Read the article of India vs England 4th ODI 1985 - England tour of India 5-match one-day international series of the 4th ODI match played between England and India at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur in 23rd January 1985.
Ravi Shastri's career-best four-wickets before Mohammad Azharuddin's brilliant 47, Captan Sunil Gavaskar's well-paced fifty and Kapil Dev's quick-fire half-century sets up to India consolation three-wicket victory over England, despite a Martyn Moxon - Chris Cowdrey's fine debut and India avoid the series whitewash in the fourth ODI.
England scored 240-7 in 50 overs with top scorer by Debutant Martyn Moxon - who hit 70 off 124-balls on his debut ODI match - including 7-fours.
Debutant Chris Cowdrey - who cracked a unbeaten 46 off 42-balls on his debut ODI match - including 4-fours & six, Graeme Fowler scored 37 off 59-balls included 3-fours and Allan Lamb hit 30 off 29-balls with 2-fours & a six.
India best bowler by Ravi Shastri claimed a career-best 4-wickets for 40-runs in 10-overs including a maiden, Thirumalai Sekhar took 2-wickets and one for Kapil Dev.
India chased 241-7 in 47.4 overs with top scorer by Kapil Dev hammered a 54 off 41-balls including 4-sixes & 3-fours with strike rate of 131.70.
Sunil Gavaskar cracked a 52 off 82-balls including 4-fours, Mohammad Azharuddin hit 47 off 55-balls included 2-sixes & 2-fours.
Ravi Shastri scored a unbeaten 24 off 45-balls without a boundary, Sadanand Viswanath hit a unbeaten 23 off 25-balls including 3-fours.
England best bowler by Debutant Jonathan Agnew - who took 3-wickets for 38-runs on his debut ODI match.
Norman Cowans picked up 3-wickets for 44-runs in 10-overs and Debutant Chris Cowdrey - who took one-wicket on his debut ODI match.
This match reported by Michael Carey (Third Party Reference from The Daily Telegraph)
INDIA, already three down in the series, defeated England by three wickets in their one-day international in Nagpur today their first success in 12 one-day affairs since winning the World Cup in 1983.
Their stuttering performance in eventually getting home with 14 balls to spare was a reminder of the importance of the winning habit to any team, because India had much more in hand earlier after an important toss had enabled them to restrict England to 240 for seven from 50 overs.
Contrasting half-centuries by Kapil Dev and Gavaskar, the one violent the other carefully paced, then took India to a point where, with only 75 required from 20 overs and six wickets in hand, no more extravagance was needed.
Both got themselves out however, and though England's hopes were still slender, if Viswanath had been caught with 30 still required, eight wickets would have been down and there were signs that India's nerves would not have survived the remaining nine overs.
In the end, England squeezed them tighter than they could have dared hope, especially when their bowlers were operating in a temperature of around 95 degrees and on a pitch which lent itself to stroke play more than it had earlier.
Vigorous Cowdrey
At that stage England not only had to work much harder for their runs but overcome the cheap loss of Gatting and Gower and their total owed much to Cowdrey's vigorous 46 from 42 balls which enabled them to make 75 priceless runs from their last 10 overs.
The ground was under water 48 hours earlier, so it was no surprise that Gavaskar, after his first success with the coin in the series, preferred to let England try their luck on a pitch where the ball did not come on to the bat initially, while the outfield was inevitably slow, until the burning sun had its effect on both.
So avoiding the loss of early wickets through attempting too much too soon was all-important and Fowler and Moxon did well to make 70 together in 21 overs, aided by the left-hander's eventual willingness to give an uncomplicated thump over the top to anything over-pitched.
He was bowled driving inside a ball from Shastri, but Moxon, looking composed and correct on his first appearance at this level, could scarcely have done more, first, finding that the well-timed stroke at length would reach the boundary and later finding scope to hit the spinners over the top.
Before this was required, he had seen Gatting pay the price of over-ambition and Gower caught and bowled, though Lamb once drove Patel out of the ground before, incommoded by à knee injury that required the services of a runner, he ventured down the pitch to attack Shastri and missed.
By then Moxon had been dropped in the deep at 45 and 59. But that's life or lives) in one-day cricket and he looked very much at home home before hooking Kapil into deep square leg's hands after facing 131 balls and hitting seven fours.
Cowdrey then improvised with much brilliance and no little power, not least in making room to hit Kapil for six over cover with a memorable flat-batted stroke which, coupled with some scorching cuts, ensured England would have something to bowl at.
Their start was deceptively encouraging, with India reducing themselves to 51 for three and, in quick succession, Rajput (to his first ball), Srikkanth and Vengsarkar all failed to appreciate that unseemly haste was not necessary.
Azharuddin and Gavaskar restored India's fortunes, not least by their appreciation of the need for the ones and twos, and Azharuddin, with more than 500 runs off the England attack already on this tour, was opening up menacingly with two sixes off Marks when Cowdrey brought one back to bowl him.
This brought together Kapil and Gavaskar, the central figures in India's recent chequered history, and a partnership of 76 in 11 overs followed, though not before Kapil had typically made an iffish start which must have given his captain apoplexy.
Early on, he just cleared cover off Edmonds, almost played on to Cowdrey and had made only 16 when he drove Edmonds high to the long-off boundary where Cowans, running round, got his hands to but could not hold a catch that was by no means impossible by, his standards.
Leg before survived Encouraged by that, Kapil, the man of the match, struck Cowdrey for two legside sixes in one over and when Cowans returned, lifted his first ball for a third which, coupled with other crisp strokes, took him to 54 from only 40 balls.
His captain then had a word with him, perhaps suggesting that quiet accumulation was all that was, required, but Kapil still drilled the next ball into mid-on's hands and Gavaskar, at 34, survived a close lbw against Cowans before plaving across a full length delivery from Agnew, to his undisguised annovance.
India then needed 44 from 13 overs. Even Minor Counties (North) would not have jibbed at that, but Shastri's normal calm deserted him and if he had not escaped a steepling top edge off Agnew at nine, England might have made it improbably 4-0.
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