Bopara and Broad lead England to victory
Paul Collingwood will be relieved man
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Thursday, 30, Aug 2007 11:09
England youngsters Ravi Bopara and Stuart Broad put on a remarkable eighth-wicket partnership of 99 to guide their team to a tense victory over India in the fourth one-day international at Old Trafford.
Chasing a target of 213 to take a 3-1 lead in the seven-match series, England looked destined to lose when they slipped to 114-7. But the home side's bright new stars managed to keep a cool head and withstand everything the Indians threw at them.
Bopara finished on 43 not out and man-of-the-match Broad, who claimed four Indian wickets earlier in the day, hit the winning runs and ended the innings on 45 not out.
India captain Rahul Dravid won the toss for the fourth time in a row and unsurprisingly chose to bat on a promising-looking pitch.
But his side were struggling from the beginning of the innings when they lost Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik and Dravid himself in quick succession to reach 32-3.
Veteran master Sachin Tendulkar and all-rounder Yuvraj Singh steadied the ship with a 71-run partnership. But then India suffered a huge blow when Tendulkar, who was on 55, holed out to Andrew Flintoff in the deep off the bowling of Kevin Pietersen.
And when Monty Panesar bowled Mahendra Singh Dhoni with a beautiful turning delivery, it exposed India's long tail and looked as if the visitors would not reach 200.
But some belligerent hitting from Yuvraj, who finished on 71, and 20 from Zaheer Khan saw India post a total of 212.
England's chase got off to the worst possible start when Alastair Cook was bowled by Zaheer after just five balls of the first over and no runs on the board.
Agit Agarkar, who claimed figures of 4-60, ripped through the England middle-order, claiming the big wickets of Ian Bell, Pietersen and Flintoff.
England's hopes of winning seemed to have completely gone when skipper Paul Collingwood was run out for 47. But Bopara and Broad batted with maturity and carried their team to an amazing victory.