Repeat show leaves England and India locked in second stalemate

Confusion took over as to the outcome at Lord’s for several minutes after a third interruption for rain terminally ended England’s chase of 280-5, on 270-8.

But it was eventually confirmed that, with England and the Duckworth-Lewis par score reading identically, these two teams could not be separated – just as at Bangalore in their World Cup group match back in March.

The hosts therefore lead 2-0 with only one match to play, at Cardiff on Friday. But whether they remain on course for an unprecedented whitewash of their opponents across all three formats this summer is perhaps a moot point.

England would have prevailed by the narrowest of margins had Bopara himself not been well-caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary off Munaf Patel, the last twist in a see-saw match and the second wicket in as many balls.

Bopara’s dismissal to the last ball of the match, instantly following the run-out of Graeme Swann by Patel off his own bowling, caused a D/L recalculation which brought the teams level and cancelled out a minor advantage England had held for much of the previous half-hour.

A stand of 169 between Mahendra Singh Dhoni (78 not out) and Suresh Raina (84) had carried India to a defendable total – which England challenged strongly thanks to Bopara and Ian Bell (54).

After the early loss of both England openers to successive RP Singh deliveries, and Jonathan Trott soon afterwards, Bopara and Bell’s stand of 96 jockeyed a favourable position.

But when Bell undid much of the hard work by holing out to long-off, where substitute fielder Manoj Tiwary took a good catch, it was time for Bopara to prove his worth.

In 62 one-day internationals, his previous best was 60.

But after one piece of fortune, just clearing Singh straying off the long-on rope off Raina on 62, he very nearly won the day with a 111-ball innings which contained six boundaries.

Craig Kieswetter had been England’s first man out when he failed to get enough on an inside-out hit and was well caught at wide mid-off, and then from the first ball of Singh’s next over Alastair Cook picked out extra-cover.

Trott was unable to play a telling innings either, attempting to pull a ball that was far too full from Praveen Kumar.

Bell and Bopara reacted with good sense and skill, manoeuvring the ball around without undue risk.

But where Dhoni and Raina had stayed around to finish the job, Bopara was left to organise the rest of England’s chase after Ben Stokes chipped a catch back to go cheaply to R Ashwin.

As at The Oval two days ago, Tim Bresnan proved an admirable ally to Bopara – until he lost his off-stump trying to attack Singh (three for 59) on the back foot, while Swann added a breezy 31.

Dhoni had earlier come to his team’s rescue for the second successive match with the bat, allowing Raina to play the role of chief aggressor.

India were never in the disarray they encountered on Friday, but nonetheless in need of revival when their captain and Raina joined forces.

The innings was curiously-paced, but once Raina and Dhoni got moving, England took plenty of punishment – not least Stuart Broad, who was unable to finish the final over after appearing to injure his right arm in delivery.

Openers Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel went from crawl to sprint in a stand of 65 in 14 overs, which ended when the former missed a swinging full toss to be lbw to Broad.

Patel then miscued an attempted pull to become Broad’s second victim in as many overs at the start of his spell.

Swann’s knack of instant wickets has deserted him of late, but returned two-fold in his first over to see off Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid.

Cook, who had once more won an apparently important toss, was criticised in England’s nervy victory two days ago for failing to stay on the attack when India hit trouble.

He again sat in rather than posting close catchers as Raina and Dhoni took time to establish themselves.

A slip might have caught Dhoni on six, off Steven Finn, and the India captain took advantage.

He and Raina protected remaining batting resources, a safety-first tactic which worked perfectly and meant they were well set to muscle 58 in the batting powerplay – including one over from James Anderson which went for 18 – and 109 in the last 10.

Raina might twice have been run out with direct hits, on 20 and 63, and Cook needed increasing amounts of time to set a field to contain India’s fifth-wicket pair.

Dhoni followed his partner past a 58-ball 50, leaving England with a taxing run chase which ultimately had no definite conclusion.

It meant a second successive series win for Cook since taking over as captain after England beat World Cup runners-up Sri Lanka earlier this summer.

“I’m delighted. We have played two very good sides this summer,” Cook said.

“To win the two series in fantastic. It is all about winning no matter how you get there.

“It’s also been impressive to see the strength of character to get over the line in these games.”

Bopara admitted the weather had complicated the chase, adding: “With rain about we didn’t know when to accelerate.

“You weren’t sure whether to take to ones and twos or take on the big shots.

“But I’m actually very happy. We got the tie which clinches the series.”

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was philosophical after his side were narrowly denied a first win over England on tour.

“I won’t really get down about it,” he said.

“That would have been our first win of the series. We have not really won anything.

“Things have not been on our side.

“It has been a tough series for us, nothing has gone our way but we take it with an open heart.

“We will certainly be giving it our best shot when it comes to the last game (in Cardiff).”