India Take Lead 5-0, Defeat England By Six Wickets

Cuttack: A superb performance from the Indian batsmen. There was some uneven bounce on the pitch and there was a tricky period when three wickets went down in quick succession but Dhoni and Raina made sure the good work of the openers wasn't wasted

England will be gutted after their batsmen, led by captain Kevin Pietersen, put a competitive total, certainly not one that should have been overhauled with more than six overs to spare.

Chasing 271 runs to win, Dhoni (50) and Raina (53*) put India on course with a 94-run stand for the fourth wicket. The partnership came after India lost Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh off consecutive deliveries to be reduced to 156/3 in 23.1 overs.

India got the double jolt when part-time bowler Ravi Bopara took a simple return catch to dismiss Yuvraj (6) off the last ball of his first over.

Stuart Broad then struck on the first ball of the next over when Sehwag was adjudged leg before wicket even though the ball was going down the leg side. Sehwag was unlucky to miss his century by just 9 runs after hitting a six and 15 fours in his fabulous knock.

Shortly before that, Sachin Tendulkar hit his 90th ODI fifty before he was dismissed by Steve Harmison to put India at 136/1 in 20 overs.

Harmison got England the first breakthrough when he clean bowled Tendulkar who went for the big drive but missed the delivery. Tendulkar hit 6 fours in his knock off 50 that came off 57 balls.

Virender Sehwag and Tendulkar got India off to a flying start bringing up the 100-run partnership off 85 balls. Sehwag declared man of the match second  time after  forth ODI at Bangalore.

Brief Score: India 273 for 4 (Sehwag 91, Raina 53*) beat England 270 for 4 (Pietersen 111*, Shah 66*) by six wickets with 38 balls remaining.
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