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India downs England by four wickets

Rahul Dravid steered India to a four-wicket victory over England in the fourth limited-overs international Thursday, giving the hosts a series-clinching 4-0 lead.

After dismissing England for 237 runs in the 48th over, India posted 238 for six in 47.2 after captain Dravid compiled a composed 65 - his 69th half-century from 284 one-dayers.
Dravid struck nine boundaries off 73 deliveries and shared two brisk partnerships - putting on 54 for the opening stand with Virender Sehwag (26) and 76 for the second wicket with Irfan Pathan (46).

Pathan and Mohammad Kaif (5) fell in the space of six deliveries before Yuvraj Singh (48) and Suresh Raina (21) took India to the brink of victory through their 72-run, fifth-wicket stand.

Both Raina and Yuvraj Singh were dismissed in one over by paceman James Anderson (2-53), leaving Mahendra Dhoni (10 not out) and Ramesh Powar (2 not out) to drive India home.

India's victory marks a new record of 15 consecutive limited-over internationals in which it has successfully chased targets. The previous record belonged to the West Indies, which won 14 one-day matches when batting second during 1984-86.

"The way we've won this series is heartening," Dravid said.

"Different people put their hands up when we needed it. It makes me proud at the way the players have responded despite a long season," he said. "We were under pressure at different times, but achieved our target."

Having already clinched the series, Dravid said India was focused on the fifth one-dayer and had the opportunity to build its team for future.

England's captain, Andrew Flintoff said his team would try to salvage some pride from the remaining matches.

"We'll be playing for pride, there are three games to go and we've got to take something out of them," Flintoff said.

England's aim of keeping alive its hopes in the seven-match series suffered a setback when its middle order crumbled after Flintoff won the toss and elected to bat first in the must-win game.

Flintoff said the run drought had cost England the one-day series - after drawing the tests 1-1 - against a strong Indian batting lineup.

"Not scoring enough runs had been our problem, honestly we should've got at least 270 today," he said.

Pietersen smashed an authoritative 77 and shared a brisk, innings-building stand of 90 from 96 deliveries with Paul Collingwood (36) for the third wicket, but England's middle-order faltered once again.

Part-time spinners Yuvraj Singh (2-34) and Sehwag (2-31) shared the spoils.

Batting first in overcast conditions, which provided relief from the normally hot and humid weather, England lost openers Andrew Strauss (7) and Matthew Prior (14) cheaply before Pietersen and Collingwood steadied the innings.

Strauss was trapped lbw by Pathan, while Prior was caught behind by Dhoni after playing at an outswinger from Shantakumaran Sreesanth.

Returning to the team after recovering from a stomach infection that forced him to miss the third one-dayer, Pietersen dominated England's batting en route to his seventh half-century in 28 one dayers.

Left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh dismissed Collingwood with his eighth delivery - snapping a one-handed return catch. Collingwood's 48-ball knock included four boundaries.

Pietersen struck two sixes and six boundaries from 82 deliveries before sweeping offspinner Harbhajan Singh straight to Yuvraj Singh at square-leg.

Pietersen's departure triggered the collapse that saw Flintoff (12), Vikram Solanki (12), Ian Blackwell (6) and Gareth Batty (2) perished cheaply.

The only other redeeming feature of England's innings was a sedate 49 from Geraint Jones, who was the last man to fall - run out going for his half century. His 66-ball knock featured three boundaries.

Source: Foxsports.com