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England defended their reputation as the reigning World T20 champions and registered their first victory in their last match of what has been a very sorry tour of India. The barometer of England's success was their polished bowling performance. The leader of their pace battery Steve Finn picked up 3-22 to thwart India's hopes of building up a challenging score. Tim Bresnan and Ravi Bopara picked up 2 wickets apiece to restrict the Men in Blue to 120-9. Later in the evening, Kevin Pietersen powered the English chase with a plucky 53 bordered with improvisation. Eventually, England romped home by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare.

A confident Indian outfit took to field at the gorgeous Eden Gardens in Kolkata with the aim of sending the Poms home winless. Robin Uthappa, who was back into the Indian team after a long hiatus was expected to open the batting for hosts in the absence of Gautam Gambhir. The Indian batting was also bolstered by  the return of Yusuf Pathan, who has been decimating domestic attacks of late. Meanwhile, Jharkhand speedster Varun Aaron was benched.

England's stand-in-skipper Graeme Swann lost the toss and was asked to field first on a slow spin friendly wicket. With an eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, The English think-tank inducted promising youngsters -Jos Butler and Alex Hales into the playing XI. Thankfully, for the visitors their batting bulwark Kevin Pietersen had recovered from the finger injury he sustained during the 4th ODI to make the cut. A cracking contest was in the offing!

Steve Finn, who was arguably England's best bowler in the 'Payback ODI series' struck with his fourth delivery to have Ajinkya  Rahane caught behind for a duck. Craig Kieswetter orchestrated an acrobatic one-handed effort to grasp Rahane's thick edge. 'Comeback man' Uthappa, who also poked outside off-stump was soon back in the hutch for just 1 as Kieswetter completed another outstanding catch, this time off Tim Bresnan. Bresnan's first over wicket- maiden left India in early strife.

The stylish Suresh Raina got India going with a towering six over Finn's head. Soon, Virat Kohli joined the party and picked up a couple of boundaries. But, Kohli, who was baffled by Bresnan's clever change of pace holed out to Alex Hales in the deep. India were in tatters at 32-3 in 6 overs.

Suresh Raina, welcomed the English captain, Swann, into the attack with a four through point and a biggie over deep-mid-wicket. The Indian fans were hoping that the southpaw would carry on to help India post a healthy total. 'Chotta Dada' Manoj Tiwary too kept the scoreboard ticking by rotating the strike and running hard between the wickets. However, the local lad was bowled by Samit Patel for 15 to create panic in the Indian dug-out.

Swann then pulled off a masterstroke by bringing 'Fiery Finn' back into the attack. The 22-year old continued his excellent summer against left-handers by dismissing the well-set Raina and in-form Jadeja off consecutive balls. Raina's enterprising 39 included 4 fours and 2 maximums. The Indian innings hit an ebb after the 'double blow'. The struggling Indians made 91 runs in 16 overs for the loss of 6 wickets.

Medium pacer, Ravi Bopara then castled Yusuf Pathan for 10 to aggravate India's woes. A couple of balls later Bopara breached through Praveen Kumar's wild swing to put the guests in a commanding position as India slumped to 91/8. Dernbach showed better control and variation on Saturday, a far cry from the pasting he took in the one dayers.

R.Ashwin finally loosened the shackles with 2 fours off Bopara in the 19th over. To the crowd's delight Dhoni, who was floored by Bairstow launched a helicopter shot that fetched the maximum result. India collected 13 runs off the last over to reach 120-9 on a pitch where shot making was exceedingly difficult. England ran out Dhoni on the last ball of the innings for a 26 ball 21. Steve Finn received the bowling honors with an 'impact-spell' of 3-22.

Dhoni began India's defence with two tweakers - R.Ashwin and Yusuf Pathan - with a third spinner in Ravindra Jadeja introduced as first change. Kieswetter perished to the Saurashtra allrounder Jadeja after picking up 2 boundaries off Ashwin. The Indian spin trio extracted immediate purchase from the sluggish track to keep the home team in the hunt. The rub of the green went Kevin Pietersen's way as the usually bankable Raina dropped him in the dying stages of the powerplay. Surprisingly, Indian's commander in chief stuck to his slower men in the powerplay wherein England scored 28 runs for the loss of Kieswetter.

Pietersen decided to chance his arm and upset Yusuf with a 'dil-scoop four' and a 'switch hit six' deep into the crowd. India got a glimmer of hope when young Rahane, who ran in quickly from the midwicket fence, completed a remarkable sliding catch off Pathan to send back Alex Hales for a snail-paced 11. Engladn were all at sea against the spinners, but with the asking rate under control there was no need to press the panic button.

In an attempt to counter-attack, Samit Patel was bumped up the order. The two Ps - Pietersen and Patel - upped the tempo with a few precious boundaries as Pathan leaked 16 runs in his 3rd over. The introduction of the Indian seamers saw England take completed control as Pietersen oozed agression and reduced the asking rate to 5 an over while Patel provided good support. Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja signed off with enviable figures of 1-9 in his quota of 4 overs. Pietersen raked up the 50 of the partnership with a fantastic six. England were coasting to a win, having made 98-2 in 14 overs.

Pietersen collected his 6th half century in T20 International fixtures in the 15th over. The very next ball Kohli took out Samit Patel, who fell short of connecting with a slog sweep. Soon afterwards, Raina trapped KP leg before for 53 in his first over to bring some cheer for the Indian supporters. The big man's reverse-sweep failed him for once, but it was a debatable decision as the ball seemed to have pitched outside the leg.

Eleven runs from 22 balls with 6 wickets under the belt was definitely an easy task for Swann's men. Bopara and Bairstow guided England home with 8 balls to spare to break their embarrassing losing streak.

Teams:

India: A.Rahane, R.Uthappa, V.Kohli, S.Raina, M.Tiwary, M.S.Dhoni (captain&keeper), Y.Pathan,R.Jadeja, R.Ashwin, P.Kumar, V.Kumar.

England: C.Kieswetter (keeper), A.Hales, K.Pietersen, R.Bopara, J.Bairstow, J.Butler, G.Swann(captain), T.Bresnan, S.Patel, S.Finn, J.Dernbach.

Mini-Scorecard:

India: 120-9 (20 overs, 6.0 rpo)
S.Raina  39(29)  S.Finn 3-22
M.S.Dhoni 21(26) T.Bresnan 2-19

England 121-4 (18.4 overs, 6.48 rpo)
K.Pietersen 53(39)  R.Jadeja 1-9
S.Patel 21(25) S.Raina 1-9

England won the one-off T20 match by 6 wickets.

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20