An outstanding new ball exhibition from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami backed up by a freeflowing half-century from skipper Rohit Sharma helped India dominate the first game of the ODI series against England on July 14.
The visitors took a 1-0 lead in the three-match rubber after bundling out the hosts for 110 through some exceptional fast-bowling from their senior pros, and then an unbeaten stand between Rohit and fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan took them home with ease.
On a rare day the white Kookaburra ball swung and seamed, India ran through the lengthy England batting unit, which simply couldn’t adjust to the movement on offer and failed to present a strong defensive technique against Shami and Bumrah’s incisive nature.
Bumrah was the one who led the way with a four-wicket burst right at the top. Often going unrewarded for his good work inside the first powerplay, Bumrah had an outing where whatever he touched turned into gold and helped India reduce England to a 26/5 at one point, an irrevocable position even for them.
Bumrah reinforced his status as an all-conquering force in all forms of the game after a two-year period without a stand-out performance in the 50-over format. His match-winning spell earned him a well-deserved ‘Player of the Match’ award for the evening.
At the other end, Shami, too, bowled a memorable spell where he got the ball to fizzle past the England batters. He nailed it with the new ball in the first powerplay, getting one wicket for his effort, and backed that up with two more scalps in his kitty, finishing with figures of three for 31 off his seven overs.
Most of England’s scorecard would’ve represented a phone number, and they would’ve struggled to even reach the 100-mark if not for Jos Buttler (30) and David Willey (21), who were the only ones to make it past the twenties for the three lions. Moeen Ali (14) and Brydon Carse (15) were the only others to enter double digits.
With the scales now titled decisively in their favour, India could’ve sleepwalked to the measly 111-run target. But the Rohit-Dhawan duo looked determined to dominate and continue intimidating the hosts. Dhawan couldn’t find as much of the flow, making a comeback to India colours after January being an ODI specialist, but Rohit was magnificent with the bat in hand and found his mojo in the middle right from the beginning.
He was in the mood to carry his T20I avatar forward and did that with a fantastic display of all his skill, flair and gusto, going at an eye-catching strike-rate of 131.03 for his unbeaten 76 off 58 balls, featuring six fours and five sixes. There are few better sights in world cricket when Rohit is in such rhythm at the crease, and the great Indian opener once again reinforced his status as one of the finest batters around.
Rohit’s fantastic knock meant some ease for Dhawan to get into the mix of things after a five-month gap. The batter did look edgy and underprepared at the beginning of his knock, making only a solitary run from 16 deliveries. But the experienced left-hander didn’t let the shackles imposed on him by England get the better of him completely, eventually breaking through to produce a sedate but personally critical knock of 31 off 54 balls.
Brief scores
England 110 all out in 25.2 overs (Buttler 30, Willey 21; Bumrah 6/19, Shami 3/31) lost to India 114/0 in 18.4 overs (Sharma 76*, Dhawan 31*; Willey 0/8) by 10 wickets
