Mumbai, Oct 23: Middle-order batsmen Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina shared a 131-run partnership for the fourth wicket as India beat England by six wickets on Sunday to go 4-0 up in the five-game series.
Kohli made an unbeaten 86 and left-hander Raina struck a quick 80 in a total of 223-4 after India dismissed England for 220 in 46.1 overs.
Kohli struck 11 fours off 99 deliveries and Raina struck 12 fours in 62 balls to ensure the victory in only 40.1 overs after England pace bowler Steven Finn inflicted some early damage and finished with 3-45.
Kohli and Raina forged the important partnership after England's bowlers pressured the top order batsmen with a tight line and length.
India was struggling at 25-2 after the mandatory powerplay of 10 overs, with left-handers Parthiv Patel and Gautam Gambhir both falling to Finn in trying to force the pace.
Patel played across the line to be clean bowled for eight while Gambhir inside-edged a delivery to be dismissed for just one run.
In-form Kohli, who had struck an unbeaten 112 in the second game in New Delhi, played responsibly while Raina was more aggressive in taking the game away from England.
Raina was bowled trying to clear the infield during the batting powerplay and gave Finn his third wicket of the game. But captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni guided the team through in the company of Kohli.
“They got off to a very good start, we thought it looked like a wicket where they could score 270,” Dhoni said. “But there was a twist in the tale, and we knew it (the pitch) would get slower later on.”
Earlier, spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared five wickets as India tormented England.
Off-spinner Ashwin took 3-38 and left-arm spinner Jadeja 2-41 as the England batsmen failed to get big individual scores after the tourists elected to bat.
Ashwin struck at regular intervals and took the wickets of captain Alastair Cook, a well settled Kevin Pietersen and Samit Patel while Jadeja dismissed Ravi Bopara and Jonny Bairstow in consecutive overs.
Pace bowler Varun Aaron then helped remove the lower order with 3-24 on his debut, despite Tim Bresnan producing a determined knock of 45 that rescued England from a precarious 145-6 in the 32nd over.
Bresnan struck six fours in his run-a-ball innings before he was the last man out, bowled by a delivery from Aaron that pitched in line of the leg stump but moved away to clip the off stump.
Earlier, Pietersen (41) and Jonathan Trott (39) shared a 73-run third-wicket partnership to revive the innings after England started well but lost openers Cook and Craig Kieswetter off successive deliveries.
Cook was given out lbw as he stretched forward to the last ball of an over from Ashwin after the spinner had been hit for 15 runs off the first five deliveries by Kieswetter.
Kieswetter, who had looked intent on taking advantage of the early field restrictions as the spinners were introduced in the mandatory powerplay of 10 overs, fell lbw to the first ball of a new over from seamer Praveen Kumar that kept low.
Cook conceded his batsmen's failure to get big scores had been crucial.
“In Indian conditions, once you get in, you've got to get a 70, 80 or 90,” Cook said. “We kept losing wickets, and 220 wasn't enough.”
Cook added that the team was now desperate to win the last game to be held in Kolkata on Tuesday.
India has turned around its fortunes in home conditions immediately after a disastrous tour of England when it failed to win a single game.
It lost a five-game ODI series 3-0 after losing the test series 4-0. It also lost a solitary Twenty20 game on that tour.
