was absolute carnage at the MCA Stadium in Pune as the England top-order hunted down 337 with 39 balls to spare. Jonny Bairstow smashed a ton while Jason Roy (55) and Ben Stokes (99) made quickfire half-centuries to set up the win. Earlier in the day, KL Rahul’s ton alongside fifties from Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant helped India get to 336.
The England top-order and batting line-up showed why England are the world champions and arguably one of the best 50-over sides going around in world cricket. They lived up to expectation and proved that the first ODI was an aberration as they wiped out 337 with ease to level the series 1-1.
The Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune once again dished out a proper batting beauty. There was some movement and bounce early on with the new ball but apart from that, there was very little for the bowlers.
England won the toss once again and inserted India into bat first. The hosts lost a couple of early wickets as Shikhar Dhawan was undone by Reece Topley while Rohit Sharma threw away another start and was out to a harmless leg-stump delivery from Sam Curran. At 37/2, India found themselves in a spot of bother.
With Shreyas Iyer ruled out, KL Rahul moved up to No. 4 and stitched a solid stand with skipper Virat Kohli to help India resurrect the innings. The duo shared a 121-run stand for the third wicket but the innings didn’t take off despite the two batsmen getting set. Kohli milked the bowlers and reached his fourth successive half-century in ODI cricket but failed to convert it into a three-figure score once again, extending his century drought. He was dismissed by Adil Rashid in the 32nd over, and the score read 158/3 at that stage. Rahul was batting on 60 off 71 deliveries.
Rishabh Pant’s entry shifted the entire momentum. The left-handed wicket-keeper batsman took a few deliveries to settle down, but once he got his eye in, there was no stopping him. Rahul cut loose from the other end as well and notched up his fifth ODI ton. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant brought up his second ODI half-century in just 28 balls and continued on his merry way.
Rahul was out for 108 while Pant went on to make a 77 off 40 balls. Hardik Pandya came in and smashed a 16-ball 35 to propel India to 337. India smashed 126 runs in the last ten overs.
England had never chased more than 266 in India before and had a stiff task ahead of them. They had crumbled from 135/0 to 251 all out in the first ODI.
Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy once again laid the foundation. It was much more sedate this time around, but the England opener still scored at a fair clip. The duo put on 110 for the opening wicket (their second successive hundred-run partnership), and it came in just 16.3 overs. Ben Stokes walked in at No. 3 and built on the start provided and ensured that England continued on their merry way unlike the first ODI. Bairstow kept going from his end while Stokes provided great support before unleashing himself.
Bairstow, who scored 94 in the first game, travelled around and notched up his 11th ODI hundred. After Bairstow got his hundred, Stokes from the other end went berserk. He got to his half-century in 40 balls and then in his next 11 deliveries. The left-hander smashed 49 runs before he was caught behind off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Bairstow and Jos Buttler (for a duck) were dismissed in the very next over which gave India a slight glimmer to come back in the game, but only 50 runs were needed at that stage. Dawid Malan and debutant Liam Livingstone wiped out the remaining runs. England reached the target in 43.3 overs to complete a thrashing and levelled the series.
For the second successive game, India couldn’t make inroads in the powerplay, and the spinners conceded a lot of runs which didn’t help the team’s cause. The teams go again in less than 48 hours in the decider on Sunday, 28th March.
