BRISBANE : A spineless India suffered their second consecutive defeat as England crushed them by nine wickets with a bonus point, throwing their cricket tri-series campaign in jeopardy here today.
Electing to bat, India were bundled out for 153 in 39.3 overs with the top-five batsmen returning to the dressing room with just 67 runs on board by the 19th over on a lively Gabba track.
Steven Finn (5/33) and his pace colleague James Anderson (4/18) exploited the pacer-friendly deck to the hilt by extracting extra bounce as the Indians, barring Stuart Binny (44), struggled to come to terms.
Binny was the lone Indian batsman to show some resilience on a day when the others got out due to poor shot selection.
Opener Ajinkya Rahane (33), Virat Kohli (4), Ambati Rayudu (23) and Suresh Raina (1) were out playing poor shots, while Shikhar Dhawan (1) fell to a beauty from Anderson in the third over of the India innings.
England chased down the easy target with more than 22 overs to spare to collect five points, including a bonus point, from the comprehensive win.
Opener Ian Bell led the England run chase with a 91-ball unbeaten 88 while James Taylor also scored an unbeaten half century (56 not out from 63 balls) to take their side home.
The duo stitched 131 runs for the unconquered second wicket stand as they negotiated the Indian bowlers without much difficulty on a pitch that seemed to have demons while the Indians were batting.
Taylor hit the winning runs, a four, as England reached 156 for one in 27.3 overs to wrap up the match.
The other English opener, Moeen Ali (8), was dismissed cheaply off the bowling of Binny, who opened the Indian bowling during the first session as England batted before the break after India folded early.
Australia are now on top of table with nine points from two matches while England have five points from two games.
India will now have to win both their remaining matches if they are to qualify for the final. (AGENCIES)
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