Lord’s once again reinforced its status as one of the hardest venues to chase in ODI cricket as India collapsed to a measly 146 all out in a 100-run mauling at the hands of England in the penultimate game of the three-match series on July 14.
A score of 246 all out proved a handful for the hosts, who never allowed their visiting counterparts to settle down at the crease and ran through them eventually, with left-arm quick Reece Topley leading the way.
Enjoying a rare one-day outing where the ball dominated the bat, Topley used his height, swing, seam and left-arm angle to very good effect. The tall pacer finished with figures of six for 24, not allowing India to get away at his end at all.
Topley gave cricket fans a wonderful exhibition of new-ball bowling on a Lord’s surface that had a bit of nip and bounce for the quicks throughout the day and pushed Indian batters back, forcing them to take excessive risks for run-making.
Bowling equally well but without as many rewards was fellow left-arm quick David Willey, who bowled outstandingly at the top. He combined beautifully with Topley to leave the Indian innings with heaps of mud on it and zero breathing space. The bowler eventually finished with one for 27 but deserved so much more for his work in the second half.
India started off anxiously, playing one nervy stroke after another without connecting. There wasn’t a run made off the bat for the first four overs as they lost skipper Rohit Sharma (0), Shikhar Dhawan (9), Rishabh Pant (0) and then the big fish Virat Kohli (16) without any significant impact on the scoreboard. Reduced to 31 for four, the Indians had their backs against the wall, and one could sense England would build further inroads.
For a brief, Suryakumar Yadav (27) and Hardik Pandya (29) tried to stem the flow of momentum and kept the hosts at bay, but the Englishmen eventually reasserted their dominance. Ravindra Jadeja (29) and Mohammad Shami (23), too, tried to keep India in the contest. However, by then, an England win was a matter of when and not if.
India will be deeply disappointed by this loss as they missed out on a great opportunity to seal the series with a game to spare. And while the batters had a properly poor day, one couldn’t help but feel in the context of the surface on offer that India should have done better with the ball as well.
Yuzvendra Chahal was brilliant, taking a four-fer (4/47) on a pitch meant for the seamers to flourish. But outside maybe Pandya (2/28), none of the Indian pacers could claim they had their best outing. Shami (1/48) was once again good enough to beat the edge multiple times but not to get the wickets out of it.
Jasprit Bumrah got 2 for 48 but was largely inconsistent, quite unlike his usual self. Talking of inconsistency, on a track where he should’ve prospered, Prasidh Krishna failed to make an impression, going for one for 53 off his 10 overs.
It was India’s inconsistency with the ball that gave England a score to defend despite their stutters. They were 148/6 at one point of their innings but were allowed to get away, with Moeen Ali (47) and Willey (41) making critical forties in the overall context of the game. They gave England something to bowl at when the hosts may have folded before reaching the 200 mark.
Brief scores
England 246 all out in 49 overs (Ali 47, Willey 41; Chahal 4/47) beat India 146 all out in 38.5 overs (Pandya 29, Jadeja 29; Topley 6/24) by 100 runs
