India lift Champions Trophy

Beat hosts England by 5 runs in the rain-curtailed match

India held their nerves and emerged victorious in a closely fought final at Edgbaston to lift Champions Trophy by defeating England by five runs here on Sunday. Asked to bat by England, India put on 129 runs on the board in a rain-truncated match that reduced to 20 overs a side. Chasing a modest total, England fell five runs short of the target, scoring 125 for the loss of eight wickets. Fortunes swun from one side to another throughout the match, until Ravichandran Ashwin tunred it in India's favour strucking vital blow by removing Jonathan Trot.

And later, Ishant dismissed Bopara and Morgan in two balls to bring India back into the game. Requiring 15 runs in the last over, England managed just nine runs to send the stadium, filled with Indian fans, into delirium. Earlier, Indian batting failed to deliver when it mattered the most as they were restricted to a modest 129 for seven by a disciplined England attack. Couple of stoppages after the match finally started also didn't help India's cause.

Barring in-form Shikhar Dhawan (31) and Virat Kohli (43, 34 balls, 4x4, 1x6), none of the other top-order batsmen made significant contribution after India were put into bat. Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja (33 no)added 47 runs for the sixth wicket after India were reduced to 66 for five. Ravi Bopara's (3/20 in 4 overs) brilliant incisive spell in the middle overs proved to be invaluable for England's cause as the largely untested Indian middle-order couldn't stand up and be counted on the D-Day. Rohit Sharma (9) yet again baffled one and all as he played an irresponsible shot off a Broad delivery which came in after pitching. Rohit didn't have any footwork as he played across the line to get castled.

In-form Dhawan had no such worries as he started from where he had left against Sri Lanka in the semifinal.The first significant shot was a slash over backward point off Broad for a six. The start-stop affair did hamper the proceedings and Dhawan hit a slog sweep off James Tredwell after the second rain interruption and followed with another deft reverse sweep to enter the 30's. However it was Bopara's gentle seam-up stuff that brought about an end to Dhawan's innings.

The ball stopped on the left-hander who tried to make room to hoick it over cover but only managed to find Tredwell. Dhoni's decision to send Dinesh Karthik (6, 11 balls) above himself and Suresh Raina was surprising considering the match was curtailed to 20 overs. Karthik struggled to get going during his brief stay as he was holed out trying a wild sweep shot as Eoin Morgan took a simple skier. The watershed moment of the match came when Bopara struck twin blows dismissing both Raina and Dhoni in the 13th over of the innings.