Nov 24 2008
India Beat England . Clinch Series 4-0
India clinched the series against England with a 19-run victory in the rain-hit fourth one-day match here on Sunday despite an explosive 72 from Owais Shah. The tourists finished at 178-8 in the day-night match after their target was revised to a stiff 198 off 22 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method. They now trail 4-0 in the seven-match series. Click Here for the ScoreCard
whether it’s a contest over 50 overs, 20 overs, or - as it turned out today - 22, India’s one-day cricketers are simply streets ahead of England’s. They duly claimed an unassailable 4-0 lead in the seven-game series thanks to a 19-run victory in a match that was rescued from a soggy grave by some valiant work from the Bangalore groundstaff.
After nearly five hours of rain delays, the contest was minutes away from an abandonment when the umpires decreed that the conditions were fit for play, and as things turned out, their decision proved to be worthwhile. For eight hard-hitting overs, while Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff were together at the crease, adding 82 for the fourth wicket, England put up the best fight they have shown all series. But in the final analysis, the unbridled flamboyance of India’s batsmen, coupled with the nerveless short-form skills that India’s bowlers have learnt from their time in the IPL, proved decisive.
