India extended their unbeaten run in the World Cup to 6 matches as they uprooted England by 100 runs thanks to a strong bowling performance. Rohit Sharma led from the front as he scored a gritty 87 runs along with a counter-attacking 49 from Suryakumar Yadav, which took India to a fighting total of 229. Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah rained fire on the England batters with a mixture of seam and pace bundling them out for 129, further condemning the fate of the defending champions in the World Cup.
India’s top order perished to fiery opening spells from David Willey and Chris Woakes with Virat Kohli being dismissed for his first duck in the World Cup along with Shreyas Iyer who yet again fell to a short ball. Rohit Sharma’s calculated 87 in tricky batting conditions was instrumental in taking India to a fighting total. England had a decent start and even found themselves at 30-0 in the 5th over, however, once Mohammed Shami paired up with Jasprit Bumrah at the other end it went all downhill for the English.
Jos Buttler called it right at the toss and asked India to bat first on a two-paced pitch. Rohit Sharma struck David Willey for 18 runs in an over after he bowled a maiden, however, Shubman Gill’s stay at the crease was cut short by a delivery from Chris Woakes that nipped in from outside the off-stump to crash onto Gill’s stumps. Virat Kohli came into the crease but was kept quiet by England fielders who gave no quarters and eventually perished trying to attack David Willey, getting out for a duck in 9 balls.
An extended spell by Chris Woakes bore fruit as he dismissed Shreyas Iyer with his forever-menacing short delivery, reducing India to 40-3 in the 12th over. England almost delivered the sucker punch when Rohit Sharma was adjudged leg before to a Mark Wood delivery, but reviews showed that it was clearly missing the leg stump. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma led India’s recovery in the adjoining period with a partnership of 91 runs taking India close to a decent score.
KL Rahul lost his wicket as he mishit Willey to Jonny Bairstow at Mid-on. Surya Kumar Yadav played freely scoring a boundary of David Willey and rotating strike. India were poised for an explosive finish before Rohit Sharma holed out a googly off Adil Rashid to deep mid-wicket. Ravindra Jadeja had an unlucky dismissal as he was adjudged leg before to an Adil Rashid delivery that was seen clipping leg-stump.
Suryakumar Yadav was in double mind on how to play with the tail-enders as he chose to take singles at various points, resulting in a lot of dot balls. SKY perished in the 47th over, but an (almost) unbeaten partnership for the 10th wicket between Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah saved India from being bowled out, helping them pose a target of 229-9 in 50 overs.
In reply, the England batters had smooth sailing in the first 5 overs despite the swing on offer. The tide started turning against the batting side when David Malan chopped onto a Jasrprit Bumrah delivery, who made it two in two by trapping Joe Root in front of the stumps in the very first ball he faced. Rohit Sharma brought in Mohammed Shami at one end replacing Mohammed Siraj, who did not seem to be bowling in his rhythm.
Ben Stokes’ brief stay at the crease saw some classic pace bowling from Mohammed Shami, with Stokes opting for the aggressive option instead of weathering the storm only to be clean-bowled by a delivery that jagged back sharply. Shami followed that up with another incoming delivery to dismiss Jonny Bairstow reducing England to 39-4 inside the powerplay.
It was up to Moeen Ali and skipper Jos Buttler to take England out of trouble. Jos Buttler really needed an innings to redeem himself as he had scored only 95 runs in his previous 5 innings. Kuldeep Yadav ensured that it was not to be as the chinaman bowler rattled Buttler’s stumps with a magical delivery that turned sharply from outside off stump.
Shami came back for his second spell and delivered in the very first ball dismissing Moeen Ali with a ball outside off stump inviting him to a drive, but ended up taking an outside edge towards the keeper. The spin twins Kuldeep and Jadeja removed the last two recognized batsman Liam Livingstone and Chris Woakes taking India closer to victory. Adil Rasheed and David Willey flexed their muscles hitting Bumrah and Shami for boundaries, but that was short-lived as Shami got Adil Rashid and Bumrah cleaned up Mark Wood with a pin-point yorker to complete India’s famous 100-run win against England.
The result has contrasting implications for both teams with India inching closer to the semi-finals and England being knocked out of the tournament in all likeliness.
Looking at how the tournament has gone for us, batting second in the first five games, we had to come and bat here. We were challenged upfront, they bowled pretty well upfront – Rohit Sharma
Indian captain Rohit Sharma was speaking in the post-match presentation and sounded confident about his team’s performance. Rohit was also adjudged Man of the Match for his knock of 83 on a tricky surface, despite his team falling short by 20-30 runs.
“We were not great with the bat today. Losing three wickets isn’t the ideal situation. When you are in a situation like that, all you are looking to do is create that long partnership, which we got. But couple of guys threw it at the end, including myself,” said Rohit Sharma.