At the Oval in London on Tuesday, India crushed England by 10 wickets in the opening One-Day International of the three-match series.
The Indian pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami attacked the English batters after choosing to bowl, taking six and three wickets, respectively. As a result, England was dismissed for a meager 110 runs in 25.2 overs. Of the 11 batters, there were 4 ducks. Jason Roy, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Liam Livingstone went to the pavilion without scoring a single run. The final wicket was collected by Prasidh Krishna.
In response, India’s captain Rohit Sharma played a counter-attacking inning, scoring an unbeaten 76 off 58 deliveries while hitting 7 fours and 5 sixes.
It’s important to note that Arshdeep Singh and Virat Kohli both sat out the match due to injuries, the latter of which had a groin strain. India now has a 1-0 series lead in the three-match ODIs after Tuesday’s victory.
The losing captain looked devastated with the loss as he said, “Really tough day… But we’ve got to dust ourselves quickly for the game at Lord’s. Muggy conditions, we felt like it would swing. India exploited the conditions. In the T20s and in the powerplay, they bowled brilliantly… [Bumrah] is a great bowler to come up against. He bowled fantastically well today. It’s never easy when you are forced to take wickets… I asked bowlers to take risks to try and take wickets.”
The winning captain on the other hand looked really proud as he talked about the all round performance, he said “Looking at the pitch and the overhead conditions, it [bowling] was the right call to make. We never really worry about the conditions… We saw during the T20s as well when the pitch was flat; we came out and did the job. Today was more suitable for the fast bowlers… When you play in conditions like that, you need to understand what kind of assistance bowlers are going to get… We know the quality of the bowlers… [Dhawan and I] have played a lot of cricket together. We understand each other well, except the first ball [when there was a run-out chance]… We know what he brings for us; very experienced player. The pull or hook is a high-risk shot, but I back myself to play that. As long as it keeps coming, I am happy!”
The player of the match award was given to Jasprit Bumrah for his splendid spell with the ball that hunched England in the way they could never recover from.
The teams will play their next match on 14th July, Thursday. While India will look on to continue their winning streak, England will hope this devastating loss doesn’t affect their confidence.
