Team India have done it again and at a much grander level. The Men in Blue have beaten the defending champions by 100 runs, registering their sixth consecutive victory, in Lucknow today.
England won the toss and chose to bowl first on Lucknow’s difficult pitch.
India looked confident in the beginning with Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill on the crease. These players were perfectly capable of putting a defendable score alone, however, Shubhamn’s wicket at the hands of Chris Woakes was the onset of what made the Indian team struggle to score. Following Shubhman’s wicket very early in the game, England took out India’s constant Virat Kohli. Kohli was shown the way by David Willey at duck. Shreyas Iyer was no better, and India soon stared at a score of 40-3 within the first 12 overs. However, Captain Rohit Sharma found a backing in KL Rahul who stood at the other end as Sharma scored big. The happiness in the camp didn’t last long as Willey struck again, taking Rahul off the field.
Rohit Sharma scored 87 runs before his wicket fell next. Post this, Suryakumar took the baton and played a selfless inning before he fell victim to a poor shot and was out at 49 runs. Jasprit Bumrah added a crucial 16 runs before India’s innings came to an end.
At the bottom of it all, India’s score stood at 229. Such a low score by the team was in a major part due to England’s bowling and fielding attack. For England, Willey took 3 wickets, while Woakes and Adil Rashid took 2 each.
In their response, England, who looked in good and better form and had an advantage, walked onto the field confidently. England looked in a comfortable position since the start. The team scored 30 runs easily without losing a wicket. before Bumrah hit them hard and took back-to-back wickets. He gave India the early wickets they needed. Following in Bumrah’s footsteps, Mohammed Shami took back-to-back wickets, putting the entire pressure on England.
Shami and Bumrah cleared four crucial players off the field.
Next, it was Kuldeep’s turn to take England skipper Jos Buttler out. England lost 5 wickets in 11 overs. From there on, England’s wickets kept falling and none of the players could score past 20 runs, except Liam Livingstone who ended up scoring 27.
Shami, Bumrah, Yadav and Jadeja took care of the rest of the wickets, wrapping up England’s game within 34.5 overs at 129 runs. While Shami performed phenomenally well by taking 4 wickets, Bumrah took 3 and Kuldeep and Jadeja claimed 2 and 1, respectively. Mohammed Siraj failed to deliver an impressive performance.
With this win, India have jumped back to the top of the points table and England remain at the bottom. Post the win, Rohit Sharma was given the ‘Player of the Match’ award.