Ian Bell slammed unbeaten 113 to help England end India tour on high
Ian Bell slammed an unbeaten century as England crushed India by seven wickets in the fifth and final one-day international at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Sunday to conclude the series 3-2.
Bell (113 not out), who was involved in three fifty stands with Eoin Morgan (40), Joe Root (31) and skipper Alastair Cook (22), cracked a boundary off spinner Ravindra Jadeja before lofting him for a single to take the tourists past 226-run target with 14 balls to spare.
The victory marked the conclusion of England’s three-match losing streak to the hosts. During the tour they won four Test series 2-1 to register their first Test series victory on Indian soil in 28 years, leveled the two-match two series 1-1 and lost five-match ODI series 3-2.
Cook and Bell laid the foundations of a comfortable chase by delivering the tourists a solid 53-run opening stand.
However, skipper’s dismissal, in 12th over halted England’s momentum as they lost Kevin Pietersen (6) cheaply to be at 64-2 in 18 overs.
Bell and Root started rebuilding the innings sagaciously and shared 77-run stand for the third wicket to take the hosts into comfort zone.
After the dismissal of Root, who hit four boundaries in his 49-ball knock before being bowled out off Jadeja, Bell found another able ally in Morgan and shared an unbroken 84-run stand with him to take the hosts beyond target.
Bell’s vigil was laced with 13 boundaries and a six while Morgan plundered three sixes from his 40-ball knock.
Earlier, a disciplined England pace attack skittled India out for 226 in the final over.
Suresh Raina hit 83 while Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar contributed 39 and 31 runs respectively but the rest of others failed to make impact.
Paceman Tim Bresnan was the pick of England bowling line with the figures of 4-45. Pacer Steven Finn and off-spinner James Tredwell bagged two wickets apiece.
