Cardiff, Sept 16: The unstoppable England side ended the ODI series on a high, winning the fifth and final game at Cardiff by six wickets. England’s ODI captain Alastair Cook made it a clean sweep of toss wins in the series but the advantage seemed slight when Virat Kohli blazed away to a century and the highest score by an Indian against England in England. Even as young Kohli was making a mark with his brilliant stroke-play, Rahul Dravid, bowing out of the ODI arena, compiled a beautiful 69 runs – a fitting farewell from an unmatched sportsman. Indian skipper MS Dhoni delighted spectators with an unbeaten 50 made in to time. But all the sparks from the Indian camp were put out by the rain and a strong England reply; the hosts ended as unequivocal winners, remaining unbeaten right through the series. Take a look at the stats highlights of England’s final triumph of the tour.
- Alastair Cook won his fifth consecutive toss of the series.
- This was the ninth match in a row in which Cook won the toss (since the Leeds ODI v Sri Lanka). Only two captains have enjoyed a longer streak of winning the toss. Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower and Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga have won 10 tosses in a row.
- Virat Kohli’s innings of 107 is the highest by an Indian batsman against England in England. Sachin Tendulkar held the previous record with an unbeaten 105 at Chester-le-Street in 2002.
- At 22 years 316 days, Kohli became the third youngest batsman to score a ODI century against England in England. Only Upul Tharanga (21 years 135 days) and L Chandimal (21 years 227 days) have scored a century against England in England at a younger age.
- This was Kohli’s sixth century in ODIs. Only two other players – Sachin Tendulkar (8) and Upul Tharanga (6) – had scored six ODI centuries before turning 23.
- Kohli’s average of 43.46 is the third best among Indian batsmen with 2,000 ODI runs after MS Dhoni (48.88) and Sachin Tendulkar (45.16).
- Rahul Dravid’s innings of 69 is the fourth highest by an Indian batsman on his last ODI appearance. Dravid also became the seventh Indian batsman to score a fifty in his last ODI match (excluding all players who are currently playing). The complete list is:
|
Player | Score | Vs | Venue | Date |
|---|
A Jadeja | 93 | Pakistan | Dhaka | 03 Jun 2000 |
GK Khoda | 89 | Kenya | Bangalore | 20 May 1998 |
S Abid Ali | 70 | New Zealand | Manchester | 14 Jun 1975 |
R Dravid | 69 | England | Cardiff | 16 Sep 2011 |
S Amarnath | 62 | Pakistan | Sahiwal | 03 Nov 1978 |
S Sriram | 57 | Bangladesh | Dhaka | 26 Dec 2004 |
DB Vengsarkar | 54 | England | Nottingham |
20 JUl 1990 |
- The 170-run partnership between Dravid and Kohli is India’s highest partnership against England in England. The previous record of 169 was made on two occasions. It is also the seventh century partnership and the highest partnership in ODIs in Cardiff.
- Kohli became the first batsman to be dismissed hit-wicket after scoring a century in ODIs.
- Dhoni's strike-rate of 192.30 during his innings of 50 off 26 balls is the highest strike-rate for an Indian batsman against England for a 50-plus score.
- Jonathan Trott’s six off Munaf Patel was the first six of his ODI career (in his 35th match). He celebrated the occasion by hitting another one off Ravindra Jadeja.
The 3-0 series win is the third instance where England have won at least three matches without a single defeat. The two previous instances were against Zimbabwe in 2001-02 and South Africa in 2008.
