CWC History: Four matches that resulted in a tie

#4 India vs England (Group Stage, 2011)

India vs England was a high scoring thriller

The tied game between India vs England at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was a high scoring thriller contest, unlike the previous three tied games which were a low-scoring affair.

Playing at Bengaluru, which has always produced high scoring matches, the Indian team opted to bat first. India got off to a good start as the master Sachin Tendulkar looked in ominous touch. He scored another brilliant hundred to his name and was equally well supported by both Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh who scored their individual fifties.

In the end, the Indian team managed to put up a mammoth target of 338 for the English side to chase.

The England team got off to a good start with an opening partnership of 68 runs. After the fall of two quick wickets, Ian Bell joined skipper Andrew Strauss and together they put up a partnership of 170 runs for the third wicket. Bell scored a half-century, whereas Strauss scored a magical 158 runs off 145 balls. Together they threatened to take the game away from the home side.

MS Dhoni brought back his strike bowler Zaheer Khan into the attack and soon got rid of both Bell and Strauss on two consecutive deliveries. Soon, the English team started losing wickets and the game went in the final over with 14 runs required off the last 6 deliveries.

Munaf Patel was at the helm of bowling the penultimate over. With tailenders like Graeme Swann and Ajmal Shahzad at the crease, India were the favourites to win the match. However, Shahzad had some different ideas as he launched the third ball of the over for a six. Both the batsmen sneaked in a few runs and it came to the final ball with 2 runs to win.

Swann played the last ball of the over to Yusuf Pathan at extra cover and managed to sneak in just one run. This led to the match being tied and it was only the fourth instance that a match ended in a tie at the World Cup.