Uzair Rizvi, BeyondHeadlines
Persistent rain at Chester-le-Street ruined the first ODI between England and India with the match being called-off when England was 27/2 while chasing a target of 274.
The umpires called-off the game when the heavens opened up again after England were set a revised target of 164 runs in 20 overs.
Earlier, India made a solid start after MS Dhoni lost the toss and were put into bat by England. Parthiv Patel and Rahane added 80 runs for the first wicket.
Rahane, who impressed in the T-20, scored fluently and proved his worth. He made 40 runs and entertained the crowd with his wrist playing while Patel on the other hand attacked the short stuff’s.
Dravid failed to trouble the scorers and got out in a controversial manner for 2 runs. He was adjudged caught-behind by the third umpire while the on-field umpire failed to spot the nick.
The hot spot could not detect an edge but the third umpire went with the sound technology.
England failed to build on double-breakthrough, as Kohli joined Parthiv in a 103-runs partnership that formed the backbone of the innings. Kohli then departed for 55.
Parthiv Patel kept scoring the runs but missed an opportunity score his maiden ODI ton when he edged a wide delivery allowing James Anderson to celebrate his 200th ODI wicket.
Lower down the order Raina (38) blasted a couple of sixes while Dhoni added (33) runs but English bowlers stemmed the flow of runs towards the end of innings.
Bresnan and Broad picked up two wickets each while Anderson, Dernbach and Samit Patel got wicket a-piece.
Chasing the target, England suffered early setbacks when Praveen Kumar removed both the openers Cook(4) and Kieswetter(6) making it an arduous task for the English batsmen who made 27/2 in 7.2 overs before rain chose to have the final say.
It was a spirited performance from India who are searching for their first win against England on this tour. But Rain-God had certain other plans.
India suffered two-injury setbacks when Sachin Tendulkar pulled out before the game due to injured toe and Rohit Sharma fractured his right index finger while facing his first delivery from Broad.
Injury crisis are haunting the hosts as they may lose these two batsmen from the rest of the tour. Though, there is no official word from the Indian dressing room.
Both sides now move to Southampton for the second ODI at the Rose Bowl on 6th September.
