India plunder 338 against hapless England

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BANGALORE: Indian batsmen ruthlessly punished England bowlers to amass 338 runs in 49.5 overs in their crucial Group B match of the ICC World Cup here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.

Winning the toss, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to bat first on an easy batting wicket.

Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar opened the innings in style and made 46 in 7.5 overs before Sehwag got out for 35 made off 26 balls.

Then, Tendulkar joined by Gautam Gambhir took the charge and thrashed England bowlers for a 134-run second wicket stand.

Gambhir was bowled by Graeme Swann for 51 but it was Tendulkar who showed great stroke-play.

The master-blaster, who had made 28 against Bangladesh in the opening match of the tournament, completed the much awaited hundred off 103 balls, hitting four towering sixes and seven marvelous boundaries.

This was his fifth hundred in the World Cup, a record, and second against England.

He along with Yuvraj Singh added another 56 runs before making an exit from the field, making 120 from 114 balls.

Later, Yuvraj and Dhoni blasted 69 runs in 46 balls and both were dismissed off two successive deliveries from Tim Bresnan. Yuvraj went for 58 (50 balls) and Ddhoni 31(25 balls).

However, India managed to set an difficult target of 339 runs for England and in this process lost three more wickets.

Bresnan was the most successful bowler for England taking five wickets for 48 runs.