India vs England 2nd ODI; England has returned with much power to level the 3-match series 1-1 in the second match at Lord’s on Thursday, July 14. They came back strong, revisiting the strategies after the 1st ODI, to strike back. Reece Topley’s terrific wicket chase(6/24) lead to the victory of Team England, as Men in Blue were bowled out for just 146 in reply to England’s 246.
After a grand and impressive win in the 1st ODI, Team India expected a smooth win in the 2nd ODI but was thrashed by 100 runs by the World Cup champions.
By winning the toss, Indian skipper Rohit decided to bowl first and the bowlers put up an impressive show in the match to bowl out England for 246 in 49 overs. With Yuzvendra Chahal’s 4 wickets in 10 overs, the bowling line-up easily secured the match. Chahal himself bowled out the star trio Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya each claimed 2 wickets, adding hope to the team. But Moeen Ali(47), David Willey(41), and Jonny Bairstow(38) added runs to the scoreboard to lead England to a better score compared with the 1st match.
Dropping the catch of Willey led to an impressive partnership of Moeen Ali and David Willey in the middle overs. It was Moeen Ali who took back the attack to the hosts with his unflinching and dashing sixes when the top-order delivered little to the scoreboard.
Rohit Sharma led Team India thought 246 was easy to chase, but England bowled well. The effort of the bowlers to restrict a strong batting line-up under 250 runs was amazing and unexpected. The bowlers had little to defend in the last match and criticized that if they want to win games, they need to take catches. As a reply to that, Reece Topley burst out and scored 6 wickets out of 24 overs. Topley was following Bumrah from the last match who scored his career-best 6 wickets.
Skipper Rohit Sharma was one of Topley’s six victims as he fell for a duck. Only 31 runs were on the score-board after the 1st powerplay, and there was only one outcome possible with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Shikhar Dhawan all back to the pavilion. Former captain Kohli only managed to score 16 runs after returning from a groin injury. Wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant also failed to open his account while opener Dhawan scored a 9 off 26 balls.
The Indian team couldn’t have imagined that things would change so drastically after winning the 1st game by a margin of 10 wickets. The batters failed to live up to the expectations as India bundled out for just 146.
While commenting on the defeat in the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma said “We bowled pretty well. They had the partnership in the middle with Moeen and Willey. Not that the target wasn’t chaseable, we just didn’t get there,”.
As a reply to Prasidh Krishna’s drop of the catch of David Willey, he said “If you want to win games, you have to take those catches, something we’ve been talking a lot… All in all, we bowled well. We just didn’t bat well. I thought the pitch would get better, but there was something for the bowlers throughout.” He pointed out that the drop gave chance to England to fight back as the duo shared a crucial 62-run stand before the 7th wicket.
Asked whether the long tail an issue in the last match, Rohit replied, “That has been there for a long time now… We have enough of bowling options, but we do understand we have a long tail. One of the top-order guys must bat as long as possible… A lot to look forward to. We will get there, see the conditions and adapt.”
Team England is absolutely thrilled with their bowling performance. Topley once again proved his ability after the 6-wicket haul and became the player of the match. By grabbing early wickets and taking wickets at regular intervals, England has made the win possible. Now, let’s wait for the series decider at Old Trafford on Sunday, July 17 to know who will wrap up the series.
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