BANGALORE, Feb 27 (PTI): The group B World Cup clash between India and England ended in a tie after both the teams scored 338 runs at M Chinnaswamy stadium here today.
Chasing a stiff target of 338, England batsmen showed determination to overcome some lackluster Indian bowling to reach the total that India scored. Captain Andrew Strauss with his 158 was the man responsible for taking England to the total of 338.
Earlier, the 37-year-old Tendulkar (120) slammed his fifth World Cup century, the highest by any cricketer in the mega event, to provide the sparks in a scintillating Indian batting display at the jam-packed Chinnaswamy stadium.
Apart from Tendulkar�s 47th ODI century, Gautam Gambhir (51), Yuvraj Singh (58) and Virender Sehwag (35) were the other notable scorers as the Indians virtually tore the English batting attack to shreds to leave the visitors with a stiff asking rate of 6.78. It was India�s highest World Cup total against England.
Pacer Tim Bresnan was the pick of the England bowlers with 5/48 but none of the other bowlers could make much of an impression.
It was vintage stuff by Tendulkar as he unleashed 10 boundaries and five sixes in his 115-ball 120 to lay the platform for the Indian onslaught.
Tendulkar�s milestone moment came in the 35th over when he glanced Tin Bresnan to the boundary to record his fifth World Cup century, surpassing former India captain Sourav Ganguly, current Australia captain Ricky Ponting and his former teammate Mark Waugh who had four hundreds to their credit.
Electing to bat first, the Indian innings began on a tentative note but the runs started flowing once the batsmen came to terms with the pace and bounce of the Chinnaswamy track.
Opener Virender Sehwag had a reprieve in the very first ball of the innings as Graeme Swann dropped a difficult chance in the second slip off James Anderson.
The dashing opener tried to push Anderson�s outgoing delivery and got a thick edge but Swann could not latch on to the sharp chance.
Sehwag had two more close shaves in an eventful first over as he struggled to time the ball well. But he began to look a little more comfortable against paceman Ajmal Shahzad as he spanked him to the boundary in his first ball.
Sehwag attacked Anderson by smashing him to the point boundary while Tendulkar also tried to force the pace of scoring by going for his strokes.
Although the ball was not coming on to the bat quickly enough in the initial stages, Sehwag played with customary flourish and picked up Anderson for special treatment by clobbering him for 11 runs in one over.
But his belligerence was shortlived as he perished in the very next over with pacer Tim Bresnan accounting for his scalp in his very first over.
Bresnan provided some width and Sehwag tried to steer the ball through the vacant slips but only succeeded in edging the ball to wicket-keeper Matt Prior. His whirlwind knock of 35 came off 26 balls and contained six boundaries.
INDIA
V Sehwag c Prior b Bresnan 35
S Tendulkar c Yardy b Anderson 120
G Gambhir b Swann 51
Y Singh c Bell b Yardy 58
MS Dhoni c sub b Bresnan 31
Y Pathan c Swann b Bresnan 14
V Kohli b Bresnan 8
H Singh lbw b Bresnan 0
Z Khan run out 4
P Chawla run out 2
M Patel not out 0
Extras: (LB-3, WD-7, NB-5) 15
Total: (all out in 49.5 overs) 338
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-180, 3-236, 4-305, 5-305, 6-327, 7-327, 8-328, 9-338.
Bowling: J Anderson 9.5-0-91-1, A Shahzad 8-0-53-0-6, T Bresnan 10-1-48-5, G Swann 9-1-59-1, P Collingwood 3-0-20-0, M Yardy 10-0-64-1.
ENGLAND
Strauss lbw b Khan 158
Pietersen c & b Patel 31
Trott lbw b Chawla 16
Bell c Kohli b Khan 69
Collingwood b Khan 1
Prior c sub b Harbhajan Singh 4
Yardy c Sehwag b Patel 13
Bresnan b Chawla 14
Swann not out 15
Shahzad not out 6
Extras: (b 1, lb 7, w 3) 11
Total: (8 wickets; 50 overs) 338
Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-111, 3-281, 4-281, 5-285, 6-289, 7-307, 8-325.
Bowling: Zaheer 10-0-64-3, Munaf 10-0-70-2, Chawla 10-0-71-2, Harbhajan 10-0-58-1, Yuvraj 7-0-46-0, Yusuf 3-0-21-0.
