MoM Yuvraj Singh gets a dousing with cold water during the presentation ceremony in Kochi on Thursday. (AFP)

Kochi: India maintained their exhilarating run of one-day conquests by taking an invincible 4-0 lead in the seven-match series against England with a comfortable four-wicket victory in the fourth game here Thursday.

After relying on their slow bowlers to bundle out the visitors for a modest 237 in 48.4 overs, the home team romped home with 16 balls to spare to record their third series win since October.

It was a clinical display by the hosts who bowled well on a good batting track before captain Rahul Dravid (65), the in-form Yuvraj Singh (48) and Irfan Pathan (46) played useful knocks to steer the team to victory in the TVS Cup.

India created a new world record by registering their 15th win on the trot while chasing. They surpassed West Indies’ 21-year-old record of 14 consecutive victories.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit the winning shot by taking a single off Gareth Batty to trigger off wild celebrations in the packed galleries at the Nehru Stadium as well as in the Indian dressing room.

The two teams will now travel to Guwahati for the next match on Sunday.

India started their chase on a confident note with Virender Sehwag and Dravid negotiating the new ball bowlers with ease to put on 54 runs for the opening wicket in 11 overs.

Under fire for his prolonged form slump, Sehwag tried to break the mental shackles with a couple of fluent strokes, but once again failed to build on his start, holing out in the deep off Ian Blackwell for 26 which came off 33 balls.

Pathan, coming in to bat at No. 3 as he did in the previous tie in Goa, once again justified the faith of the team management in his batting abilities by stitching together a 76-run partnership with Dravid.

The Indian captain looked in glorious touch throughout his 73-ball knock, cutting and pulling with aplomb. He drove James Anderson for two fours in one over, first driving him on the on side and then unleashing an exquisite square cut.

Pathan and Dravid were out to rash shots in the space of three overs when the second powerplay was taken. Even before the Indians could come to terms with the twin dismissals, they received another blow with the struggling Mohammed Kaif being sent back to the pavilion for 5. India were then reduced to 152 for four.

Kaif was promoted up the order to enable him to sort out his batting following his disastrous outings in the series so far, but the up batsman failed to make the most of it.

Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina then took the team to within sniffing distance of victory before being dismissed within the space of one ball by Anderson (2/53) with the score reading 224 in the 42nd over.

Dhoni and Ramesh Powar ensured there were no more jitters in the Indian camp by overhauling the target comfortably. Yuvraj, who took two wickets in England’s innings, was declared Man of the Match, his second on the trot in the series.

Earlier, the visitors did well to overcome a shaky start and were cruising at 117 for two before they lost wickets in a heap to the slow bowlers to be bowled out in 48.4 overs.

Kevin Pietersen top-scored with an 82-ball 77 while Geraint Jones scored a cameo 49 in the only defiance from the visitors on a flat track after Andrew Flintoff (12) won the toss and elected to bat.

The efforts of the Indian bowlers and fielders meant England failed to play out their full quota of 50 overs for the fourth time in the series.

It was Yuvraj (2/34) who started the slide by breaking the 90-run partnership between Pietersen and Paul Collingwood (36) as England lost the remaining seven wickets for just 120 runs.

Sehwag also chipped in with two wickets while Harbhajan Singh was the most economical, conceding 36 runs off his 10 overs while picking the prized wicket of Pietersen.

President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam has congratulated Dravid. “Today’s win in Kochi and the previous three victories have been a product of team work, planning and skills,” he said in his message.

VRV included

Meanwhile, the national selectors have included Vikram Rajvir Singh in the only change to the squad for the next two one-dayers in Guwahati (Sunday) and Jamshedpur (Wednesday).