5 Best India-England ODI Clashes Since 2000

Jan 9, 2019 at 4:10 PM

facebook iconlinkedin iconmail icontwitter iconWhatsApp iconTelegram icon
5 Best India-England ODI Clashes Since 2000

An India-England contest has always held a special space in our heart, coming second to an India-Pakistan contest. Why? Because we played our first Test match against England in 1932, during the time Britishers ruled us. It was against England only that India played its first ever ODI in 1974.

The clash between India and England has always between mouth watering. With the poms coming back to India to complete the remaining portion of the series, here we look at five of the best contests between the two teams: 

Champions Trophy final, 2013 – It’s probably the best game ever played between India and England, considering the modern-day era. There was a romance between the bat and the ball which the rain tried to disrupt but in the end, it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India that clinched the nail-bitter to win their second Champions Trophy title.

Rain shortened the game to 20-over a side and the Indian team was asked to bat first by the Englishmen. The visiting party did not have a great start as they lost the wicket of Rohit Sharma on a score of nine but Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli kept the team afloat by stretching the score past 50. Thanks to Jadeja’s bravura act of 33* in the later part of innings that India 129 in 20 overs.

The only thing that could have saved India was quick wickets blended with perfect line and length. Bowlers kicked off well taking four early wickets but Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan held fort and strengthened England’s position.

Both Morgan and Bopara were acting as a perfect epitome of a ghost, spoiling India’s dream of winning the Champions Trophy but then came a master stroke from Dhoni, who handed the ball to most experienced bowler Ishant Sharma.

Ishant started off with a dot ball followed by a six. Everything was going in England’s favour as two wides followed this six and the next one could have been wide as well but a slower one was good enough to get rid of Morgan. Bopara followed him next and India were right back in the game.

The match went down to the last over with England needing 15 runs to win their maiden Champions Trophy title. Ashwin bowled it as tight as he could and equation came down to six off the last ball. Broad needed to do a Miandad here which he could not as he swung the bat in the air horizontally but it missed the ball completely, handing Champions Trophy to India.

It was a peerless day in Indian cricket. There weren’t even considered favorites before the start of the tournament but the way Dhoni led his young troops, the unexpected had to happen. 

India vs England at Lord’s in 2011 – Indian team lost almost everything on their tour of England in 2011- number one spot in Test rankings, lost almost all matches and also the stature they earned post the World Cup 2011 win.

The Lord’s ODI was the only game where they sensed a win but rain ruined their chances of pulling off a thriller. Till the last moment, the game moved like a pendulum, sometimes in India’s favour and sometimes rolling towards England’s but a tie, in the end, was destined to be the case.

More than the result, it was one thing that amused the crowd at Lord’s as we saw a brilliant camaraderie between M.S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina, both of whom carried India from a score of 110/4 to 279/5. Dhoni scored 77 runs whereas Raina’s contribution was 83. The partnership between the two saved the Indian team from another failure and this was the only game and the only partnership that India could take back home. Not to forget the form of Rahul Dravid and his three back to back sixes off Samit Patel.

India vs England at Lord’s in 2004 – Having lost the first two of the three ODIs, the Sourav Ganguly-led Indian team was under immense pressure to circumvent a whitewash. The story was no different in the final ODI as Indian team was bundled out on a low total of 204, with ‘Dada’ Sourav Ganguly playing a brilliant innings of 90. The responsibility was on bowlers’ shoulders to now do something special.

Irfan Pathan, along with his new-ball partner Ashish Nehra, made most out of the swinging conditions at Lord’s as half of the England batting line-up was back to the pavilion with the team still to touch the 50-run mark.

Michael Vaughan tried hard to get his team out of trouble but he too got out courtesy a smart piece of stumping by debutant Dinesh Karthik. Soon after his dismissal, Indian team sealed an emphatic win over the hosts.

India vs England at Oval in 2007 – Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, the two names that come to our mind when we remember this game. It was the same game where Yuvraj was hit for five consecutive sixes in the last over of the first innings and Uthappa’s heroics that made it 3-3.

It was the penultimate game of the seven-match ODI series which the Indian team needed to win to keep their hopes alive. Batting first, England notched up a humongous total of 316, courtesy 30 runs in the last over hit by Dimitri Mascarenhas off Yuvraj Singh’s bowling.

The Indian team had an uphill task to chase such a huge total. Openers Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar started off well by sharing 150 runs for the first wicket but then came the moment when the Men in Blue started losing wickets but Dravid and Uthappa then shared 60 runs for the sixth wicket to revive India’s hopes.

It was the last over heroics from Uthappa that sealed the game for India as the visitors had a task to chase 10 off the last six balls. Uthappa ran two on the first ball but Zaheer Khan got run-out on the second.

Eight off four needed 49.3: Broad to Uthappa, and Uthappa just sends the delivery to fine leg to say hello to the boundary.

Need four of three, still anybody’s game

49.4: Board to Uthappa, Uthappa drives it towards mid-off and smacks eight runs off two balls in form of boundaries. India win.

India vs England Rajkot ODIs 2008 – It should be fair to say that Yuvraj Singh has had a good time whenever he has faced England.

One of the moments came in 2008 when he smacked England bowlers out of the playing area, firing 138 runs off just 78 balls including 16 fours and 6 sixes.

The Indian team, after being invited to bat, first made most out of the gaffe committed by England. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir churned out 127 runs for the first wicket. The second wicket partnership of Suresh Raina and Virender Sehwag was just 26 runs before Yuvraj Singh came to the strike and thronged bowlers, in a proper bang-bang mode.

He took his time to settle down, scoring boundaries time to time before going in aggressive mode to lead India to a strong total of 387 by the end of 50 overs.

India easily won the game as they bundled out England on a mere total of 229, starting the seven-match ODI series with a win. Dhoni’s side went on to win the series by a margin of 5-0, with last two games being canceled due to the terrorist attack in Mumbai.

Special Mention –

The T-shirt saga:

The Flintoff tease – It was a tense situation in Mumbai when the India team, which faltered in the later part of the innings, needed 11 runs off the last over of the game, with the six balls to be bowled by Andrew Flintoff.

The tall and strong bowler grabbed the honors, in the end, leading his team to a win but an overambitious celebration by removing his t-shirt, running around the park by swinging it in the air was something out of the box. The disparate style of celebration hurt Sourav Ganguly to a level that he left walked back towards the dressing room soon after.

Dadagiri at Lord’s – Five months later, India was up against England in the Natwest final. While chasing a massive 326, the Indian team made a good start but stumbled in the mid of the innings before the young duo of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif shared a 121-run stand for the sixth wicket, taking India closer to the title. A last over finish was written in the destiny but in favour of the Indian team.

The hard work done by the young pair paid off as the Indian team won the NatWest series final and then came the moment when Sourav Gangly gave it back to Andrew Flintoff.

He took off his t-shirt and waived it in the Lord’s balcony. This win was of utmost importance as Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif showed glimpses of being responsible and performing when it matters the most.

Related Article
IND vs ENG: Curators Make The Pitches, We Don’t Ask For Rank Turners – Rahul Dravid On Indian Pitches For Test Cricket
IND vs ENG: Curators Make The Pitches, We Don’t Ask For Rank Turners – Rahul Dravid On Indian Pitches For Test Cricket

Feb 6, 2024, 11:40 AM


England Are Playing Really Good Cricket: Rahul Dravid Blown Away By Bazball
England Are Playing Really Good Cricket: Rahul Dravid Blown Away By Bazball

Feb 6, 2024, 11:03 AM


IND vs ENG: It’s Been A Bit Of Challenge For Some Of Our Young Batsmen To Adapt – Rahul Dravid Opens Up On India’s Loss Against England
IND vs ENG: It’s Been A Bit Of Challenge For Some Of Our Young Batsmen To Adapt – Rahul Dravid Opens Up On India’s Loss Against England

Jan 29, 2024, 10:52 AM


IND vs ENG: Virat Kohli Is On The Cusp of Joining Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, And Sunil Gavaskar In The Elite List During The England Test Series
IND vs ENG: Virat Kohli Is On The Cusp of Joining Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, And Sunil Gavaskar In The Elite List During The England Test Series

Jan 22, 2024, 12:40 PM


Cheteshwar Pujara Joins Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid In Elite List
Cheteshwar Pujara Joins Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid In Elite List

Jan 22, 2024, 10:22 AM


Rishabh Pant And Ishan Kishan In Contention For ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Squad
Rishabh Pant And Ishan Kishan In Contention For ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Squad

Jan 21, 2024, 4:23 PM


Desktop Banner
Mobile Banner