Manchester: Ajinkya Rahane's half century on debut went in vain as the reigning Twenty 20 Champions England continued to dominate India with a six-wicket victory over the visitors in the one-off Twenty20 international here on Wednesday.
India had a sniff when England needed 10 runs off the last six deliveries after Munaf Patel bowled a miserly three-run penultimate over. But two lucky edges off Samit Patel's bat sealed the fate in England's favour.
However, it was Eoin Morgan's 27-ball 49 that put England on their way after Kevin Pietersen's 33 in 23 balls laid a solid foundation.
India, though struck in the first over, failed to keep a check on the scoring rate and must be rueing not being able to bat through their 20 overs and dropping Pietersen when he was on 11.
In the evening, after electing to bat, India started well with debutant Ajinkya Rahane who made 61 off 39 balls, including eight fours, to put India on their way to a big total.
Rahane and Parthiv Patel got India off to a brisk start after India opted to bat. Rahane was particularly severe on anything short as he hooked and pulled whenever England tried to test him with the short-pitched stuff. England were visibly taken aback by Rahane's aggression but Jade Dernbach's introduction got England their first breakthrough.
A disguised slower delivery in the fifth over bowled by Dernbach got Parthiv (10) to miscue an attempted straight drive that was easily taken by skipper Stuart Broad.
But in the next over bowled by Stuart Broad, Rahane first pulled and then came down the wicket to hit the England skipper for two consecutive fours as India reached 49/1 at the end of six overs of powerplay.
Playing his first and last T20 game, Rahul Dravid propped up India along with a talented Rahane, so much so that the Indian stalwart hit Samit Patel for three consecutive sixes in the 11th over. The spinner ended up conceding 22 runs in the over.
But 'The Wall' fell at the score of 31, coming off just 21 balls, triggering a mini collapse where India went from 104/1 to 117/5. After Dravid, Rahane and India's practice-match heroes Virat Kohli (4) and Rohit Sharma (1) were sent back to the dugout.
Though Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni restored order with a 41-run partnership for the sixth wicket, Dhoni's (8) wicket triggered another collapse, where from 158/5, India were bowled out for 165 in 19.4 overs.
Raina (33 off 19), who hit Bresnan for two consecutive sixes, was the eighth Indian wicket to fall, after which Praveen Kumar and Munaf threw their wickets away as India failed to play out the 20 overs.
Dernbach was the star for England with four wickets for 22 runs; captain Broad took a couple while Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann and Ravi Bopara grabbed one apiece.
India began their defence of 165 runs with a wicket in the first over when Praveen dismissed debutant Alex Hales for a naught.
But Craig Kieswetter and Pietersen took the attack to the Indian bowlers as England raced to 58 at the end of six overs.
However, Munaf Patel - who was smashed in his first over - came back to snap up Kieswetter who made 18 off 13 balls. And Dhoni's surprising decision to bring Virat Kohli into the attack worked like magic when Kohli made it a double strike for India by sending back the dangerous Pietersen for 33.
But Eoin Morgan's counter-attack after the loss of two quick wickets put England firmly in sight of victory.
Munaf Patel gave India some hope with the wicket of Morgan but his 49 quickfire runs, which included seven fours and one six, had set the tone of victory by then.
England's depth in batting once again kept India at bay as Bopara (31 not out) and Samit Patel (25 not out) continued to dominate and held onto their nerves even when 10 runs were needed off the last over.
Munaf was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 4-0-25-2, while Praveen and Kohli took one wicket each.
India next take on England in the five-match ODI series, with the first match to be played on September 3.
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