The Indian cricket team was asked to bat first by Jos Buttler in what we can call a dead rubber of a contest as England are already out of the tournament. England & India didn’t make any changes to their lineup. All eyes though would be on dynamic batter Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli missed out on a well-deserving ton against New Zealand by only 5 runs else he would have notched up his 49th ODI ton.
Shubman Gill was outdone by the sheer brilliance of Chris Woakes as the batting sensation couldn’t trouble the scorers this time. The surface wasn’t a belter as the oddball was keeping low and it won’t be wrong to say that unexpectedly the surface seemed to be sluggish.
David Willey sends back Virat Kohli
At the end of 6 overs, India’s score was 27-1. Rohit Sharma was timing the ball cleanly and was looking ominous so he has been in the marquee tournament.. David Willey was bowling the 7th over, Virat Kohli was getting a bit impatient after couldn’t open his account in the match.
On the 5th delivery of the over, Virat Kohli tried to advance down the track and clear the long off fielder but couldn’t time the ball properly and got a toe end of the blade. Virat Kohli was dismissed for 0 in 9 balls and at that time India’s score was 28-2 in 6.5 overs.
Disastrous signs for India
The dismissal of Virat Kohli means that now skipper Rohit Sharma will have to bat sensibly. The batter will have to carefully play out the powerplay overs as the English pacers are making Indian batters’ dance on their tone with their impeccable line & length. England’s bowling unit is looking a complete different contingent which earlier was missing in the tournament.
The likes of Shreyas Iyer & KL Rahul will have to make a case for themselves as this is their time to shine against a dangerous bowling unit. Shreyas Iyer in particular has looked scratchy in the championship and now questions have started to raise that the batter would be replaced by the swashbuckling batter Suryakumar Yadav.
Also Read: IND vs ENG: Chris Woakes Castles Shubman Gill’s Stumps