Carlton Tri-series: England edge past India to enter the final

Perth India were on Friday knocked out of thetriseries cricket tournament after yet another spinelessdisplay as England recovered from a toporder collapse torecord a threewicket victory and secure a place in the finalhereIn a doordie game Indias batsmen let the team downbadly as they frittered away a good start to be bundled outfor 200 in 481 overs losing as many as nine wickets for 97runs from a relatively comfortable 103 for oneEngland were tottering at 66 for five at one stage butstaged a gritty fightback through James Taylor 82 and JosButtler 67 as their stand steered the team home with 19balls to spare at the WACA ground England will now take onAustralia in the final on SundayAjinkya Rahanes L wicket celebrated by Steven Finn Pic AFPIt was yet another disappointing show by the Indians whohave now failed to win a single international match duringtheir ongoing tour of AustraliaThe tournament which served as a dress rehearsal for theupcoming ICC Cricket World Cup has shown that there are lotof chinks in defending champions armoury as they lost threeout of the four matches while one was abandonedWhile it a mixture of variable bounce and poorapplication which resulted in Indias batting downfall it wasAjinkya Rahane who some what proved to be a saving grace witha patient knock of 73 as his teammates did not show thestomach for a fightOn the otherhand it was diminutive Taylor alongwith theflashy wicketkeeper batsman Buttler who showed a lot ofresolve despite losing the top five as their 125runpartnership guided Eoin Morgans team homeTaylor hit only four boundaries in his 122 ball inningsbut played the role of a sheet anchor to perfection Buttlerhad seven fours in 77 balls to his creditWhile Stuart Binny 333 is slowly making a case forhimself in the starting XI with three toporder wicketsIndias bowling lineup is yet to bear a settled look andinspire confidence as they are set to begin the Cup defence inhardly two weeks timeEarlier another dismal batting performance by India saw them being bowled out for 200 in 481 overs by England in a deciding clash of the ODI triseries at the WACA here FridayOpener Ajinkya Rahane was the standout performer scoring 73 off 101 balls His and Shikhar Dhawans opening wicket partnership of 83 runs was the only bright spot in an otherwise dreadful performancePacer Mohammed Shami 25 played a vital cameo in the end adding 35 runs for the final wicket with Mohit Sharma 7 not out to provide some respectability to Indias totalFollowing the dismissal of Dhawan in the 21st over India lost eight wickets for just 62 runsAll the English bowlers were amongst the wickets with Steven Finn taking three wickets while Stuart Broad Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali chipping in with two eachEngland had bowled out India for 153 in their previous and went on to win by nine wicketsEarlier England captain Eoin Morgan put India into toss after winning the toss and India looked shaky from the outsetRahane and Dhawan were slow off the blocks playing with the lot of caution They gained confidence after negotiating the initial oversRahane was the more aggressive of the two and lived a charmed life with most of his lofted shots in the begginning landing in nomans landVirat Kohlis 8 wicket in the 28th over opened the floodgates for England Suresh Raina 1 perished just two overs later as India were reduced to 107 for threeAmbati Rayudu 12 looked good briefly but failed to capitalise on his start Rahanes wicket soon after put tremendous pressure on the shoulders of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni 17 who failed to cope with it and was dismissed with the score on 164Dhoni Ravindra Jadeja 5 and Axar Patel 1 fell in the space of a run as India was reduced to 165 for nineA few edges and some lusty blows from the bat of Shami helped India reach the 200markThe winner of the match will go on to face hosts Australia in the final