Rain saves England the blushes against India

London, Sep 4: Rain gods intervened to save England from a very possible defeat against World Champions India in the first ODI of the five match series. Needing 275 to run, England were in doldrums losing their openers for just 27 runs on board before incessant rain came to save the day for them. Before the match was abandoned, both the English openers, Alastair Cook and Craig Kiewsetter were removed by Praveen Kumar.

India had posted a challenging total of 274 for England to win the first ODI of the five match series. Earlier England won the toss and elected to field first.

India suffered a big jolt ahead of the match as Sachin Tendulkar was ruled out due to an inflammation in the toe. Opening with Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel, India were off to a fine start, with the youngster duo playingAnderson & Co with ease. Both of them put 82 runs in 16 overs. Rahane was the first to go when he was caught by Samit Patel of Stuart Broad for 40.

Rahul Dravid could not make much of an impact as he became the second victim of Stuart Broad. He could contribute only 2 of 6 deliveries.

But then came the decisive partnership when Patel and Kohli joined forces to put on a partnership of 103 runs in 19 overs. The duo rotated strike with ease and scored boundaries at will. But just as Patel was looking set for a ODI century, Anderson came back to have him caught behind for 95.

Kohli was the next to go, shortly after reaching his hlaf-century. In between Rohit Sharma, retired hurt after playing his first delivery.

Thereafter some lusty hitting by Raina and skipper Dhoni took India to 274. For England both Bresnan and Broad picked a couple of wickets each followed by one each for Anderson, Dernbach and Samit Patel.