India finally found the winning touch. They came up with a brilliant all-round display to thrash England by 127 runs in the second One-Day International, in Kochi, on Tuesday.
The hosts first posted a competitive 285, riding on captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 72 and Ravindra Jadeja's 61, before the bowlers skittled out the visitors for a paltry 158 in just 36 overs to level the five-match series 1-1.
- Scorecard | Images from the match
It was a convincing and morale-boosting victory for the Indians, who have struggled of late even in home conditions, losing the ODI series against arch-rivals Pakistan and the England Test series.
The hosts did well in all departments of the game, though the batting of the top order continues to be a concern as Gautam Gambhir (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (4) failed to deliver, while the form of Virat Kohli remained patchy though he scored 37.
It was Dhoni's 66-ball 72 and man of the match Jadeja's blistering unbeaten 61 off just 37 balls which provided the late flourish to the Indian innings. Suresh Raina (55) and Yuvraj Singh (32), who was distinctly unlucky to be adjudged LBW, were the other notable contributors.
With the Nehru stadium wicket providing assistance to the bowlers in the second half of the match, the Indians exploited the conditions to the hilt and bundle out the visitors cheaply.
Kevin Pietersen was the top-scorer with a 58-ball 42.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-29), R Ashwin (3-39) and Jadeja (2-12) were the pick of the Indian bowlers.
The teams will now travel to Ranchi for the third one-dayer, on January 19.
Earlier, India had a tottering start as they were reduced to 18 for 2 by the English pace duo of Steven Finn and Jade Dernbach.
Gautam Gambhir (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (4) paid the price for poor footwork as both were cleaned bowled by Dernbach and Finn respectively.
While Gambhir failed to defend an incoming delivery from Finn, Rahane tried to play away from the body and left a huge gap which was breached by the in-swinger from Dernbach.
Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh then tried to steady the ship, adding 53 runs off 65 balls for the third wicket.
However, the left-handed batsman was adjudged leg-before wicket by umpire Steve Davis despite the fact that Tredwell's delivery had kissed Yuvraj's glove while he attempted a sweep shot.
Yuvraj hit five fours in his 37-ball innings.
Raina then joined Kohli and the duo forged another 48-run stand for the fifth wicket and helped India cross the 100-run mark.
But Kohli then threw his wicket in pursuit of an ambitious shot.
It was left to Raina and Dhoni again to stem the rot and the duo did not disappoint, taking the hosts across the 150-run mark.
Raina brought up his fifty off 66 balls with a boundary to the backward point region, but in pursuit of quick runs he lost his off-stump to Finn in the 40th over.
After the 35th over, India took their batting Powerplay but the home team failed to make use of it, accumulating only 18 runs off the four overs.
Dhoni and Jadeja then decided to accelerate and picked a six and a four among them in the 43rd over to take India across the 200-mark.
Jadeja blasted a six and a couple of fours off Woakes in the 45th over to amass 14 runs, while Dhoni picked a couple of boundaries off Finn in the 47th over.
In the last five overs, the duo accumulated 68 runs as India posted a challenging total.
Image: Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after getting to fifty in the second ODI between India and England in Kochi.
Photograph: BCCI
