India took an unassailable 3-0 lead by inflicting a crushing five-wicket defeat on England in the third one-dayer at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Thursday.Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35*) and Ravindra Jadeja (26*) added 65 runs for the sixth wicket to take India to victory after they were in a spot of bother at 235/5.
With seven runs needed off the last over, Dhoni hit fours on the first two deliveries by Tim Bresnan to seal victory for India.
Graeme Swann trapped Virat Kohli plumb in front of the wicket as India lost their fifth wicket.
Kohli hit 5 fours in his 30-ball 35 before falling to Swann.
Ajinkya Rahane fell short of his maiden century by 9 runs as he mistimed a Steven Finn slower delivery into the hands of England captain Alastair Cook at mid-off.
Rahane hit 6 fours in his 104-ball 91.
In the next over, Suresh Raina hit a Tim Bresnan delivery staright into the hands of Kevin Pietersen at short extra cover. Raina failed to trouble the scorers.
Pietersen took a superb diving catch at point to dismiss Gautam Gambhir off Finn.
Gambhir hit a six and 3 fours in his 60-ball 58.
Ajinkya Rahane and Gambhir hit half-centuries as India crossed the 150-run mark with one wicket down.
Gambhir reached his 27th half-century off 53 balls with a six over long-off off Graeme Swann.
Gambhir brought up the 100-run partnership with Rahane off 91 balls.
Rahane hit his second half-century off 59 balls with the help of four hits to the fence.
Tim Bresnan gave England the first breakthrough when he trapped Parthiv Patel plumb in front of the wicket.
Patel hit 3 fours in his 46-ball 38 and put up a 79-run opening stand with Ajinkya Rahane.
Patel and Rahane brought up the Indian 50 in 9 overs as the hosts got off a good start in pursuit of 299-run target.
Earlier, Jonathan Trott's unbeaten 98 and brisk half-centuries by Samit Patel and Kevin Pietersen powered England to 298/4.
Trott remained undefeated on 98 that came off 116 balls with the help of 8 hits to the fence.
Patel's unbeaten 70 came off 43 balls and was studded with 2 sixes and 7 fours and he justified his promotion up the order ahead of Jonny Bairstow.
Trott and Patel added 103 runs off 71 balls for the fourth wicket and the stand came after Praveen Kumar clean bowled Ravi Bopara with a fantastic yorker.
Trott hit his fifteenth fifty soon after Ravindra Jadeja trapped Kevin Pietersen plumb in front of the wicket.
Pietersen hit a 61-ball 64 with the help of 9 fours and added 101 runs with Trott for the third wicket to revive England.
Virat Kohli gave India the second breakthrough when he scalped Craig Kieswetter to reduce the visitors to 53/2 in 12.1 overs.
Kieswetter, who scored 36 off 38 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes, attempted to squeeze it out to the off side but it took the inside edge and went onto rattle the stumps.
England again suffered an early jolt when seamer Vinay Kumar struck to dismiss skipper Alastair Cook.
Earlier, England skipper Alastair Cook won the toss and decided to bat first against India. Both India and England retained the same sides from the first two games at Hyderabad and New Delhi.
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar.
England: Alastair Cook (captain), Craig Kieswetter (wicketkeeper), Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara, Jonathan Bairstow, Graeme Swann, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn.
Scoreboard
Third one-day international between India and England at Mohali,
India, on Thursday.
India won by five wickets
England innings
A. Cook lbw b Vinay Kumar 3
C. Kieswetter b Kohli 36
J. Trott not out 98
K. Pietersen lbw b Jadeja 64
R. Bopara b P. Kumar 24
S. Patel not out 70
Extras (lb-1, w-2) 3
Total (four wickets; 50 overs) 298
Did not bat: J. Bairstow, T. Bresnan, G. Swann, S. Finn, J.
Dernbach
Fall of wickets: 1-8 2-53 3-154 4-195
Bowling: P. Kumar 10-0-56-1 (2w), Vinay Kumar 9-1-64-1, V.
Kohli 3-0-20-1, U. Yadav 10-0-71-0, R. Ashwin 10-0-45-0, R.
Jadeja 8-0-41-1
India innings
P. Patel lbw b Bresnan 38
A. Rahane c Cook b Finn 91
G. Gambhir c Pietersen b Finn 58
V. Kohli lbw b Swann 35
S. Raina c Pietersen b Bresnan 0
MS Dhoni not out 35
R. Jadeja not out 26
Extras (lb-8, w-7, nb-2) 17
Total (five wickets; 49.2 overs) 300
Did not bat: R. Ashwin, Vinay Kumar, U. Yadav, P. Kumar
Fall of wickets: 1-79 2-190 3-212 4-217 5-235
Bowling: S. Finn 10-0-44-2, T. Bresnan 7.2-0-62-2 (1nb, 2w),
J. Dernbach 10-0-69-0 (1nb, 3w), S. Patel 10-0-50-0, G. Swann
10-0-59-1 (1w), R. Bopara 2-0-8-0 (1w)
India lead 3-0 in five-match series.
