Kevin Pietersen’s England have lost the fourth One Day International in Bangalore to an India side that now has a unassailable 4-0 lead in the seven match series.
Despite an almost heroic performance from Owais Shah, the tourists fell 19 runs short of their revised total in a rain affected match. The game was reduced to 22 overs a piece after several interruptions and Virender Sehwag’s 69 helped India reach 166-4 off their allotted overs.
The Duckworth- Lewis method then set Kevin Pietersen’s side a massive total of 198 and England knew they needed a brisk start if they were going to force victory. Ravi Bopara, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen all fell early though and with England 52-3 – the cricket odds were heavily favouring an India win.
Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff weren’t giving up though and they shared a quick stand of 82 to give England hope. Owais Shah in particular, seemed in very determined mood and for the first time in the series – India were under pressure.
The crucial moment of the game went in India’s favour though as Zaheer Khan returned to the attack to dismiss Owais Shah for an impressive 73 from just 48 deliveries. Andrew Flintoff soon followed and the game was as good as over.
England needed 27 from the final over and unsurprisingly, India managed to restrict them to record an emphatic series victory. All that is left for Kevin Pietersen’s men in the remaining 3 matches is pride. They must get some confidence back before going into the test series.
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