In yesterday’s ODI World Cup game between India and England, hosts India have gotten the better of England.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, India got a rather rude shock from the English bowlers.
Reducing India to a small total inside the Powerplay, they looked pretty confident of winning their second game of the tournament.
However, it was not to be as skipper Rohit Sharma fought back hard and made a gritty 87 before Suryakumar Yadav compiled 49 runs to assure India of a modest enough target.
Early on, India lost the wickets of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer who did not get to play a long innings.
Meanwhile, the lower order also contributed a bit with the bat and took India’s score to 229/9.
Furthermore, England felt that the total was within reach and could be attained in a matter of overs.
However, they got ruder shocks in the second innings of the game at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium.
England looked underconfident in the second innings at Lucknow
Coming out to bat, England started off well in the second innings and Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan looked to score big in the first 10 overs.
However, a flurry of deliveries from Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah got the better of them with Dawid Malan knocking his stumps down off the latter’s deliveries.
Afterward, Bumrah got rid of England’s top player, Joe Root by getting him out lbw. The reviews showed a bit of touch from the bat but third umpire Ahsan Raza chose to stand by the umpire’s decision.
This gave Root a lot of frustration as he showed that the ball had hit the bat a bit but no one seemed to care.
Moreover, the talismanic Ben Stokes who has been known to pull England out of worst situations also fell prey to India’s bowling.
Furthermore, with the loss of Jonny Bairstow, England started reeling at 39/4 and looked visibly distressed.
Additionally, the spinners also made quick work of the English batters as Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav made merry with the ball.
All in all, England succumbed to their 5th loss in the tournament which poses serious challenges to their qualification for the Champions Trophy in 2025.
A sort of ‘mini World Cup’, the tournament’s host Pakistan, and six other teams will be eligible to play in the marquee event.
Meanwhile, England now sits at the bottom of the table with 2 points and will have to perform better in their last three games to come inside the top 8.
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