Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni shared 96 runs
Bouncing back barely after losing the first one-day international by nine runs in a narrow-contest, India crushed England by 127 runs in the second match at Nehru Stadium, Kochi on Tuesday to level the five-match series 1-1.
Riding on the whirlwind 103-run partnership between skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s (72) and Ravindra Jadeja (61), India posted a competitive total of 285-6 and bundled the hosts out for a partly 158 in just 36 overs.
Kevin Pietersen top-scored for England with 44-ball 42 and Joe Root and Samit Patel resisted with 36 and 30 runs respectively but the rest of others came a cropper. The visitors lost six wickets in six overs.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Craig Kieswetter (18) and skipper Alastair Cook (17) were the other batsmen to manage double-digit scores
Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of Indian bowlers with the figures of 3-29. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed as many wickets for 39 runs while Jadeja finished with 2-12.
Earlier, elected to bat, India lost underperforming Gautam Gambhir (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (4) cheaply before Virat Kohli (37) and Yuvraj Singh (32) steadied the innings with a 53-run stand.
After Yuvraj snared leg-before off James Tredwell in the 33rd over, Kohli combined with Suresh Raina to drive up the total to 119-3 before being dismissed off Chris Woakes.
Raina found another ally in Dhoni as the two batsmen as the two batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking with large rotation of strike.
Their 55-run fifth-wicket partnership ended with the dismissal of Raina, who managed two boundaries and as many sixes his 78-ball 55 before being bowled out off Steven Finn
The emergence of Ravindra Jadeja (61), opened the floodgates for England as he teamed up with Dhoni to plunder 96 runs off 60 balls.
Studded with seven boundaries and two sixes, Dhoni’s glorious knock came to an end in the final over when he was caught by Root off James Dernbach at deep mid-wicket.
Jadeja’s brisk 37-ball vigil was laced with seven boundaries and two sixes.
The two teams will now travel to Ranchi for the third ODI to be played on January 19.
