The Indian cricket team beat Jos Buttler-led England by the exact margin of a Ton in the 29th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, held on a Sunday at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium. England is fighting a losing battle to stay in the quadrennial tournament, but the team led by Jos Buttler is off the rails, and their chances of advancing are minimal. India put up a brilliant show at Ekana Stadium as the Men in Blue are now on the doorstep of the semi-finals. Interestingly, this marked England’s first defeat against India in the ODI World Cup in 20 years.
Rohit Sharma-led India was invited to bat first by Jos Buttler at the time of the toss and made the right call to put India into the ring on the tricky two-paced deck, as Indian batsmen struggled to understand the nature of the pitch. England’s bowlers displayed good bowling as they restricted the Men in Blue to a score of 229. However, nobody would have expected before the chase that the English team would disappoint the critics so badly.
The Defending Attacking Champions attacked their own foot after messing up in the low run-chasing game, as the Englishmen were bundled out for 129 in 34.5 overs. The Indian pacers were right on the money, against whom the England batsmen raised the white flag. This became the first instance that England has lost four consecutive World Cup matches. Additionally, this became the 59th World Cup win for India, surpassing New Zealand’s 58, as the Men in Blue are now only behind Australia, who have won 73 matches.
Rohit, Rahul, and Sky Made a Silk Purse out of a Sow’s Ear
England had the start they wanted as the Three Lions’ team punched hard in the First Powerplay of the Innings. England’s pacers, Chris Woakes and David Willey, struck early in the Indian top order after dismissing opener Shubman Gill on 9 and Virat Kohli on a duck, respectively. Notably, this was the first time that Kohli has been dismissed for a duck in ODI World Cup history. Chris Woakes, with the help of a short ball, trapped Shreyas Iyer (4 off 16) in his web and exposed his weakness to the world once again.
However, Indian Captain and Opener Rohit Sharma, alongside KL Rahul, fought tooth and nail, and in the process, they nurtured the much-needed partnership of 91 runs. Rahul threw away his wicket on 39 to Willey. After indulging in a 33-run partnership with Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit, just like Rahul, while attempting to play an attacking shot, gave away his precious wicket to Adil Rashid and missed out on his century by 13 runs. India’s skipper got dismissed on 87 off 101 with the help of 10 fours and 3 sixes. Rohit on Sunday completed his 18,000 international runs.
After the Hitman’s dismissal, for once, it was looking like India would finish below the 200 score, but a sweet little partnership of 25 runs and 21 runs between Sky and Jasprit Bumrah and between Kuldeep Yadav and Bumrah, respectively, the Men in Blue somehow managed to cross the mark of 225 plus runs. Willey grabbed his 3rd wicket of the day by sending Sky back to the pavilion, missing his maiden ODI fifty by one run. The Northampton-born Willey ended up with the bowling return of 10-2-43-3.
Indian bowlers had Jos Buttler & Co Dancing to their Tunes
The extremely poor batting performance of the Englishmen has only themselves to blame for the 100-run loss. India’s pace duo of Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were just too good for the opposition batters. England, at one stage, was going fine and steady, having scored 30 runs in the first 28 balls, but a cluster of wickets brought India back into the game. Not only did they get back into the game, but they also took control as England, from 30-0, was reduced to 39-4. Bumrah, with consecutive magical deliveries, got rid of Dawid Malan (16 off 17) and Joe Root (0 off 1), whereas Shami removed Ben Stokes (0 off 10) and Jonny Bairstow (14 off 23) from the crease.
A Jaffa from the local boy, Kuldeep, to Jos Buttler summed up the day for England while chasing the target. The captain of the English side and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler got bowled by the Chinaman for 10. After a brief halt, Shami got the southpaw Moeen Ali, who was batting on 15. The most economical bowler of the day from the Indian side, Ravindra Jadeja, also dismissed Woakes. Kuldeep put the final nail in the coffin by trapping Liam Livingston (27 off 46) plumb LBW. The remaining formalities were handled by Shami and Bumrah, who aimed for the stumps of Rashid and Mark Wood, respectively. Shami ended up with a spell of 7-2-22-4, whereas Bumrah recorded a spell of 6.5-1-32-3.
We are Aware of the Champions Trophy 2025 Qualification – Jos Buttler
After the tough loss, the losing captain, Jos Buttler, shared his thoughts in the post-match presentation. Buttler acknowledged the challenging situation they faced, chasing a target of 230 with the uncertainty of dew playing a role. He reckoned that their performance with the ball had been commendable throughout the tournament, creating pressure and taking crucial wickets. Despite a strong start in the powerplay, Buttler mentioned that the batting didn’t live up to expectations against India. He further added that they still had much to play for, with an eye on the Champions Trophy 2025 qualification.
“Very disappointed. At the halfway stage, chasing 230 and seeing how wet it got, we fancied ourselves, same old story. I wasn’t sure if dew would come or not. Just the gut feel said that we wanted to chase. That’s as good as we’ve been with the ball throughout the tournament. We created good pressure, we bowled well, took wickets. If you said we are chasing 230, we would have been happy with that,” said Jos Buttler.
“Personally, I wanted to try and soak some pressure up, come through that phase and then build a partnership and sort of kill the momentum that India had. It’s about committing and executing your skill. Chasing 230, there wasn’t scoreboard pressure. It’s about trying to come through that phase. We are just falling short whichever way we are doing it at the minute. Our answers on a postcard, I think. Some top players and we are a long way short of our best,” he added.
“Excellent start in the powerplay, the guys found some movement, there was a bit of indifferent bounce as well, the ground fielding was good. It felt like today was the day where it was all turning around, but the way we batted, didn’t back that up. (On Champions Trophy 2025 qualification) We are aware of that, we’ve still got lots to play for,” Jos Buttler concluded.
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