India fall short in imposing chase, England return to top four

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

England beat India by 31 runs at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday. With this result, England reclaim fourth spot on the points table, with 10 points from eight matches. They have one more point than fifth-placed Pakistan and also have a better net run rate than Pakistan. India hold on to second position, with 11 points from seven matches. This is the first time England have beaten India in the World Cup since 1992.

Toss: England won the toss and chose to bat first. They have struggled while chasing in this World Cup, and so the decision was expected. Virat Kohli, while admitting he would have batted first as well, said he had enough confidence in his side’s chasing ability.

First Innings: Riding on a sizzling century by Jonny Bairstow and a fiery knock from Ben Stokes in the death overs, England posted 337/7 at Edgbaston. Bairstow made 111 off 109 balls, as he, along with Jason Roy (66), put on a 160-run opening stand. Joe Root (44) joined Bairstow after Roy’s wicket as England piled on the runs. Ben Stokes (79) came out at No. 5 after Bairstow’s wicket, anchoring the latter stages of the innings.

Mohammed Shami picked up a five-wicket haul – his first in ODI cricket. Yuzvendra Chahal bowled a wicketless spell for 88 runs, which was the most expensive spell by an Indian bowler on the World Cup stage. Jasprit Bumrah was the only bowler from the Indian side who could keep his economy rate below 6 – he gave away only 44 runs in his 10 overs.

Second Innings: Chris Woakes gave England the perfect start, scalping KL Rahul for a duck in the early overs. Rohit Sharma (102) and Virat Kohli then steadied the innings, sharing a 138-run stand before Liam Plunkett got rid of the Indian skipper after his knock of 66. Rohit Sharma upped his scoring rate after Kohli’s wicket but was then caught behind in the 37th over. Rishabh Pant (32) and Hardik Pandya (44) showed intent in getting India close to the target but both were dismissed in efforts to clear the rope.

When Pandya went out, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav needed 71 runs to win in 31 balls, which turned out to be too much for them to chase down.

Gamechanger: England openers Jason Roy, coming back into the side after an injury layoff, and Jonny Bairstow decided the course of this match in the first quarter of the match itself. Indian bowlers had no answer to their willows and it looked for a while as if 500 – the score that had been much talked about in the lead-up to the World Cup – would finally be achieved in this 38th match of the World Cup.

Till substitute fielder Ravindra Jadeja swooped to take a marvellous catch to set Roy walking in the 23rd over, India looked far from being the No. 1 ODI side in the world.

Brief Scores:  ENG 337/7 (50 overs) | IND 306/5 (50 overs)