Many must have scratched their heads when Eoin Morgan surprisingly decided to bat first after winning the toss in the must-win clash against India. In the third T20I and the first ODI, India had chased down 199 and 269 respectively without breaking any sweat. But in the end, the decision turned out to be a good one as England crushed India by 86 runs to level the series 1-1
Learning from their mistakes in the last game, Morgan & Co. took their time while playing against the Indian spinners. As a result, they managed to put up a challenging 322 for 7. After that, they choked the visitors on a slow Lord’s track to bowl them out for 236.
India made a promising start to the chase. Shikhar Dhawan came out all guns blazing while Rohit Sharma batted in his usual manner, taking his time early on. The duo put on 49 runs without much trouble to set the tone. However, the game turned on its head when India lost three wickets for 11 runs to find themselves reeling at 60 for 3 from 49 for 0.
It all began when Rohit uncharacteristically went for a wild swipe. The opener completely missed the offcutter from Mark Wood and was castled. Dhawan soon followed when he slashed a wide delivery to Ben Stokes at backward point. Liam Plunkett then sent back KL Rahul for a duck to put England well on top.
Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina then stopped the rot with a cautious approach. Despite the short boundaries and the asking rate mounting, the duo did not take the risk as they began the rescue work. But just when it seemed the duo would bat India to a position of strength, Kohli missed a straight delivery from Moeen Ali which ended the 80-run stand. 14 runs later, Raina fell too as India once again found themselves on the backfoot.
Hardik Pandya struggled to connect, so did MS Dhoni. Pandya perished while trying to accelerate the run-rate but Dhoni surprisingly decided to give up on the chase quite early. He was eventually dismissed in the 47th over after labouring to 37 off 49 balls as India were all out for 236 on the last ball of the innings.
Earlier in the day, it looked like England would throw away another good start just like they did in the series-opener. Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow once again gave the hosts a solid start, adding 69 runs for the first wicket. But then Kuldeep Yadav came in the attack.
The chinaman once again gave India the first breakthrough by castling Bairstow for 38. 17 runs later, the chinaman struck again, removing Roy for 40 as he once again threatened to derail England’s innings. However, an 103-run stand between Root and skipper Eoin Morgan helped England get back on track. The duo mixed caution with aggression to lay the foundation for the good total. The stand was broken by Kuldeep when he had Morgan caught for 53.
From there on England lost wickets at regular intervals. However, Root held firm from one end and found a good partner in David Willey. The duo added 83 runs for the seventh wicket to take England past the 300-run mark. Root was run out for 113 on the very last ball of the innings. Willey, on the other hand, remained unbeaten on 50 off 31 balls.
Brief Scores:
England 322/7 (Joe Root 113*; Eoin Morgan 53; Kuldeep Yadav 3-68, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-43) beat India 236 all out in 50 overs (Suresh Raina 46, Virat Kohli 45; Mark Wood 4-46, Adil Rashid 2-48) by 86 runs.