England knocked defending champions, India, out of the world cup with a 3-run victory at Lord’s. India won the toss and chose to field. England went in with Sidebottom in place of spinner, Adil Rashid. England lost Wright early. He was out for 1. Bopara and Pietersen steadied the innings with a 71-run stand for the second wicket. Pietersen was at his best, scoring 46 off 27 balls. 

It proved to be a match-winning innings. Ravindra Jadeja, playing his first match of the tournament, was introduced into the bowling. He took the wickets of the set batsmen, Bopara and Pietersen. Harbhajan too put brakes on the scoring, claiming 2 wickets. India did well to restrict the opposition to 153/7.

A target of 154 proved to be quite challenging for the Indian batting line-up. Sharma and Raina failed miserably as Sidebottom dismissed both of them. The team was reduced to 24/2. Dhoni surprised everyone by sending Jadeja ahead of in-form batsman Yuvraj. Jadeja struggled to get going. He laboured his way to 25 off 35 balls. Yuvraj coming in at No. 5, scored 2 sixes, before he was stumped by Foster off the bowling of Swann. Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan added 63 runs for the sixth wicket. India, requiring 19 runs off the last over, fell short by 3 runs. Sidebottom was the man of the match for his 2 wickets.
 

England – 153/7 (Pietersen 46, Bopara 37, Harbhajan 3/30)

India – 150/5 (Dhoni 30*, Pathan 33*, Sidebottom 2/31)

Result – England won by 3 runs

Man-of-the-match – Ryan Sidebottom

Venue – Lord’s, London (June 14, 2009)