Tough Luck India!

Scorecard | Action in Images | Match Report

Ravi Bopara prepares to sweep as MS Dhoni looks on.

Match Tied according to the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Fortune favours the brave they say. England clinched the One-day series with a little help from rain and Ravi Bopara, who contributed with 96 runs. You can say they got lucky with the weather at Chester-le-Street, won all-important tosses in favourable conditions at Southampton and Kennington Oval but today they fought hard.

After blanking India in the Test series, winning the one-off T20, England have now overwhelmed World Champions India in the 50-over format too. They deserved it. For India, well they did not deserve it.

Raina and Dhoni did put up a fight to take India to 280 but with the kind of bowling resources we have even 350 was not enough. Why do you have a kid who can bowl at 145 kmph warming the benches?

10:49 - It will be a TIE if play doesn't resume here.

10:46 pm - And they are off the field again. It's raining again for your information and England are on par with the D/L score - 270.

10:42 pm - Ravi Bopara, who's previous best score in 62 ODIs was 60, departs for 96 runs. Good catch by Jadeja in the deep off Munaf. The pacer accidentally ran Graeme Swann out the previous ball to bring India back in the scheme of things.

10:18 pm - And we are back again. England need 39 runs in 30 balls with 4 wickets in hand. Can India produce something here?

10:11 pm - Good news, the covers are coming off. Play should resume in 10 minutes. This is hilarity of rarest kind!

10:03 pm - Even the rain gods are not with India. It's raining heavily now. An over ago when the play was stopped England were two runs behind and then it stopped raining, players returned for an over and Munaf conceded 9 runs in that all-important over. England now are two runs ahead on the D/L. What can you say...

9:56 pm- It has stopped raining and players are back on the field. Drama!

9:55 pm - Allright then, rain stops play at Lord's. England are two behind on the D/L.

9:42 pm - Maybe I just jinxed him. Bresnan bowled RP Singh. Off stump went for a toss.

9:41 pm - If you have somebody like Tim Bresnan come at No.7 for you are just blessed. England now need 61 runs from 48 balls.

Ian Bell hits a ball from Praveen Kumar.

9:23 pm - Few dark clouds around. At this point, England are behind on the D/L.

9:19 pm - Ashwin gets his first wicket in the 9th over. After smashing a boundary the previous ball, Ben Stokes came down to the track but a change in length by the off-spinner took a leading edge straight back in his hands.

9:10 pm - Finally a wicket. It's that Jadeja guy - he tossed one up Bell came down the track and lofted it towards wide long off. Substitute fieldsman Manoj Tiwary covered some ground there to complete an amazing catch diving forward.

9:00 pm - Bell (19th) and Bopara (6th) have completed their half-centuries as well. England now needs 126 runs from 114 balls.

8:37 pm - Bell and Bopara have just added 50 runs for the fourth wicket. It's looking all too comfortable for them out there. There are gaps everywhere. After making early inroads, Indians are letting the pressure off...

RP Singh celebrates with Suresh Raina after claiming the wicket of Alastair Cook.

8:24 pm - India pacers have stuck to their plans very well today. Now spinners have to do something extra here to get rid of Ian Bell, who puts a high price on his wicket.

8:07 pm - Bowling powerplay is over and Ashwin is on. He is one bowler who can determine how this match ends.

7:59 pm - India gets another breakthrough here, this time it's Jonathan Trott. Praveen bangs in short and Trott, trying to pick the length, manages an inside edge and eventually the stumps. England have lost their third wicket.

7:27 pm - RP Singh is on viagra here, gets rid of Alastair Cook too. After two handsome strokes over extra cover, the England captain hit one straight to Kohli in the same region. Ian Bell joins Jonathan Trott in the middle.

7:21 pm - And just as the doctor ordered, India has struck early here. Kieswetter dances down the wicket trying to slap it over the cover region but the extra bounce from RP Singh, I repeat RP Singh did him in. Jadeja takes a simple catch running back from extra cover.

7:07 pm - Alastair Cook and Craig Kieswetter to open for England. Ashwin and Jadeja will be the key for India here.

6:35 pm - Suresh Raina (84) and unbeaten MS Dhoni (78) helped India set 281-run target for England at Lord's. The pair added 169 runs for the fifth wicket, highest against England, to ensure India reached a competitive total. Excellent work by India in the end but is it enough?

@LalitKModi: Finally a respectable score by india. We could finally see a win today. Fingers crossed. Bowlers need to do there job now.

@VaughanCricket: Great Batting from Dhoni and Raina.. India 280... sixes flying everywhere.. First win over England this tour on the cards????

@cricketwallah: Splendid partnership btwn Raina & Dhoni highlights India's penchant for ltd overs cricket.Bowlers must now take make batting recovery count

Graeme Swann celebrates after taking the wicket of Virat Kohli.

6:18 pm - Skipper MS Dhoni also brings up his half-century, 24th in ODIs. The batting powerplay has produced 58 runs for India.

6:03 pm - Suresh Raina brings up his 17th half-century with a massive hit over the mid-wicket. 18 runs from that Anderson's over which included two fours and a six.

5:54 pm - Finally they have taken the batting powerplay. This pair should ensure India over 235 considering the fact that the average first innings score in One-dayers at Lord's is 235.

5:41 pm - Its high time India take the batting powerplay.

Some comments coming in from Yahoo! readers -

Venu V: Watching the one-day match now...which seems to be boring than a test. Do we expect a team with one or two play good occasionally? Stop watching this... and the propaganda of making them the mega stars on the earth. So, we Indians should remember the fate of hockey struggling to get the world leaders after they won Olympics.

Harm-N: I guess Virat should b shown the door out of the Indian team! He's now much popular doin ad Films... so it's better for him to leave the team and do what he loves to do...

Riyaz Rider: If we improve our bowling and fielding .then no one able 2 restrict our victory. We have classy nd dangerous world class batsmen in ODI. Even old ruler Australian doesn't have batting line up like we have. Give more importance 2 fielding as well as bowling.

5:21 pm - Swann has put brakes on the scoring here. Raina and Dhoni are treading with utmost caution against consistent English attack here.

4:57 - What is really baffling here is that Indians saw off the initial seam overs with great patience and lost their two valuable batsmen against spin attack - in one over. Last 10 overs have produced 25 runs at the cost of Dravid and Kohli. Somebody needs to hang around here...

4:48 - Oh dear! Dravid gone too. Swann has just removed two set batsman in four deliveries to put India in all sorts of trouble. Swann tosses up; Rahul checks his shot and plays it straight back to the off-spinner. Big job ahead for Dhoni and Raina.

4:42 - Graeme Swann into the attack and strikes straightaway. Virat Kohli tried to help the second ball from Swann to third man, but got a faint edge to Kieswetter. He just likes bowling at Lord's.

They have won the Test series and are on a high right now. It means they are playing with much more energy, which is helping them. We are playing some good cricket as well and we should do well soon. It is just a matter of time, Ravichandran Ashwin said earlier.

That soon better be sooner rather than later...

4:27 - 100 up for India in 22 overs. Now that the openers have seen out the probing overs, Dravid and Kohli should stay there for a while.

4:15 - 20 overs gone, India 86/2.

Parthiv Patel pulls one to the boundary at Lord's.

4:01 - Broad strikes again. Parthiv Patel, who lived dangerously for his 27 runs, went for that pull shot once again only managing a top edge for an easy catch to Ravi Bopara. Both openers are back to the pavilion. Virat Kohli in the next batsman in.

3:50 - Breakthrough for England here. Stuart Broad striking once again in his first over. A low full toss and Rahane misses the flick completely which struck him just over the boot. However he has not left the field, he will be running for Patel. India have lost their first wicket after a solid start. Rahul Dravid is the next batsman in; he got a hundred here in the Test match. Can he do it again?

3:39 - Good over (12) for India this one. Rahane smashed a six followed by two fours. Steven Finn was frustrated and they did exchange some words after the over. Obviously he wasn't congratulating him.

In other news, Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin's son, Ayazuddin, has been hospitalized after suffering serious injuries in a motorcycle accident in Hyderabad today.

Aakash Chopra is his column for Yahoo! Cricket defends IPL saying not everything about anything can be absolutely and completely bad.

Rahane, Rohit are fine examples of embedding boundary fetching strokes in their repertoire without going too far away from the fundamentals.

3:25 - Patel pulls one firmly behind square and followed it up with a cheeky boundary over Kieswetter off Anderson. Rahane too gets couple of boundaries against Finn in the next over. They are slowly feeling at home here...

3:08 - Lord's is bathed in sunshine and Indian openers have got off to a watchful start here. Runs are not easy, five overs gone and still no boundary.

Some reactions from twitter.

@cricketaakash: A lot of juice in the surface at Lord's and hence the sideways movement. Will get better as d game progresses...hang in there, guys!

@cricketwallah: India make no changes reckon because there is still chance to draw series.Growing clamour for Aaron,but is this all knee-jerk?

@VaughanCricket: The mighty Finn plays for Dernbach... Eng win Toss and not surprisingly Bowl first...

Still looking for that win...

Toss: Alastair Cook won the toss again and invited India to bat first in the third One-dayer at Lord's. Steven Finn replaces Jade Dernbach in England's line-up on a green pitch. India are unchanged.

It's not like we didn't try. We have been out-played and haven't had the luck at times but the morale is quite good. It is important not to get depressed - MS Dhoni. I agree, they did put up some fight during the third ODI.

But they will have to do some more, especially in the bowling department, if they wish to register 'a' win at the Mecca of Cricket.

A battered and bruised India were defeated 0-4 in the Test series, lost the one-off Twenty20 and have been beaten in two of three 50-over matches, with the other rained off. Can they stop England from another humiliation or atleast win one match?

Teams:

India: Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh and Munaf Patel.

England: Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, Craig Kieswetter, Graeme Swann, Ian Bell, Steven Finn, James Anderson, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan.