Dhoni banned from Adelaide Test for slow over-rate

MS Dhoni has been banned for the Adelaide Test after India were found to be two overs short of the required over-rate during the Perth Test. India bowled 76 overs in 362 minutes in the only innings they bowled in at the WACA ground. This is India's second over-rate offence in the last 12 months. Dhoni had been on notice after India had been found short in the West Indies in June-July last year. The rule regarding the over-rate offences was changed last June wherein the second offence within 12 months began to merit a ban for the captain. Earlier, captains were allowed three offences.

Virender Sehwag, the vice-captain, is expected to lead the side in Adelaide. Wriddhiman Saha, the back-up wicketkeeper, will take over the gloves.

Dhoni, Sachin to miss opening three ODIs; Sehwag to lead

	Virender Sehwag will lead India in MS Dhoni's absence © AFP

Virender Sehwag is set to lead India in an ODI for the first time since December 2009, after the selectors decided to give MS Dhoni a break for the five-match series against West Indies.

Sachin Tendulkar was also rested for the first three one-dayers, while Yuvraj Singh informed the selectors that he was not fully fit, which means neither has played an ODI for India since their starring roles in the World Cup win. Offspinner Harbhajan Singh, who was dropped for the home ODI series against England and the ongoing Tests against West Indies, remains out of contention too.

Since taking over as full-time captain, Dhoni has been reluctant to miss one-day games despite his heavy workload as full-time wicketkeeper and captain of India and his IPL franchise, the Chennai Super Kings. In recent times, he sat out of two bilateral one-day series against New Zealand and West Indies, on either side of the World Cup. Gautam Gambhir stood in as captain against New Zealand, while Suresh Raina led an inexperienced side in the West Indies, in the absence of Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj.

Yuvraj's exclusion is believed to be due to a recurrence of the lung infection that ruled him out of the tour of West Indies earlier in the year. He returned to the side for the Tests in England, and made a fifty in Trent Bridge, before suffering a fractured finger that put him out of the rest of the series and England's return tour. He came back for the ongoing Tests against West Indies, but failed in the first two matches, before making way for Virat Kohli for the Mumbai Test.

The rest of the side was along expected lines, with Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar returning to complete the four-man seam attack that also included Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav. S Aravind and Abhimanyu Mithun, who were picked for the England ODIs, were dropped despite not getting a game in that series.

Pragyan Ojha missed out despite making a strong comeback to the Test side, which meant offspinner R Ashwin, allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and legspinner Rahul Sharma will be the specialist spinners.

India squad for first three ODIs: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

India win by innings despite Bravo ton

India 631 for 7 decl. (Laxman 176*, Dhoni 144, Dravid 119) beat West Indies 153 (Ojha 4-64, Yadav 3-23) and (f/o) 463 (Bravo 136, Samuels 84, Yadav 4-80) by an innings and 15 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Even in his celebration routine, Darren Bravo was reminiscent of Brian Lara © AFP

Darren Bravo's resolute century, which left him with statistics identical to Brian Lara's at the end of 12 Tests, wasn't enough to deny India an innings win. Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul made India work hard on the fourth day, and took West Indies to their highest score following on. India preferred to wait for mistakes, which said a lot about the huge lead they had and the state of the pitch: a slow turner. When West Indies did make the mistake, Rahul Dravid was superb at slip to kickstart a collapse of four for 20.

Given their recent form, not many were expecting a big fightback from West Indies, and according to unconfirmed reports Kolkata's Jadhavpur University Complex, where Sourav Ganguly is playing a Ranji Trophy match, attracted a bigger crowd than Eden Gardens. They missed an attractive century from Bravo. Resuming on 38 he kept batting like he did yesterday. With the fields spread he kept picking the singles, and whenever MS Dhoni looked to attack he sent the fields back with calculated risks. He added 15 fours and a six to his boundary count on the fourth day.

India began the day trying to keep things quiet until the new ball became due. The pitch had become slow, and allowed the batsmen enough time to recover even if they were beaten in the flight. There was only one hiccup, potentially a big one, in the 18 overs before the new ball was taken. Bravo pushed towards mid-off and set off immediately, Chanderpaul never moved. With the batsmen now capable of whispering to each other at the non-striker's end, Gambhir threw on the run. A weak and wide throw ensued, allowing Bravo to get back.

The new ball immediately produced more excitement. Bravo hit the first over for two fours, but also edged one. Soft hands and the slowness of the pitch, though, made sure it didn't carry to slip. In the fourth over with the new ball, against the run of play, Chanderpaul got a bottom edge when he looked to push Umesh Yadav. A sterner examination followed for Marlon Samuels. Ishant Sharma hit him on the forearm with a short one, and was nearly played on soon.

Smart stats India's series win is their third against West Indies at home after their 1-0 win in 1978 and 2-0 win in 2002. The innings victory is only the second for India against West Indies. The previous one came in Mumbai in 2002. West Indies' innings defeat is their 11th in Tests since 2000. In contrast, between 1980 and 1995, they suffered just two innings defeats. West Indies' total of 463 is their highest second-inningstotal against India going past the 443 for 7 scored in Kanpur in 1958. On that occasion, West Indies won by 203 runs. Darren Bravo scored his second century in 12 Tests to go with six half-centuries. His stats after 12 matches (941 runs at 47.05) are exactly the same as Brian Lara's numbers after 12 matches. The 132-run stand between Bravo and Marlon Samuels is seventh on the list of fifth-wicket stands for West Indies in India. Samuels' 84 is his third-highest score against India and his first half-century in nine innings. His previous half-century came against India in Barbados when he made 78.

At the other end Bravo went strong. With the new ball likely to travel faster, his strike-rate improved too. Against the new ball, he went from 67 to 100 in 35 balls. For the rare few who might not have noticed the resemblance, upon reaching the century he leapt in the air just like Lara used to. By now Samuels had become surer, and despite India's defensive fields, the two kept scoring swiftly.

With the deficit in two figures, and once again against the run of play, Bravo opened the face to one from Ojha. The ball didn't turn as much as expected, and went low to Dravid's right at first slip. Pouched. Bravo and Lara after 12 Tests: 941 runs at 47.05. India were back now. Six overs later Ojha produced an edge from Carlton Baugh. Dravid dived full length to his right and completed the low catch. Perhaps his batting has rubbed off onto his catching form in the slips, which hasn't quite been up to his usual standards over the last two years.

Next it was Samuels' turn to make the fatal mistake. He stayed back to a quick offbreak from R Ashwin, and was hit in front, deep in the crease, 16 short of what would have been another attractive century. An unorthodox offspinner, Ashwin proceeded to produce the classical offie's dismissal, when he got one to drift away from Kemar Roach, and then sneak through the gap produced.

Darren Sammy swung a few hits, but he only delayed the inevitable. Minutes before tea, Umesh Yadav finished the game and gave India the series by rattling the stumps with successive balls. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Media is putting pressure on Tendulkar: Dhoni

New Delhi: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni Wednesday requested the media not to put pressure on Sachin Tendulkar for scoring his 100th international century and said the milestone was round the corner.


In pic: Indian captain MS Dhoni (right) with Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar fell 24 short of his 100th international century but his fine 76 gave India a five-wicket win over the West Indies in the first cricket Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla here.

"We are not under pressure as a team. The media is putting pressure on him. Let him score his hundred and he will do that at some point of time. He is pretty good at doing that (scoring centuries). Let him score the hundred without pressure," Dhoni told reporters at the post-match press conference.

Dhoni said expectations from Tendulkar are as high as "Everest" and that the batting maestro was very much aware of it.

"If you are talking about the gentleman, expectations from him by the people have been as high as (Mount) Everest. Since his second year in international cricket he has been the star. When he scores 50, people say he had not scored runs and it has been like that each and every match," Dhoni said.

"What we have seen is that any individual, when he reaches a milestone, he may take a little bit longer time than usual. But I think it's around the corner. We have to wait and see," he added.

West Indies captain Darren Sammy said he would be happy to see Tendulkar achieving the milestone during next month's tour to Australia but not against his side.

"As I have said, we admire Tendulkar, he is a great cricketer. But I would want Tendulkar to score his hundred against Australia. I would want to watch it and enjoy and not when playing against him," he said. — IANS

Chanderpaul century thwarts India again

West Indies 256 for 5 (Chanderpaul 111*, Brathwaite 63, Ojha 3-58) v India
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	That man again: Shivnarine Chanderpaul scores his seventh century against India © AFP

Two old nemeses turned up against India on the first day of the series. A typical slow and low Kotla track broke the bowlers' backs, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul continued his torture of Indian bowlers with his seventh century against his favourite opposition, making it two in the last two Tests. Attrition remained the order for the day, as is evident from West Indies' run-rate of 2.81, but Chanderpaul scored at close to four per over. India, though, kept chipping away at the others with accurate spin bowling to make sure the honours were shared on the first day.

Chanderpaul drew support from a man who was two years old when he began using the bail to mark his guard in Tests. Kraigg Brathwaite, who became only the second West Indian to score two fifties before his 19th birthday, has similar reserves of patience, idolises Chanderpaul, and uses the bail to mark his guard. For 37 overs and 108 runs today, the youngest and the oldest members of the side did all that together. Except that the youngster played the old-fashioned watchful innings and Chanderpaul turned the momentum with quick runs.

You couldn't quite blame the teams for the slow cricket, though. When the third ball of the match doesn't carry through to the wicketkeeper, and when it happens four more times in the next seven overs, it's best not to expect attractive cricket. Effort balls went through waist high, and strokes found little value. On this pitch, Syed Abid Ali and Eknath Solkar would have been as effective as Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. When India bowl 91 overs in a day's play, it has to be either during a push for a win on the final day or when the pitch has nothing in it for the quicks. While the latter was true, the way the West Indies top order went into a shell the former didn't seem incorrect either.

Smart stats Shivnarine Chanderpaul's century is his seventh against India, bringing him joint-second on the list of players with the most Test centuries against India. Garry Sobers and Viv Richards are on top with eight centuries each. The century is also Chanderpaul's 24th in Tests. He is now level third with Viv Richards on the the list of West Indians with the most Test centuries. Brian Lara and Garry Sobers, with 34 and 26 centuries respectively, are the top two on the list. MS Dhoni went past Syed Kirmani's tally of 198 wicket-keeping dismissals to become India's all-time leader. He now has 200 dismissals in 62 Tests. Dhoni also became the 13th wicketkeeper to reach the landmark of 200 Test dismissals. Mark Boucher is on top with 521 dismissals. Chanderpaul's strike rate of 66.46 in his innings is the third-highest for a 100-plus score in his career (all other completed knocks). The highest strike rate is 138.88 during his 100 off 72 balls against Australia in 2003. The 108-run stand between Chanderpaul and Kraigg Brathwaite is the ninth century stand for the fourth wicket for West Indies in Tests in India. It is also the third-highest for West Indies in Tests in Delhi.

Kieran Powell and Kirk Edwards, who scored 29 off 80 balls between them, allowed Pragyan Ojha and debutant R Ashwin to bowl wherever they liked to. What started as one slip and one short leg soon became a spinner's umbrella field. The result was a period of 14.3 overs that went for 20 runs and consumed both the batsmen. Both fell to Ojha, whose figures then read 7.3-4-8-2. Darren Bravo tried to disturb that state of affairs, but gave Ashwin his first Test wicket when he went manufacturing a cut off a length ball.

When Chanderpaul walked in, at 72 for 3, the man at the other end was going at the strike-rate he himself often does. He would have known if two men did that, sooner or later one might pop up to one of the many catching men. Thus began his shuffle, nurdles, deflections, late-cuts, chips, stolen singles, and two sixes down the ground. Mid-on and mid-off had been deep earlier too, sweeper-cover had been in place too, but the field looked much more porous now.

There were three shots that very Chanderpaul. The second ball of spin he played he dragged it from outside off for a single through midwicket. Later on in the piece, he moved well across into a wide delivery from Umesh Yadav, and it was like just the momentum of the shuffle and the wrists forced the ball between mid-off and extra cover. That four took him to 62, level then with Brathwaite, who was 30 when Chanderpaul walked in. In the next over, he danced down to Ojha, was beaten in the flight, but nonchalantly flicked him for his second six over long-on. He was working the singles, he was forcing the fours, and even when he was beaten in the flight it was not proving good enough.

Brathwaite might not have taken similar liberties, but was good at running the ball to third man or helping it around the corner on the leg side. Behind square on the off side he scored 26 runs, including four boundaries, all of them intentional. Ojha, though, continued his toil and finally got one to dip, which made Brathwaite drag his back foot as he tried to play the forward-defensive. It wasn't a big drag, nor did it take him long to get back, and he might have possibly survived with other keepers, but MS Dhoni's no reverse-follow-through stumping left him no chance.

That was one fine way to reach 199 dismissals, beating Syed Kirmani's Indian record in 26 fewer Tests. No. 200 came soon when Marlon Samuels, always one to camp back against spin, edged a length ball from Ashwin. With two wickets for 20 runs, India now looked to build more pressure. Chanderpaul took 11 runs in the next over. Four overthrows followed in the next over, and Chanderpaul was in his nineties. With a gentle paddle sweep he matched Viv Richards' 24 centuries, and there hardly seemed any pressure.

Even as Carlton Baugh remained circumspect with stumps approaching, Chanderpaul made sure the sixth-wicket partnership of 56 runs chugged along at 4.1 per over. Chanderpaul walked back with Indian players rushing to shake his hand, and no one to nag him, telling him how to bat. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Spinners condemn England to 5-0 whitewash

India 271 for 8 (Dhoni 75*) beat England 176 (Jadeja 4-33, Kieswetter 63) by 95 runs

	MS Dhoni bludgeoned England into submission before his spinners sealed the whitewash © AFP

England chose a particularly humiliating route to their second 5-0 whitewash in consecutive ODI tours of India, as they allowed their resolve to collapse twice in one match - first with the ball, as MS Dhoni walloped 75 not out from 69 balls to take his series tally to 212 runs without loss - and then with the bat, as they squandered a 20-over scoreline of 129 for 0 to lose all ten of their wickets for 47 runs in exactly 100 deliveries.

India's stars with the ball, as in the first match of the series in Hyderabad, were once again the spinners, Ravindra Jadeja, who claimed 4 for 33 in eight overs, and R Ashwin, 3 for 28 in nine. They joined forces with the part-timers Manoj Tiwary and Suresh Raina, to choke England's innings in a sea of slogs and dot-balls. Of England's last nine batsmen, only Samit Patel (18) and Graeme Swann (10 not out) reached double figures. The rout was sealed with 13 overs to spare when Steven Finn top-edged an Ashwin carrom ball to the keeper and triumphant captain, Dhoni.

For the first two-fifths of the innings, England's progress could hardly have been more serene. Alastair Cook and Craig Kieswetter saved their best performances of the series for the very last gasp. Kieswetter brought up his half-century from 49 balls - and England's 100 with it - with a savage carve through the covers off Varun Aaron, and Cook was scarcely any tardier, reaching his own milestone from 51. For the majority of their stand, England were consistently 20 runs ahead of the required rate, without having needed to take any risks whatsoever.

The innings, however, was derailed by the extra pace of Aaron, who came round the wicket to extract Cook's off stump for 60 from 61 balls - the exact same score he had managed in the first match at Hyderabad. Eight balls later, Kieswetter followed suit for a run-a-ball 63, as Jadeja pinned him lbw on the front foot, and suddenly the innings was wide open.

Bell, playing in his first match of the series after Kevin Pietersen had been ruled out with a chipped bone in his thumb, scratched around for 2 from six balls before snicking Ashwin to the keeper, and three balls later, all hope had been truly lost when Jonathan Trott, England's likeliest middle-order ballast, pushed loosely at Jadeja and edged a simple chance to slip for 5.

Smart stats This is only the third time that India have achieved a 5-0 verdict in a bilateral ODI series. The two earlier instances were against England (2008-09) and New Zealand (2010-11). For England, it's their third such drubbing in a bilateral series. England's last nine wickets added only 47 runs, which is their lowest aggregate in ODIs. Only four times have England had a higher first-wicket stand in an ODI that they've lost. They also had a 129-run stand in the 1979 World Cup final, which they lost by 92 runs. MS Dhoni has 50 scores of fifty or more in ODIs. Onlythree other wicketkeeper-batsmen have achieved this feat in ODIs. Dhoni joined a list of two other batsmen who've remained unbeaten throughout a series, after batting four or more innings and scoring 200 or more runs.

In Jadeja's next over, England's innings went even further off-track, as the overawed Jonny Bairstow tried to hit his way out of trouble but instead skidded a thick outside edge to Ajinkya Rahane at backward point. Ravi Bopara squandered the chance to be a hero when he was bowled round his legs for a 16-ball 4 by Raina, and Tim Bresnan - so often England's most combative tailender - confirmed the general air of surrender when he chipped a loose drive off Tiwary for a fourth-ball duck.

Long before the final indignity, England had already blown their best chance to salvage some pride in the series thanks to another scruffy fielding performance which undermined another superb display of fast bowling from England's only shining light of the series, Finn. From a comfortable 71 for 0 after 15 overs, India slumped to 81 for 3 in the subsequent bowling Powerplay, with Finn sparking the loss of three wickets for no runs in ten balls with a brilliant double-wicket maiden.

First to go was Gautam Gambhir for 38, in near-identical fashion to his dismissal by Finn at Mumbai, as a lifting delivery outside off nipped off the inside edge and into the stumps. Then, after welcoming Virat Kohli with a series of excellent deliveries in the channel outside off, he bowled him with a final-ball beauty that zipped off the seam and crashed into off stump as the batsman offered no stroke.

Four balls and no runs later, and Tim Bresnan was into the act as well, as Kieswetter atoned for an earlier drop with a soaring leap to his right to cling on to a flying edge. A second consecutive maiden for Finn was then followed by an equally frugal first over from Bopara, and India's collapse should have been four wickets for one run in 25 balls when Swann at second slip dropped an absolute dolly off Suresh Raina.

India needed no further invitation to make England pay. Raina was eventually run out for 38 from 46 balls when his bat bounced in the crease as a direct hit came in from square leg, but it was the crunching hitting of the irrepressible Dhoni that left England's prospects in the dust. He saved his most savage assault for the new boy, Meaker, whom he battered for a massive six over wide long-on in a penultimate over that went for 21. Patel fared scarcely any better in the 50th of the innings, in which a further 18 runs were scalped.

By the end of it all, Dhoni had added 330 ODI runs since England last dismissed him at The Oval in September, and his personal dominance was a perfect reflection of a series in which the tables of the summer had been emphatically turned.

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Innings Dot balls 4s 6s PP1 PP2 PP3 Last 10 overs NB/Wides India 165 25 5 41 for 0 10 for 3 28 for 1 91 for 3 0/8 England 137 20 2 62 for 0 10 for 4 9 for 3 DNP 0/5

India seal series in stiff run-chase

India 300 for 5 (Rahane 91) beat England 298 for 4 (Trott 98*, Patel 70*) by five wickets

	MS Dhoni finished the match off in typical style © AFP

MS Dhoni was India's matchwinner once again, as he marshalled an asking-rate approaching ten an over to seal an unassailable 3-0 series lead in the third ODI at Mohali. With Ravindra Jadeja alongside him, he clubbed Tim Bresnan for consecutive boundaries in the final over of the match to finish unbeaten on 35 from 31 balls, as England's best total of the series - 298 for 4 - proved insufficient to keep the series alive.

It was a sloppy fielding display from England in a match they could and should have won. Their own total had been built on another sheet-anchor performance from Jonathan Trott, who finished unbeaten on 98 from 116 balls, but the point-of-difference innings had been played by Samit Patel, whose career-best 70 from 43 balls enabled England to add 91 runs in their final ten overs. Given the history of chasing at Mohali - only five teams had previously managed it in 19 matches at the venue - their route back into the series was awaiting them.

Instead, they produced a listless defence, with Ajinkya Rahane cruising along to 91 from 104 balls in a second-wicket stand of 111 with Gautam Gambhir. They managed just one wicket in the first 34 overs - a marginal lbw against Parthiv Patel, which broke an opening partnership of 79 - and though they rallied well to claim four wickets in an eight-over spell of dominance, their failure to take their chances cost them dear in the closing stages.

The most culpable man was the wicketkeeper, Craig Kieswetter, who missed an early chance to remove Gambhir on 17, before dropping Virat Kohli off a Jade Dernbach bouncer at a crucial juncture. Kohli had been struggling to impose himself and should have gone for 4 from 12 balls, only for Kieswetter to spill the catch as his elbows hit the turf. Worse was to follow, however, when he trod on the stumps while attempting to run out Jadeja with 12 balls of the match remaining, and 17 runs still needed.

That final error unsettled the under-pressure bowler Dernbach, who had earlier shown his frustration when Tim Bresnan let a four fly through his legs at backward point. He finished his spell with a wide and a no-ball beamer in an over that went for 10 runs, moments after Steven Finn - who had bowled superbly to concede 31 runs from his first eight overs - had been battered for 13 runs in his ninth.

Regardless of England's shortcomings, it was another hugely impressive display from India's batsmen, with Rahane setting the game up superbly with the second half-century of his fledgling career. He picked off six fours in his innings - mostly through deft steers behind square - but the most telling feature of his innings was the ease with which he and Gambhir rotated the strike in the fallow middle overs. England were powerless to react as the gaps in their field were pinched at will, and it wasn't until a rare misjudgement from Gambhir led to an impressive one-handed catch from Kevin Pietersen at cover that they found a foothold in the game.

That wicket was due reward for another probing and pacey spell from Finn, and he doubled his tally three overs later when Rahane's quest for a maiden hundred ended in a leading edge to Alastair Cook at mid-off. Suresh Raina then drilled Bresnan to cover for a third-ball duck to tilt the balance of power firmly in England's direction, and when Kohli was trapped lbw by a sharp turner from Graeme Swann, India had slumped to 235 for 5 with nine overs remaining, and that target of 299 suddenly seemed a long way off. In the end though, Dhoni and Jadeja picked it off with aplomb.

England owed their shot at victory to another solipsistic performance from Trott, whose tempo is immoveable regardless of the format of the game. This was his first significant innings since being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year, and it was a reprisal of the role he had played at the World Cup in March. He picked off eight boundaries after coming to the crease in the fourth over of the innings following the loss of Cook for 3, and was denied his fourth ODI hundred by a sharp piece of fielding at short fine leg, when he paddle-swept the penultimate ball of the innings for a single. Though he missed out on his milestone, the net gain was England's, as Samit Patel blazed Vinay Kumar's final ball of the innings into the long-on stands for six.

The debate will rage about Trott's approach to one-day cricket, but seeing as England collapsed in a heap in the first two matches, the backbone he provided to this performance was self-evident. Both of his major partners - Pietersen, who made 64 from 61 balls, and Patel - thrived on the right to go for their strokes, with Patel instrumental in belting 43 runs from the final 24 deliveries of England's innings. With his place under threat after two inconsequential displays in the early part of the series, this was a timely reminder of his combative qualities, as he was pushed up to No. 6 ahead of Jonny Bairstow.

Pietersen, meanwhile, produced his best one-day innings for many a month. He and Trott came together with England wobbling on 53 for 2, but the pair soon settled into a comfortable accumulative rhythm. Pietersen glanced his second ball through fine leg for four, and later launched a calculated assault on the swing of Praveen Kumar, who was bludgeoned for four fours in consecutive overs. He had a familiar aberration when the left-arm spin of Jadeja entered the attack, and would have run his partner out for 32 had the shy from midwicket been anywhere near Dhoni's gloves. As it transpired, however, it was England's own failure to run out Jadeja later in the game that would prove to be the decisive error. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Dhoni and Jadeja crush England

India 300 for 7 (Dhoni 87*, Raina 61) beat England 174 (Cook 60, Jadeja 3-34) by 126 runs

	MS Dhoni's hard-hitting 87 not out was the bedrock of India's victory © AFP

Smart stats India's 126-run win is their second-largest in ODIs against England, next only to their triumph by 158 runs in Rajkot in 2008. That, incidentally, was also the first ODI of a series. India scored 161 runs in their last 16 overs, which is their fifth-highest during this period in an ODI over the last decade. Their highest is 182, in two matches - against South Africa in Rajkot, and against Bermuda in Port of Spain. MS Dhoni's unbeaten 87 is his fourth successive ODI half-century, and his third unbeaten one. He averages 45 against England, while his overall ODI average has crept back to more than 50. Dhoni and Suresh Raina are only the seventh non-opening pair from India to add more than 2000 partnership runs. Their average and strike rate are the best among those seven. Dhoni has become the first wicketkeeper-captain to take 100 catches. Kumar Sangakkara is next with 59 catches behind the stumps as captain.

MS Dhoni marked India's homecoming with a brutal innings of 87 not out from 70 balls, before the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja sparked a dramatic English batting collapse, as the team that failed to win a single international fixture on their recent tour of England returned to form with a crushing 126-run victory at Hyderabad.

Dhoni's performance was his fourth half-century in as many international innings, but whereas the last three had been insufficient to force victory, this performance was more reminiscent of his last performance in a home international - his crushing 91 not out in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka in April.

After winning his first toss in six attempts against England, Dhoni chose to bat first on a slow surface, but India were struggling on 139 for 4 after 34 overs before he and Suresh Raina turned on the after-burners as a further 161 were added in the final third of the innings. As had regularly been the case in England, he started cautiously against a disciplined attack, and had reached 5 from 18 balls before belting his first boundary, from Ravi Bopara, to signal India's late charge.

In total, Dhoni belted 10 fours and one six in his innings, the latter coming from a trademark helicopter flick off Steven Finn in the penultimate over of the innings. Finn had started his day's work with impressive pace and accuracy, and should have had a first-over wicket when Jonathan Trott dropped a sitter off Ajinkya Rahane at second slip - a moment that only the 26,000 crowd were able to witness, thanks to a TV rights dispute that caused a three-over blackout. But Finn finished with the bruised figures of 1 for 67 in nine overs, with his solitary wicket that of Raina in his seventh over, moments after he had been battered for another six over long-on.

Raina, whose brutality against the full length ball was a sight to behold, crunched 61 from 55 balls, with both of his sixes coming from the final four balls of his innings. Like Dhoni, he had opted for circumspection in the early part of his stay, but the longer his 62-run stand for the fifth wicket continued, the more boisterous the Hyderabad crowd became.

It had been a more muted affair in the early part of India's innings. Parthiv Patel was run out at the non-striker's end for 9 as Finn fingertipped a Rahane drive onto the stumps, while Rahane himself had reached 15 from 41 balls when Graeme Swann dragged him out of his crease with his third delivery of the match to give Craig Kieswetter an easy stumping.

In his first match since recovering from concussion, Gautam Gambhir confirmed his fitness with a fluent 32 from 33 balls. However, Jade Dernbach's liquorice allsorts proved hard to pick and tough to get away on the surface, and the slower ball that did for Gambhir was a beauty. It looped up above the batsman's eyeline and dropped sharply to rap his shin in front of leg stump.

At 79 for 3 after 18 overs, the game was very much in the balance. However, England's position could, and probably should, have been even better after 25 overs, when Samit Patel repeated Finn's trick of dropping his fingertips on a straight drive. It was Raina this time who was in peril as the bails were dislodged, but after a lengthy delay for the TV adjudication, he was given the benefit of the doubt by the third umpire, Sudhir Ashani.

In the final analysis, however, it really didn't matter. Though Alastair Cook continued his impressive form as England captain with 60 from 63 balls, his dismissal in the 23rd over of the innings precipated a dramatic collapse at the hands of Jadeja and R Ashwin. England tumbled from 111 for 2 to 134 for 7 in the space of 40 balls, and only Samit Patel (16) and the No. 10, Finn, with a run a ball 18, provided any resistance.

Praveen Kumar, India's star bowler from their ill-fated tour of England, had launched India's defence in fine style, opening up with a maiden to Cook, and he had not conceded a run when he extracted Kieswetter with his eighth delivery, a full-length ball that jagged off the seam to take a thin edge through to Dhoni.

The loss of their top-order powerhitter caused England to rejig their conventional batting order, with Kevin Pietersen emerging at No. 3 ahead of the more staid Trott. The plan looked to be paying off as Pietersen launched his innings with ominous resolve, but having struck three fours in a 28-ball 19, he attempted a quick single to mid-on where Ashwin nailed him with a direct hit.

Trott then appeared at No. 4, and for 13.3 overs he and Cook steadied the innings, adding 71 for the third wicket to give England a solid platform. But then, having brought up his fifty at exactly a run a ball, Cook gave his innings away with a loose clip to deep midwicket off Ravindra Jadeja, and thwacked his pad with his bat in frustration as he left the crease.

Worse was to follow for England two overs later. Trott, whose 26 from 42 balls had been a typically measured performance, attempted an ungainly smear across the line against Jadeja and lost his leg stump, and eight balls later, Ravi Bopara drove loosely at Ashwin and chipped a simple return catch to the keeper.

Jadeja by now was on a roll with the crowd fully behind him, and he extended England's collapse to four wickets in 26 balls when Jonny Bairstow, the hero of the run-chase in Cardiff, last month, also offered up a return catch. His figures after four overs were 3 for 17, and England's unbeaten run against India in 2011 was soon all over. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.