England are one win away from the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 after a three-run win over India on Sunday.
Despite losing the toss, Paul Collingwood’s side posted a very defendable 153-7 and subsequently restricted the opposition to 150-5.
The result means World Champions India head home while England know that victory over West Indies on Monday will see them progress from the Super Eights and into the last four.
England’s hopes of posting big at Lord’s were always likely to rest on the shoulders of two men – Ravi Bopara and Kevin Pietersen – and when Luke Wright spooned one to leg slip for just one, the deadly duo were brought together.
Both players were predictably prolific on the leg side but, just as they threatened to take off, both fell to Ravindra Jadeja in the space of three overs.
Pietersen looked bemused to be given lbw the ball after a hefty six that took his score to 46 from just 27 balls and England struggled to push on from his departure.
Owais Shah and Dimitri Mascarenhas scratched around to add 30 in five overs but Shah’s lazy swat saw him off in the 18th over.
Collingwood was next to fall before Harbhajan Singh (3-30) bowled consummately at the death to dismiss both James Foster (6) and Graeme Swann (0) in the final over to deny England the final push they so craved.
England’s inbetween score left India in a quandary – to stick or to twist? The dismissal of first Rohit Sharma (9) and then Suresh Raina (2) inside four overs left them in even more of a predicament.
Collingwood was imaginative in his captaincy, bringing Pietersen into his bowling attack even before Swann to successfully frustrate the Indians and quieten a previously raucous crowd.
Gautam Gambhir was next to be sent back to the pavilion off Mascarenhas’ bowling. Cue Yuvraj Singh. A six off his first ball looked to have set the tone for India to turn the game on its head but quick thinking from Foster saw India’s talismanic batsman stumped for 17.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30) and Irfan Pathan (33) put on a solid partnership of 63 but were unable to perform the heroics to prevent the hosts from triumphing.
In the day's earlier game, Sri Lanka knocked Ireland out of the tournament following a nine-run win in the Super Eights.
The Irish restricted Sri Lanka to 144-9 with Alex Cusack bagging a four-wicket haul and, after a bright start, Ireland were eventually pegged back to 135-7 from their 20 overs.
Boyd Rankin made a superb start with the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan caught off a top-edge in the first over without troubling the scorers, and another smart catch by wicket-keeper Niall O’Brien accounted for Kumar Sangakkara (3) to reduce the Sri Lankans to 14-2.
This wonder start was briefly arrested by a third-wicket stand of 67 shared between Sanath Jayasuriya (27) and Mahela Jayawardene who plundered 78 runs from 53 deliveries.
When Jayasuriya was adjudged leg before wicket to Kyle McCallan, Sri Lanka resumed their struggle with only Jayawardene carrying a threat before his demise in the 17th over.
Cusack accounted for Jayawardene as the medium-pacer finished with figures of 4-18 and only missed out on a five-wicket haul due to a dropped catch in the deep.
The Ireland openers took advantage of the opening power play to register 37 runs with Niall O’Brien’s lengthy treatment, after falling awkwardly to aggravate an existing ankle injury, the only real scare.
The introduction of Muttiah Muralitharan finally made the breakthrough with William Porterfield (31) caught behind to end a partnership of 59.
Andrew White (22) gave Ireland’s innings some much-needed impetus after some tight bowling only to then sky a shot into the gloves of the Sri Lanka wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara. Kevin O’Brien followed suit with another slog to perish in the 15th over for a duck as the game slipped away from the Irish.
When Niall O’Brien was stumped for 31 also off the bowling of Ajantha Mendis in the same over, it looked like Ireland’s last realistic chance of winning this contest had gone.
Ireland gave themselves an outside chance of claiming a shock win after plundering 18 runs from the penultimate over to leave a victory target of 18 from the last.
But this hope disappeared with Cusack (2) run out by Sangakkara as John Mooney finished undefeated on 31.