Eoin Morgan Hails Spinners to thump India at Headingley

England won the third and the decisive One-day International against India quite comprehensively by eight wickets to win the series by a 2-1 margin.

Reliable top-order batsman Joe Root scored his second consecutive century of the series as England romped home with 5.3 overs to spare on Tuesday (July 17).

Earlier in the day, the English bowlers were quite brilliant and restricted India to a below-par score of 256. David Willey was the pick of the English bowlers with three for 40.

It was English skipper Eoin Morgan, who won the toss and opted to field.

The Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma failed to get off to a quick start. Rohit, in particular, found it very difficult to get going and was eventually dismissed on two off 18 deliveries. Dhawan and Virat Kohli shared a good partnership which somewhat got India back on the track.

Both struck some wonderful shots to get going. Dhawan, in particular, looked in an ominous touch during his knock of 44 off 49 deliveries which included seven fours. He was dismissed via a run-out by Ben Stokes. The skipper Kohli played some a great knock as he scored 71 of 72 deliveries which included 8 fours.

England makes light work of Indian total:

India was not able to get big shots in the middle overs and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored a 42 off 66 deliveries but yet again was unable to execute the big shots to perfection.

It was a good knock by Shardul Thakur and Bhuvneswar Kumar at the end which propelled India to a score of 256 in their allotted 50 overs.

India was not able to get big shots in the middle overs and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

It was a challenging total but not a match-winning one under any stress of imagination. The England openers began quite brilliantly in the form of James Vince and Jonny Bairstow. The latter in particular smashed some exceptional shots to get going. His innings of 30 came in just 13 deliveries which included seven fours.

Bairstow was dismissed by Shardul Thakur as he attempted a flick. A brilliant piece of work by MS Dhoni send James Vince back to the pavilion.

From there on, it was all Joe Root and Eoin Morgan, who sealed the deal for England with the utmost ease. They batted quite brilliantly and ensured England reached the target with the utmost comfort in the end.

Here is what the winning skipper Eoin Morgan said at the post-match presentation:

Bowlers did a bulk of the job:

“Outstanding performance. The tone was set by the bowlers. Wood and Willey were on the money, had their lines and lengths down. The ball swung a little for 4-5 overs. We took our opportunities well whenever we got the chance. We know the conditions here well, and we are happy we took advantage of that. I didn’t think it would be a belter, probably a 300-320 ground, but our spinners today were brilliant,” Morgan said.

Lessons learnt:

“The chase was started by the two openers, and then Joe and I carried on. It’s the guys on my right, my team, that make my decision look good. You’re only as good as your team. Our guys were brilliant. In Trent Bridge, we were off, and India punished us, and since then we have done well, and grown as much as we could,” he asserted.

Perfect execution, says Eoin Morgan:

“It’s satisfying that we learnt over the series, made plans, and executed what we said we’d do. So that builds confidence in the team. We need to be at our best before the World Cup, and remove any glitches from our game,” he concluded.