Bangalore: Penetrative bowling by Indian seamers backed up by some superb fielding helped the hosts win the rain-curtailed fourth One-Day International against England by 19 runs and wrap-up the seven-match series 4-0 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.
After the tourists were set a target of 198 runs following the Duckworth-Lewis Method, England were bundled out for 178 for eight in 22 overs.
First to go in England chase was Ravi Bopara, who was caught brilliantly by a diving Ishant Sharma at mid-on off Munaf Patel for one with the tourists needing nine runs per over to reach the target.
In an unexpected move, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought in Yusuf Pathan ahead of Harbhajan Singh and England plundered the off-spinner for 17 runs with new man Owais Shah smashing two fours and one six in that over.
Shah, who chanced his arm too often, was then dropped by Gautam Gambhir at short mid-wicket off Harbhajan's first over on 29 though the off-spinner managed to get rid of Bell off the very next ball when he castled him for 12 off 15 balls.
But there was better news in store as a beauty from Ishant Sharma cleaned up England skipper Kevin Pietersen for just five runs bringing back the memories Ricky Ponting's dismissal by the pacer in Mohali during the Test series.
But England were kept in the hunt with a blazing 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Shah and Andrew Flintoff. Shah completed his half-century off just 35 balls including eight fours and one six. Flintoff was in blistering mood as he hit 15 runs off Harbhajan's third over, as the fourteen and fifteen overs yielded 26 runs in total.
Flintoff matched Shah stroke for stroke before Shah was caught by Sachin Tendulkar at short covers off Zaheer Khan during the batting power play after making a solid 72 off 48 balls with nine fours and three huge sixes.
Danger man Flintoff was then caught in the covers by Zaheer off Ishant Sharma after making 41 off just 30 balls with three fours and a six.
With the run-rate climbing all the time, the lower order batsmen tried to hit out but only succeeded in playing into India's hands as Samit Patel found out when he held out to Gambhir off Zaheer for 11 runs to reduce England to 161 for six with just two overs left.
Soon after Graeme Swann was run out for six and with time and overs running out for the visitors, Paul Collingwood was caught by Tendulkar at mid-wicket off Munaf Patel for 22 with just a ball left to get 19 runs for victory which Broad played and missed.
In the Indian innings, which was interrupted twice by rain, Virender Sehwag slammed a stroke-filled 57-balls 69 to take India to 166 for four in 22 overs in the rain-curtailed game. The Duckworth-Lewis method set England the 198-run target off 22 overs.
Sehwag, who made his intentions clear by dispatching the first ball of the game to the cover fence, was in terrific form and treated the English bowlers with disdain, slamming nine fours and three sixes before being caught by James Anderson on the long-on boundary off spinner Graeme Swann.
The dashing Delhi opener added 79 runs off 62 balls for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir, who was dropped down to number three to accommodate Sachin Tendulkar to open the batting with Sehwag.
After the game was reduced to a 22-overs-a-side contest due to rain, India resumed play at 106-1 in 17 overs. Hence with the overs running out for the hosts, Sehwag and Gambhir went for runs. But soon both fell while trying to accelerate.
Gambhir held out to Anderson at long-on off Swann for 40, which came off 37 balls with seven hits to the fence.
Man-in-form Yuvraj Singh and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni then resorted to some lusty hitting to try and take India to a fighting total before the later was bowled by Samit Patel for nine.
Yuvraj remained not out on 25 off 11 balls with three sixes while Yusuf Pathan hit the only ball he faced off Patel for a six to post a competitive total.
The first rain interruption stopped play for two hours with the hosts on 85 for one off 14 overs.
The staff at Chinnaswamy stadium did a remarkable job to bring the ground back to playable conditions within two hours by employing four super-soppers.
The only wicket England managed before the rain interruptions was that of Tendulkar, who was bowled by Stuart Broad for 11 after adding 38 runs off 7.5 overs. Broad pegged back the highest run-getter's (in both One-Day and Tests) off stump.
Undaunted by the early departure of Tendulkar, Sehwag smashed Anderson for a boundary to bring up India's first fifty and then followed it up with a smashing six between long-on and mid-wicket.
After reaching his half-century with a couple, Sehwag unleashed a flurry of shots all round the wicket, including a four and a six off consecutive balls off Broad.
Sehwag also became the sixth Indian to cross 6000-run mark in One-Day cricket from 195 matches when he flicked Anderson for a four to move to 36 and join five other Indians, including batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Yuvraj Singh.
Sehwag and Gambhir, put on 68 runs off 9.1 overs before the skies opened up for the second time after the tourists had bowled just three overs forcing the umpires to suspend the match with Sehwag on 61 and Gambhir on 30.
