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-dayer to make captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first match in his home town a memorable one in their third one-dayer in Ranchi 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 in what turned out to be a rather lop-sided contest.
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 (39) could hang around for long while opener Ian Bell (25) and Tim Bresnan (25) were the other contributors as England lost wickets at regular intervals.
Apart from Jadeja, who again excelled with his left-arm spin, R Ashwin and Ishant Sharma chipped in with two wickets apiece to maintain the pressure on the hapless Englishmen who never recovered from the early jolts.
India also lost opener Ajinkya Rahane (0) early but Gautam Gambhir (33) and Kohli steadied the innings to some extent by putting on 67 runs for the second wicket.
After Gambhir's dismissal, Kohli and Yuvraj Singh (30) accelerated the pace of scoring with a flurry of explosive shots much to the delight of the home crowd. Yuvraj was, however, out with 12 runs left.
Kohli blasted as many as two sixes and nine fours during his knock which formed the cornerstone of the Indian response.
Dhoni hit the winning runs by pulling Steven Finn to the square-leg boundary to trigger off scenes of celebration in the galleries and the Indian dressing room.
The two teams will now travel to Mohali for the fourth match to be held on January 23.
Earlier, ngland once again fell flat against slow bowlers as a disciplined Indian bowling attack skittled them out for a paltry 155.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja once again produced a magical spell taking 3-19, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pacer Ishant Sharma took two wickets each.
Quelling the element of doubts about his availability after he was hit on right thumb at yesterday's practice, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had everything right from the toss in the first match at his home venue.
First, he called it right at the toss, put England to bat and reduced them to 98 for six from 68 for no loss at one stage.
Even there was a bit of luck going in the skipper's favour as a poor umpiring decision by Indian official S Ravi gave the home side the prized scalp of Kevin Pietersen.
After the fall of Pietersen, English batsmen showed little appetite to stay at the crease as the Indian slow bowlers made their presence felt in front of a capacity crowd of 39,000 at the JSCA Stadium which is hosting its first international match.
Joe Root was the England top-scorer with 39 as the visiting top-order failed miserably.
After being reduced to 98 for six, Root and Tim Bresnan stitched 47 runs for the seventh wicket but after the fall of the former, it was all over for England.
Ian Bell was super slow to start with as he took 11 balls to get off the mark, putting pressure on skipper Alastair Cook.
Indian new ball bowlers of Bhvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed got some movement and pace off the pitch hosting its first international match, as the English openers had that element of doubt to play their shots.
Photo: Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja starred for India during the third ODI at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi (BCCI Images)
