Jonny Bairstow got off to a decent start but yet again fell to Kuldeep Yadav. Jason Roy threw away his wicket and then Morgan combined with Joe Root for a good partnership. Then, David Willey played some stunning strokes for his half-century and propelled England to a competitive total of 322.
Chasing 323, India lost both their openers in the powerplay. Again it was Virat Kohli who carried India’s hopes on a chase but once he got out, India could never catch up with the run rate and fell short of the target by 86 runs. Here are 5 talking points from the game,
- Root’s century
Before this series begun, there was a lot of curiosity and criticism surrounding Root’s limited overs credentials. He was the outsider in a batting line up filled with power hitters who can take the game away in a few overs.
He came to bat in the 11th over after Bairstow’s dismissal and steadied the England innings by playing a very mature knock. He took a lesson for the fellow English batsmen on how to read Kuldeep’s googlies and leg spinners. He constantly used his feet against the spinners and never allowed them to settle. Even when other batsmen were falling at the other end, he remained calm and reached a well deserved century.
#2 David Willey’s all-round show
Willey had a fairly mediocre outing with both bat and ball in the 1st ODI but he compensated for his performance with a match-winning innings with the bat in the 2nd ODI.
The highlight of his innings was the 46th over bowled by Siddharth Kaul where he ripped him apart for 17 runs. The 1st ball of that over he came down the track and lifted the ball over the mid off bowler for a boundary. The next ball was a juicy length ball on the pads and this time he clobbered it over deep midwicket for a six.
He was also good with the ball as he rarely bowled a loose delivery and never allowed Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to run away with the chase.
#3 Chahal’s middle overs spell
The performance of Kuldeep in this series has taken the spotlight off Chahal but he proved his worth with another economical spell. He was quick to read the pitch and realized that there was not much in it for the spinners. So, he bowled a 4th stump line throughout his spell and never gave the batsmen enough width to play enterprising strokes.
With each passing game, Chahal’s ability to read and bowl according to the situation is increasing and his tendency to break big partnerships in the middle overs makes him an invaluable asset to this Indian team.
#4 India’s struggle against spin
When India’s chase started many expected India to attack both the English spinners in the middle overs but they surprisingly struggled against both Moeen Ali and Rashid.
Moeen bowled a very tight line and did not allow Kohli to freely rotate the strike. On the other end, Rashid kept flighting the ball beautifully throughout his spell inviting the batsmen to go after him.
The turning point of the match was Moeen’s dismissal of Kohli. The ball turned just enough to beat Kohli’s defensive stride and it was the defining moment in the chase as India never got going after this dismissal.
#5 Dhoni’s strange knock
The past few years have not been great for MSD with his ability to finish the innings coming under scrutiny from experts and fans alike. But, MSD is more than just a hitter as far as ODI’s are concerned because of his ability to pace an innings with utmost perfection.
But sadly this turned out to be yet another bad outing for MSD as he never looked threatening throughout his knock. In fact, he barely showed any intent and ate up too many dot balls which have been his major problem for the past 12 months.
If India is to win the 2019 World Cup they need MSD to be at his best, so hopefully, we all get to see the old Dhoni one last time before he retires.
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