06:17
durgaprasad
Raina and Dhoni onslaught lifts India
India 280 for 5 (Raina 84, Dhoni 78*) v England
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For the second game running India fought back from a difficult position to post a competitive score as Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni added a scintillating 169 for the fifth wicket to lift the total to 280 for 5 at Lord's. Stuart Broad, who couldn't complete his spell due to injury, and Graeme Swann both struck twice to leave the visitors, but after a lengthy period of consolidation the middle-order pair exploded during the closing overs to leave England looking ragged.
Although their situation wasn't as dire as at The Oval when they were 58 for 5 there was a similarity to the recovery as Raina played the Ravinder Jadeja role and Dhoni provided a claming influence. Raina's tour has been revived in coloured clothes after his technique was picked apart in the Tests and when he reached fifty off 58 balls it was his first in internationals since the second innings of the Lord's Test.
Both Raina and Dhoni waited until fairly deep into the innings before opening up and again targeted the batting Powerplay which yielded 58 runs including 18 off an over from James Anderson. Dhoni's second consecutive half-century also came off 58 deliveries and the last 14 overs brought 140 runs with the partnership becoming the best fifth-wicket stand for India against England in ODIs.
For the fourth time in the series Alastair Cook put India into bat but, unlike at The Oval, early wickets eluded the home side. Initially the openers were content to weather the threat of the new ball on a well-grassed surface as the first six overs brought 14 runs. Steven Finn, who was recalled in place of Jade Dernbach, was excellent from the Pavilion End on his home ground and caused problems for both batsmen.
Finn was then frustrated when neither Craig Kieswetter or Graeme Swann, at slip, moved for an edge off Ajinkya Rahane who at that point had 7 off 29 balls. Rahane continued to have problems against Finn's bounce, but responded aggressively during the bowling Powerplay as he took 14 off Finn's sixth over although the strokes were of the agricultural rather than authentic variety.
Broad made the breakthrough in his first over to end a stand of 65 when Rahane missed a low full toss and the batsman almost walked for the lbw. Parthiv Parthiv had been forced to call for a runner (which will be outlawed from October 1) after slipping at the end of a run but his innings didn't last much longer as he spliced a pull which looped to midwicket.
However, it was Swann who really set India back on their heels. With his second ball he had Virat Kohli caught behind as he tried to dab to third man and later in the same over Rahul Dravid popped a leading edge back to the bowler. Swann bowled beautifully and after five overs had 2 for 10 as India found it tough to score at even three-an-over. From the 22nd to the 36th over they added 55 runs and the one boundary was an outside off Dhoni that flew past Kieswetter just where a first slip would have been stood.
Raina, who has scored at comfortably more than a run-a-ball in the series, broke the shackles with a pull off Finn followed by a drive past mid-off and Dhoni followed that by lofting Swann over deep midwicket. Raina would have been run out on 26 if Anderson's back-handed flick from mid-off had hit the stumps and in the second over the Powerplay he cut loose.
Anderson was picked up into the stands on the leg side after Dhoni had already taken consecutive boundaries as he again proved expensive in the latter stages of an innings. Broad recieved similar punishment when Raina targeted the midwicket stands with a mighty six as Cook was given another tough job trying to stem an onslaught. Swann's figures were also dented when he came back for the 48th over and England had further cause for concern when Broad left the field four balls before the end of the innings.
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