India v England - Feb. 27: Today's Match Summary and Group 'B' Team Standings

 Bangalore – A nail biter ended in a draw. A see-saw game at last ended as a historical tie between India and England.

It was all going well more than England ever expected until Zaheer Khan picked up two set batsmen on the crease in 43^rd over. His first prey was Ian Bell who was brilliantly caught by Virat Kohli and then on the very next ball he picked up England skipper Andrew Strauss plum in front of Stumps. Andrew Strauss innings of 158 runs off 145 balls was the core of the England innings and superbly accompanied by Ian Bell who scored 69 off 71 balls. After 43^rd over by Zaheer Khan the remaining target became a mighty challenge for the rest of the batsmen.

Paul Collingwood (1) fell cheaply to Zaheer Khan’s next over while Matt Prior (4) caught by Suresh Raina trying to it the maximum on the bowling of Harbhajan Singh. Michael Yardy (13), Tim Bresnan (14) and Graeme Swann (15) played little cameo to vitalize the hope to win the thriller. In the last over 14 runs were required to win and Graeme Swann had to face Munaf Patel who scored 3 runs on first two balls and Ajmal Shahzad came to face his first ball with 11 runs in last four balls to win. Shahzad hit a brilliant six on the third ball of the over. Crowd stood still with this might shot. Target reduced to 5 runs on 3 balls. Next ball went to Dhoni but English couple ran for a single and survived Dhoni’s throw. Fourth ball of the over fetched double for Graeme Swann and then a single on the last ball. What a match!  

Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Indian batsmen completely dominated English bowlers led by little master Sachin Tendulkar who completed his 5^th century of the world cups in the process. Tendulkar got out after a brilliant 120 runs with a supportive innings from Gautam Gambhir (51)Yuvrag Singh (58).

A target of 339 was too big for England but they reacted strongly and managed to tie the match. It was a fourth tie in the world cup history. Andrew Strauss named man of the match for his outstanding innings of 158 runs.