RANCHI: Indian bowlers put in an inspired show before Virat Kohli returned to form with a rollicking unbeaten 77 as the hosts spanked England by seven wickets in the third One-day International to make captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s first match in his home town a memorable one on Saturday.

India first bundled out the visitors for a paltry 155 in 42.2 overs riding on Ravindra Jadeja’s 3-19 and then chased down the target with 21.5 overs to spare to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match match series.

Nearly 40,000 vociferous spectators at the newly built JSCA Stadium cheered Kohli, who rediscovered his form, and other Indian batsmen as they went about the run chase without much fuss.

The script unfolded like a dream for home boy Dhoni as he won the toss and his bowlers responded magnificently by skittling out the visitors for a meagre total though it was not a difficult wicket to bat on. Only Joe Roots with 39 could hang around for long, while opener Ian Bell (25) and Tim Bresnan (25) were the other contributors.

Apart from Jadeja, who again excelled with his left-arm spin, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and paceman Ishant Sharma, chipped in with two wickets apiece .

India in their reply lost opener Ajinkya Rahane for a duck but Gautam Gambhir (33) and Kohli steadied the innings to some extent by putting on 67 for the second wicket. After Gambhir’s dismissal, Kohli and Yuvraj Singh (30) accelerated the pace of scoring.

Yuvraj was, however, out with 12 runs left of the target. Kohli, the Man-of-the-Match, blasted two sixes and nine fours during his knock which formed the cornerstone of the Indian response. Dhoni, appropriately enough, hit the winning runs by pulling Steven Finn to the square-leg boundary.

Kohli, meanwhile, completed his 22nd half-century in 58 balls, and when on 49, he got past his 4,000 ODI runs in second quickest time in history. Kohli reached the mark in his 93rd innings, behind Sir Viv Richards’ record of 88 innings.

Earlier, England once again fell flat against slow bowlers as a disciplined Indian bowling attack. After Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first, England were reduced them to 98-6 from 68-3 at one stage.—Agencies