Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted that 247 runs was chaseable but they didn’t bat well after they were skittled out for only 146 and lost by a huge margin of 100 runs. The visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could not get going in the run-chase.
India had done well to bundle out England for 246 after Rohit had won the toss and elected to field first. In fact, the tourists could have wrapped up hosts’ innings below 200 had Prasidh Krishna not bungled David Willey’s catch when the left-hander was on a solitary run. Willey went on to score 41 runs and added a crucial alliance of 62 off 78 balls with Moeen Ali.
On the other hand, India got off to a horrible start as Rohit Sharma was dismissed without troubling the scorers. Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed on a innocuous delivery down the leg side whereas Rishabh Pant gifted his wicket on a full toss.
Virat Kohli looked good in the initial phase of his innings but once again was dismissed while playing outside the off-stump. Reece Topley was the pick of the England bowlers as the left-arm pacer returned with figures of 6-24, which is the best for the Lions in One Day cricket history.
Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya added 42 runs before the former was dismissed as he chopped the ball back on to the stumps. Pandya then played a poor shot when he was settled whereas Ravindra Jadeja was cleaned up by Moeen Ali as he was running out of partners.
Rohit Sharma was disappointed with the batting effort after the team bowled well.
Rohit said in the post-match presentation, “We bowled pretty well to start with. They had the partnership in the middle with Moeen and Willey. By no means that target wasn’t chaseable but we didn’t bat well. Have to take catches, something we’ve been talking a lot. All in all, we bowled pretty well. Took me by surprise (the pitch). Thought the pitch will get better and better. Playing against a team like that, you need to get your five best bowlers and allrounder. Leaves a long tail. So have to ensure as a top-order, one of the guys bats long. Going to be an exciting one (in Manchester). Have to look at what we need to do better. Have to look at the conditions there and adapt.”
The third and final ODI between England and India will be played at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester on Sunday.
