5 Greatest ODI wins for Team India against England in England over the years

India’s tour of England is the most anticipated series after the Indian Premier League 2018. This would be team India’s first of many overseas assignments heading into the 50 over World Cup to be held in England in 2019.

The tour will start off from July 3rd with 3 T20I’s followed by 3 ODI’s and 5 test matches ending in mid-September. India had a great ODI series last time around (2014) winning the 5 match ODI series 3-1 with 1 game washed out.

Coming to Head to Head statistics, Out of the 96 games played between both the teams, India has an upper hand in winning 52 games to England’s 39. 2 Games ended up as a tie with 3 games as No result. Over the past couple of decades, both the teams have been part of some great encounters.

In this segment, we look at 5 memorable wins for Team India against England in England over the years.

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#5 Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh steer India to home at Lords – 2002 Natwest Series

This was India’s first game in the Natwest series 2002, which was played in England. England won the toss and elected to bat first on a flat surface at Lords. The decision to bat first proved correct as England notched up a solid total of 271/5 in their allocated 50 overs.

Marcus Trescothick was the top scorer for England with a swashbuckling 86 off 78 balls. Skipper Nasser Hussain chipped in with a commendable knock of 54 from 82 balls.

Yuvraj Singh was the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets, while Zaheer Khan and Sourav Ganguly shared 1 wicket apiece.

In reply, India got off to a rollicking start thanks to openers Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly, who scored at more than 6 runs per over. The pair added 109 runs for the 1st wicket before Ashley Giles triggered a mini-collapse. From 109-0, India slumped to 141-4 in 27.4 overs.

The onus was on Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh to steer the ship. Both the batsmen took time and then started to take the attack to the opposition. The pair put up 131 unbeaten runs stand for the 5th wicket to steer India to a memorable victory at Lords.

Rahul Dravid crafted his way to a breezy 73* of 86 balls with 7 hits to the fence, while Yuvraj Singh was the aggressor among the two with 64* of 65 balls with 7 boundaries.

Result: India won the game with 6 wickets and 7 balls to spare.

Yuvraj Singh was awarded the Man of the Match for his all-round performance with both bat and ball.

#4 Robin Uthappa’s heroics with the bat help India register a famous win at The Oval – 2007

This was the 6th match of the 7 match ODI series played in the year of 2007. India needed to win this game to stay alive in the series as they were trailing 2-3.

England won the toss and Skipper Paul Collingwood had no hesitation in batting first. England notched up a mammoth total of 316/6 in 50 overs, thanks to a brilliant 107* by Owais Shah in just 95 deliveries.

However, the highlight of the innings came from the last over as Dimitri Mascarenhas smashed the off-spinner Yuvraj Singh for 5 consecutive sixes to propel the score to 316/6 in the allocated 50 overs.

In reply, India got off to a wonderful start thanks to the legendary duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, as both the batsmen attacked the bowlers right from the word go. The pair scored at more than 7 runs per over and brought India right back into the game.

The pair added 150-0 runs for the 1st wicket before Sourav Ganguly was caught inside the infield for 53.The little master Sachin Tendulkar was cramped and he too departed very soon for 94 and India were 156-2 in 26 overs.

Gautam Gambhir held one end up but with the asking rate climbing high, India kept losing wickets at regular intervals.83 runs were required in 58 balls with MS Dhoni and Robin Uthappa at the crease.

Both the players kept rotating the strike and found the boundary at key intervals to keep up with the required run-rate. Dhoni was dismissed in the 48th over and the responsibility was on Robin Uthappa to take India home.

8 runs were required of 4 balls and Uthappa stroked two boundaries back to back to help India register a famous win at The Oval.

Result: India won the game with 2 wickets and 2 balls to spare

Robin Uthappa’s 47 of 44 was the decisive knock, however, the jury adjudged Sachin Tendulkar as the Man of the Match for his blistering 94 that set up the game for India.

#3 Bowlers help India clinch a famous win for India at Lords – 2004 Natwest Challenge

This was a 3 match ODI series, which was played right before the Champions Trophy 2004. India lost the first 2 games and were playing for pride. Electing to bat first on a slow surface, India could only manage 204/10 on the board.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly was the stand out player for India with a controlled knock of 90 in 119 deliveries. Rahul Dravid was the second highest scorer with 52 of 92 deliveries.

For England, Steve Harmison was the pick of the bowlers with 4-22, while Darren Gough and Alex Wharf picked up 2 wickets apiece.

In reply, England lost Marcus Trescothick in the very second over of the innings. Michael Vaughan held up one end, while Indian bowlers chipped in wickets from the other end. Left-arm seamers Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan ran through the England top order picking up 5 wickets among each other.

However, the most decisive moment of the match came from Dinesh Karthik who made an excellent stumping off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh to dismiss a well set Michael Vaughan for 74.

This was the turning point of the match and England were bundled out for 181 in the 49th over, falling short by 23 runs.

Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra picked up 3 wickets each, while Irfan Pathan picked up 2 wickets.

Result: India won the game by 23 runs and Sourav Ganguly was adjudged Man of the Match for his knock of 90.

#2 Champions Trophy Final – 2013

The venue for the final was Edgbaston and the match was reduced to 20 overs due to inclement weather conditions. England made the right choice of electing to field first as they chipped in with the wickets of in-form Rohit Sharma in the 4th over and Shikhar Dhawan in the 9th over for 31 to reduce India to 2-50 in 8.2 overs.

Virat Kohli chipped in with 43 of 34 balls and despite the collapse in the middle overs, India reached a competitive total of 129/7 in the 20 overs, thanks to some lusty hitting by Ravindra Jadeja (33*) in the end.

In reply, England lost Alistair Cook in the 2nd over. Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott struck few boundaries before being dismissed. India kept pegging away and England were all of a sudden struggling at 4-46 in 8.4 overs.

However, Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara had other ideas as both the batsmen started attacking the Indian bowlers and suddenly MS Dhoni was out of ideas. With 20 to win of 15 deliveries, Ishant Sharma removed both Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara of 2 successive deliveries to bring India right back into the game.

With 15 runs to win for England, the onus was on Ravichandran Ashwin to defend the runs. Despite conceding a boundary on the second ball, Ashwin managed to hold on to his nerve and India won the game by 5 runs.

With this win, Dhoni became the only captain to win a T20 World cup, 50 over World cup and the Champions Trophy.

Result: India won the game by 5 runs and win the Champions Trophy 2013.

Ravindra Jadeja was adjudged Man of the Match for his all-round performance with both bat and ball.

#1 Natwest Series Final – 2002

13th July 2002 is the most memorable date for Indian Cricket not only for the obvious reasons but it was the dawn of the new era in Indian Cricket. From being labelled as home bullies until then, India rubbed away that tag under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly with the win in the Natwest Trophy Final.

Electing to bat first, England put up a monumental score of 325/5 in the 50 overs. Marcus Trescothick’s 109 and Nasser Hussain’s 115 setup the total and the morale of the Indian team was low at the halfway mark.

However, an inspiring opening partnership brought hope of an Indian win. The pair of Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly threw caution to the wind and smashed the England bowlers to all corners in the power play. The pair added 106 runs for the 1st wicket before Skipper Sourav Ganguly was bowled off the bowling of Alex Tudor.

This started a mini-collapse as India slumped from 106-1 to 146-5, with the last hope in the form of Sachin Tendulkar being bowled off the bowling of Ashley Giles.

At 146-5, not many would have given a chance for Team India to win the game but for 2 youngsters who had other ideas. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif stitched together a partnership that would be remembered for ages.

Both the youngsters ran quick singles, struck the occasional boundary and raised hope of an improbable win. Yuvraj Singh and Md Kaif added 123 runs for the 6th wicket that brought India right back into the game.

Yuvraj Singh was dismissed for a brilliant 69 of 63 deliveries of the bowling of Paul Collingwood. However, Mohammad Kaif ensured that he was till the very end.

Kaif struck boundaries at will and despite losing wickets at the other end, he was determined to stay till the end.

With 2 runs to win off the last over, Zaheer Khan and Mohammad scampered for the second run of an overthrow to clinch a famous victory for Team India.

Sourav Ganguly waived the shirt in anger and Team India was jumping with joy in the Lord's balcony.

This was India’s first major overseas ODI series victory after a while and Mohammad Kaif was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant knock of 87 in 75 deliveries.

Result: India won the game by 2 wickets with 3 balls remaining.