On this day in 2009: England prevail by 3 runs against India in a nail-biter
England managed to get revenge for the 2007 T20 World Cup Super-six loss by winning an important encounter against India in the 2009 T20 World Cup.
India opted to field first after winning the toss and RP Singh got the early breakthrough of Luke Wright for just 1. Ravi Bopara (37) and Kevin Pietersen (46) steadied the ship and the pair added 71 for the second wicket until Bopara was dismissed. Pietersen followed him soon after a fine knock while Dimitri Mascarenhas (25*) and Owais Shah (12) tried to get the scoreboard ticking.
However, some good bowling in the middle overs from the Indian side meant that England could reach just 153 in their 20 overs despite a good platform. Harbhajan Singh was the pick of the bowlers with a three-wicket haul while Ravindra Jadeja picked up two wickets.
In reply, India lost Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina early with the scoreboard reading just 24 and it was down to the pair of Ravindra Jadeja and Gautam Gambhir to take the game deep. The duo took their time to ensure wickets did not fall. Yuvraj Singh came in at five and blasted a 9-ball 17 which included two sixes.
With five wickets down for 87 in the 14th over, MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan had a daunting task ahead. However, they managed to keep finding the boundaries and brought the required run rate slightly lower. In fact, Pathan’s 17-ball 33 and Dhoni’s 20-ball 30 kept India in the race for the most part of the final over and 19 was needed off the last over from Ryan Sidebottom.
The left-arm seamer conceded 15 and India fell short by three runs in a nail-biting thriller of a game. Sidebottom picked up the player of the match award for his 2 for 32 in four overs.
