BRISBANE, Jan 20 (PTI): A spineless India suffered their second consecutive defeat as England crushed them by nine wickets with a bonus point, throwing their cricket tri-series campaign in jeopardy here today.
Electing to bat, India were bundled out for 153 in 39.3 overs with the top-five batsmen returning to the dressing room with just 67 runs on board by the 19th over on a lively Gabba track.
Steven Finn (5/33) and his pace colleague James Anderson (4/18) exploited the pacer-friendly deck to the hilt by extracting extra bounce as the Indians, barring Stuart Binny (44), struggled to come to terms.
Binny was the lone Indian batsman to show some resilience on a day when the others got out due to poor shot selection.
Opener Ajinkya Rahane (33), Virat Kohli (4), Ambati Rayudu (23) and Suresh Raina (1) were out playing poor shots, while Shikhar Dhawan (1) fell to a beauty from Anderson in the third over of the India innings.
England chased down the easy target with more than 22 overs to spare to collect five points, including a bonus point, from the comprehensive win.
Opener Ian Bell led the England run chase with a 91-ball unbeaten 88 while James Taylor also scored an unbeaten half century (56 not out from 63 balls) to take their side home.
The duo stitched 131 runs for the unconquered second wicket stand as they negotiated the Indian bowlers without much difficulty on a pitch that seemed to have demons while the Indians were batting. Taylor hit the winning runs, a four, as England reached 156 for one in 27.3 overs to wrap up the match.
The other English opener, Moeen Ali (8), was dismissed cheaply off the bowling of Binny, who opened the Indian bowling during the first session as England batted before the break after India folded early.
Australia are now on top of table with nine points from two matches while England have five points from two games.
India will now have to win both their remaining matches if they are to qualify for the final.
England started their chase before the schedule innings� break and were placed at 41/1 from six overs with Bell and Taylor batting on 28 and three respectively.
After the resumption of play, India did not show any urgency or energy in the field as Bell and Taylor went about accumulating runs without any worries. They brought up the 50-mark in the eighth over as runs flowed easily enough with the Indian bowlers not making an impression after a listless batting performance.
Thereafter, Bell brought up his 32nd ODI fifty off 50 balls as the 100-mark came up in the 19th over. The duo also celebrated their 100-run partnership for the second wicket, off just 111 balls, in the 22nd over. Shortly after, Taylor too celebrated his third ODI half-century off 58 balls as they completed India�s ruinous day. Bell finished at 88 not out (91 balls, 8 fours) and Taylor was unbeaten on 56 (63 balls, 4 fours) as England won in a canter.
The only bright spark for India was Binny�s all-round performance. He scored 44 runs (55 balls, 3x4, 2x6) earlier and was the only Indian batsman to show some resilience amid some poor shot selection by the rest of the line-up.
SCORECARD
India: Ajinkya Rahane c Taylor b Finn 33, Shikhar Dhawan c Buttler b Anderson 1, Ambati Rayudu c Buttler b Finn 23, Virat Kohli c Buttler b Finn 4, Suresh Raina st Buttler b Ali 1, M S Dhoni c Buttler b Finn 34, Stuart Binny c Morgan b Anderson 44, Akshar Patel b Finn 0, Bhuvneshwar Kumar b Anderson 5, Mohammed Shami c Ali b Anderson 1, Umesh Yadav not out 0. Extras: (LB-3 W-3 NB-1) 7. Total: (All out in 39.3 overs) 153. Fall of wickets: 1/1 2/57 3/64 4/65 5/67 6/137 7/137 8/143 9/153. Bowling: James Anderson 8.3-2-18-4, Chris Woakes 7-0-35-0, Stuart Broad 7-0-33-0, Steven Finn 8-0-33-5, Moeen Ali 9-0-31-1.
New Zealand: M Guptill c Sangakkara b Mathews 20, B McCullum c Perera b Kulasekara 11, K Williamson b Perera 103, R Taylor c Sangakkara b Herath 8, G Elliott c Thirimanne b Mendis 44, G Anderson run out (Dilshan) 47, L Ronchi not out 32, D Vettori not out 7. Extras: (lb 1, wd 7) 8. Total: (for 6 wickets, 48.1 overs) 280. Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-41, 3-63, 4-151, 5-230, 6-245. Bowling: Kulasekara 9-0-51-1, Mathews 4-1-16-1, Herath 9-1-39-1, Perera 8-0-58-1, Senanayake 9.1-0-57-0, Mendis 7-0-40-1, Dilshan 2-0-18-0.
