Set a target of 270 runs by England in the crucial Champions Trophy league match, India carved an eight-wicket win with Virender Sehwag and skipper Sourav Ganguly dominating the show.

After England made 269 for seven in their allotted 50 overs, India replied with 271 for 2 in just 39.3 overs. Ganguly remained unbeaten on 117 and Sachin Tendulkar on nine.

Providing the ideal start to the run chase, Sehwag completed a quickfire century, with Ganguly content to let his partner make most of the runs in the first 25 overs.

Despite losing the wickets of Sehwag and V V S Laxman, the Indian captain let loose a flurry of shots and ensured that the team moved on to the knock-out stage safely.

India will now take on South Africa in the first semifinal on September 25. India let slip an early advantage as Ian Blackwell led a middle order resurgence to anchor England to a respectable 269 for seven.

Blackwell, playing only in his second one-day match, smashed 82 runs including six boundaries and three sixes after left arm seamers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra had given India a sensational start.

Both Zaheer and Nehra bowled sharp opening spells and reduced England to seven for two after captain Nasser Hussain had elected to bat. After the first 10 overs, England had scored just 23 runs, having lost danger man Marcus Trescothick and Hussain for zero and one respectively.

But Ronnie Irani and opener Nick Knight slowly rebuilt the England innings and enabled the later order batsmen to launch an assault in the final overs.

Irani made 37 with five fours while Knight scored 50, the two putting on 73 for the third wicket. Knight added a further 47 runs for the fourth wicket with Owais Shah, who made 34.

However, it was Blackwell who took the Indians by surprise. He started off quietly, accumulating his runs with ones and twos before opening up to play the big shots. He added 104 runs for the sixth wicket with veteran Alec Stewart, who contributed 35 runs with just one boundary. Due to the efforts of these two batsmen, England added 79 runs in the last ten overs.

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