar was not fully quiet either and despite playing a couple of streaky shots early in his innings, the Mumbaikar found boundaries easy to come by.Desperate to stem the boundary flow, Pietersen took a gamble and introduced spinner Graeme Swann in the Powerplay but with Sehwag was in a murderous mood, and the ploy boomeranged.

Sehwag went berserk in that highly productive over which went 0,1 (wide),4,6,4,4,2 as the batsman cruised to his fifty. Pietersen naturally didn’t delay in taking the battered spinner off the attack.

Ravi Bopara caught Yuvraj off his own bowling and Stuart Broad then trapped Sehwag in front of the stumps although replays suggested the ball was missing leg. Sehwag’s 73-ball 91 was studded with 15 boundaries and a six.England suddenly seemed to be back in the game but Dhoni and Raina played smart cricket to shut England out.

Tags: 5th odi, england, Hero Honda Cup, India, kevin pietersen, MS Dhoni, sachin tendulkar