India beat England in a closely fought final to win the title - the 3rd Limited Over title under the captaincy of MS Dhoni

Toss: England won toss and decide to bowl first

Teams:

England: AN Cook, IR Bell, IJL Trott, JE Root, EJG Morgan, RS Bopara, JC Buttler, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, JC Tredwell, JM Anderson

India: S Dhawan, RG Sharma, V Kohli, KD Karthik, SK Raina, MS Dhoni, RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, B Kumar, I Sharma, UT Yadav



 

Almost a 6 hour wait under cloudy skies and persistent rain resulted in the game being reduced to 20 overs aside. May not be what the organizers expected but it was good enough for the large number of Indian supporters who clearly outnumbered the "home team" followers.

The 2 Indian openers who have been making headlines throughout the series came out to open but Sharma was sent back by Broad for 9. Kohli joined Dhawan and they added runs at a brisk pace with the rain causing intermittent delays to the proceedings. After the Indian innings final resumed, Dhawan continued in the aggressive fashion hitting two consecutive boundaries off Tredwell before falling victim to Bopara in the next over. The next man in was the in form Dinesh Karthik who found it difficult to get a move on. His innings was short lived as he top-edged one off Tredwell in an attempt to sweep towards midwicket. England continued to apply the pressure and the bowling combination of Tredwell and Bopara chipped away at the Indian batting lineup. Suresh Raina and Dhoni fell in the same over to Bopara scoring 1 and 0 respectively.

While wickets continued to fall on the other end, Virat Kohli continued to play his natural game. The Indian innings found some much needed stability and momentum with the arrival of Jadeja. The two added 47 runs in 5.3 overs including 19 runs from the two-over powerplay before Kohli fell to Anderson for a well played 43 in the 19th over. Jadeja's presence in the middle allowed India to finish off strong and post somewhat of a respectable total of 129 considering they were 66/5 at one stage. English bowlers, in particular Bopara and Tredwell, did well to contain the Indian batsmen.


Fall of Wickets

1-19 (Rohit Sharma, 3.5 ov)
2-50 (Shikhar Dhawan, 8.2 ov)
3-64 (Dinesh Karthik, 11.1 ov)
4-66 (Suresh Raina, 12.2 ov)
5-66 (MS Dhoni, 13.0 ov)
6-113 (Virat Kohli, 18.3 ov)
7-119 (R Ashwin, 19.2 ov)

Needing 130 to win after a discipline bowling display, England openers started cautiously. However, captain Alastair Cook fell to Yadav in only the 2nd over as he edged one to Ashwin in the slips. Next man in was Jonathan Trott who was busy at the crease and the runs began flowing including 11 runs off of a Kumar over. With the introduction of spin, India reduced the run flow. In his very first over, Ashwin claimed the prize wicket of Trott who was out stumped to a delivery that drifted down the legside. English batsmen found negotiating against spin difficult as Joe Root scooped one down fine leg off of Ashwin's bowling. Ian Bell was the only one of the English batsmen who seemed to be able to dominate the spin and he demonstrated that through a well executed reverse sweep. His innings was short-lived when he was given out as a part of a controversial stumping that was referred to the 3rd umpire.

The Ravi Bopara - Eoin Morgan partnership that followed was crucial to the outcome of the game. Using a mixture of some good cricketing and improvised shots, both batsmen brought England to a the brink of a historic cup victory. The Indian spinners were in control with plenty of overs left between them and it had to take a super effort by these 2 batsmen and they did not disappoint until Eoin Morgan fell to what could only be described as a sucker punch by Ishant Sharma! Ishant bowling 2 wides in a row got Morgan to play an uncharacteristic shot and then got Bopara out on the next ball - turning the game on its head. England now needed 20 runs with 4 wickets and 13 balls remaining.

The rest of the England tail seem to panic as Butler and Bresnan lost their wickets - Bresnan to a suicidal run out. It was left to Tredwell and Broad to see if they could get England to victory but they failed in the face of some fantastic spin bowling by Jadeja and Ashwin.



Fall of Wickets

1-3 (Alastair Cook, 1.3 ov)
2-28 (Jonathan Trott, 5.1 ov)
3-40 (Joe Root, 7.3 ov)
4-46 (Ian Bell, 8.4 ov)
5-110 (Morgan, 17.3 ov)
6-110 (Bopara, 17.4 ov)
7-112 (Buttler, 18.2 ov)
8-113 (Bresnan, 18.4 ov)

India had looked like the real deal from their first game and they did not disappoint their followers. Dhoni's dream of a treble of ICC trophies was fulfilled on a rain drenched day ay Edgbaston. England's wait of many years for an ICC title remains a pipe dream but Cook and Co should be given due credit for making it to the final after many pundits had discounted them as serious contenders for the title at the beginning of the tournament. All in all, a typical hard fought 20 over game with the ups and downs which define a thriller.

Congratulations India.