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India bowled 14 wides in a do-or-die match and then sent Ravindra Jadeja ahead of MS Dhoni which proved fatal as the defending champions crashed out of the tournament losing to England by 3 runs.

The bowlers conceded 14 wides to England to help them reach 153. Out of that, 10 were conceded during the death overs which proved vital in the end. Harbhajan Singh, though picked 3 wickets was the culprit. In comparison, England kept it tight during the last five overs, not conceding any extras to India which made it all the more difficult for MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan to increase the run rate.

Though 153 was well within reach, Ravindra Jadeja, elevated to number 4 ahead of Yuvraj Singh made a mess of the chase by scoring a less than run-a-ball 25 off 35 deliveries which made things difficult. Yuvraj Singh (17 runs off 9 balls), Dhoni (30 off 20 balls, Batting Momentum of 45) and Yusuf Pathan (33 off 17 balls, BM of 64) tried to force the pace during the death overs but it was too late a surge by then. English left arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom was judged ‘Man of the Match’ for picking 2 early wickets that allowed England to make inroads into superior batting order of India.

Earlier, RP Singh bowled well to pin down the English batsmen to finish at 13 runs off 3 overs before picking Luke Wright cheaply. Surprisingly he bowled one over short by skipper Dhoni as Ishant Sharma went for 36 runs in 4 overs and Yuvraj for 20 off 2 overs that they bowled. Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara steadied the innings for England to build a partnership of 71 runs in 61 balls. Pietersen (46 runs from 27 balls, a Batting Momentum or BM of 78) scored heavily off Yuvraj and was further assisted by India’s poor fielding. Jadeja stemmed the run flow for England by picking Pietersen and Bopara in quick succession. Harbhajan took 3 wickets for 30 runs (Bowling Efficiency or BE of 80).