On This Day: At 2011 World Cup, India vs England ends in a tie; here’s what went down – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

On 27 February 2011, the cricketing world witnessed an unprecedented event in the ICC World Cup Group B match between India and England. The entire M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru sat stunned as the high-stakes game ended in a tie. Both India and England fans, surely, remember the occasion when their team almost gained victory, but ultimately settled for a draw.

The match began with India batting first. Sachin Tendulkar once again lived up to his tag of the Master Blaster, slamming 120 off 115. With half-centuries from Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir, India continued to wreak havoc on the English side, despite losing wickets at regular intervals.

The team was dismissed for 338 on the final ball of the match. All-rounder Tim Bresnan picked a fifer for just 48 runs in his 10-over spell, including the crucial wickets of Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Yusuf Pathan.

England’s innings got off to a good start, with skipper Andrew Strauss leading the charge. The team lost Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott early on, but with Strauss at the helm, England was well on its way to victory. Before the start of the batting powerplay in the final 10 overs of the game, England were just two wickets down for 272.

The England captain scored a staggering 150 off just 145 balls, before being caught leg before wicket by Zaheer Khan. Strauss’s blitzkrieg of an innings included 18 boundaries and one six.

Khan then scalped the wickets of Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood, slowly turning the tide in India’s over. The game seemed poised to go either way in the death overs, with Indian bowlers making a comeback by scalping some big wickets.

With England at 289/6 in 45.2 overs, fans were tense about who would actually win the game. A few sixes from Swann brought England closer to victory.

Munaf Patel was chosen to bowl the final over. England needed just 14 runs to win the game. Swann and Ajmal Shahzad kept to singles and doubles before Shahzad hit a gigantic six on the third ball of the over.

The next balls brought two runs each, meaning England needed just two runs to achieve victory. Swann sent Patel’s delivery to straight mid-off but could only manage a single off the final ball.

With this, the incredible match ended in a tie. A total of 676 runs were scored in the game. Strauss’s majestic 158 saw him being awarded the Player of the Match.

India continued its World Cup campaign with victories against Netherlands, South Africa and Ireland.  The Men in Blue ultimately went on to lift the World Cup in 2011.

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