India win by seven wickets in Ranchi

India took a valuable series lead after the third ODI in Ranchi on Saturday, beating England by seven wickets as Virat Kohli found form with an unbeaten half century.

India took a valuable series lead after the third ODI in Ranchi on Saturday, beating England by seven wickets as Virat Kohli found form with an unbeaten half century.

India put on an impressive bowling display, combined with some poor batting from England, to dismiss the visitors for 155 in 42.2 overs. They then made light work of the chase, reaching 157 in 28.1 overs.

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets, with Ravi Ashwin and Ishant Sharma bagging two each, as the English batsmen floundered at the new stadium, packed to the rafters in honour of hometown hero MS Dhoni.

India won the toss and chose to bowl first, and were soon rewarded for that decision. Openers Alastair Cook and Ian Bell put on 24 together before Cook was dismissed LBW by Shami Ahmed.

Kevin Pietersen then came in to join Bell, and they pushed the score up to 68 rather quickly. Pietersen was then sent packing for 17, caught behind, but he was raging as he hadn't nicked the ball.

Bell then departed for 25, leaving Joe Root to battle as the rest of the order crumbled around him. The young Yorkshireman eventually made 39 off 57 balls as was the top-scorer, but no-one could stick with him.

Craig Kieswetter's horrid run of form continued as he was out for a duck, as was Samit Patel. Tim Bresnan made a fighting return to the side as he added a valuable 25 at the death, before being bowled by an Ashwin ripper.

India's innings got off to a poor start when opener Ajinkya Rahane once again failed and was out for a duck courtesy of a Steve Finn peach that rattled his stumps. Gautam Gambhir and Kohli then combined to see the side most of the way home.

The pair put on 67 together, easily navigating the English bowlers as Jade Dernbach was once again astonishingly expensive, going for 45 runs in his five overs. Gambhir was eventually removed by James Tredwell for 33, caught by Root.

Kohli continued on his mission alongside Yuvraj Singh, who scored a nifty 30 off 21 balls, hitting six boundaries before being bowled by Tredwell. Dhoni then came in to wrap up the match, hitting the winning runs off Finn to end with 10, and leaving Kohli on 77.

The fourth match will be played in Mohali on 23 January.

India: Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Shami Ahmed

England: Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, James Tredwell, Steve Finn, Jade Dernbach

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