ENG Vs IND, 2018: Five Reasons Why India Lost to England at Lord's

After a convincing victory in the first game at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham, India crumbled to chase down a huge target as they lost the match by 86 runs at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on July 14 (Saturday).

Meanwhile, the hosts posted 322 runs while banking on a gritty hundred from Joe Root. He along with skipper Eoin Morgan faced India’s wrist spinners cautiously before smashing the seamers in the death overs.

In reply, India was all-out for 236 in 50 overs after losing early wickets. The middle-order also struggled to capitalise on the good start thus putting too much pressure on Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the end.

Here are the five reasons behind India’s loss at Lord’s:

England attack Kuldeep Yadav:

After rattling the English batting order in the first outing, Kuldeep Yadav started on the same note picking two quick wickets. However, Root and Morgan tackled him brilliantly to nullify his effectiveness.

After a good start, he was taken for plenty of runs returning with three for 68 in his quota of 10 overs.

However, Kuldeep will still be India’s main weapon in the final ODI game.

Lack of depth in the pace attack:

India lacked experience in the death over as Siddarth Kaul is playing only his second ODI game. On the other hand, pace gun Umesh Yadav is making a comeback in the ODI side after few years.

It will certainly hurt if you miss your first-choice seamers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. And to make matters worse, England went after Hardik Pandya and he couldn’t inflict pain upon English batters.

They conceded way too many runs and couldn’t pick wickets with the new ball. The visitors need to sort these things out ahead of the series decider at Headingley on Tuesday (July 17).

Expensive during the death overs:

England team was reeling at 228 for five at the end of 40 overs which isn’t too great for any team. However, they plundered 94 runs from the last 10 overs losing only a solitary wicket.

The inexperienced bowling line-up struggled to put any resistance as the English batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking. Although, the visitors didn’t have Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah in their ranks. And going for almost 10 runs in an over. is a crime at the international level.

They need to sort their bowling woes ahead of the series-decider.

Kohli failed to capitalise on the start:

A rare off day when Indian skipper Virat Kohli couldn’t finish off the game while chasing. However, he scored 45 runs and was looking good to take his side home.

Meanwhile, everybody expected Kohli to see through, who averages 135.60 in ODIs, this year including three centuries.

Even the great batters fail at times, and rightly so, Yuzvendra Chahal admitted that Kohli’s wicket was the turning point.

Middle-order worry continues:

The inform KL Rahul failed to solve India’s middle-order worries as he couldn’t get going in the two ODIs so far. After scoring a brilliant century in the T20I opener batting at three, many expected Rahul to continue.

However, much to everybody’s surprise Rahul came down to four and has struggled since then.

Moreover, Suresh Raina was just four shy of his fifty but he was a long way away from his usual self.

In a team whose middle-order has failed, it is not likely to expect to MS Dhoni to win you matches every time. India will have to sort this ahead of the 2019 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the United Kingdom.

Also read: Sri Lanka postpones new T20 Cricket League