I don't think I have seen a better spell than Kuldeep's in a while: Virat Kohli

The Men in Blue thrashed England by 8 wickets in the opening ODI to go 1-0 up in the 3 match series. It was a resounding performance from the Men in Blue which saw them thrash England in all 3 departments of the game. Kuldeep Yadav was the man of the moment with the ball bagging 6 wickets for just 25 runs. With the bat, it was a wonderful century by Rohit Sharma which helped India coast to the target of 269. Virat Kohli also played a stunning hand of 75 runs.

The English openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow began in a fluent fashion. Both struck some wonderful shots to get going. Roy, in particular, looked in great touch and raced off to 38. Bairstow also looked in fine knick against the faster bowlers. It was Kuldeep Yadav who provided the first breakthrough when Roy played a false shit. He added a couple more in a matter of minutes as England fell off the track.

Kuldeep bamboozles England 

From 73/0, they were reduced to 82/3. Yuzvendra Chahal also bagged the wicket of Eoin Morgan in quick time. Jo Buttler and Ben Stokes shared a good partnership with each other. Buttler looked in solid touch and scored yet another half-century. He played himself in and played some great shots. However, it was Kuldeep again who bagged the wicket of Buttler.

He added a couple more in the form of Ben Stokes and David Willey’s wicket. England eventually reached 268 in their allotted 50 overs which was never going to be enough. The Indian openers began on a resounding note with both Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma looking in great touch. Dhawan, in particular, played a couple of gorgeous cover drives. He was dismissed on 40 of 27 deliveries by Moeen Ali. He went for a big shot and was caught at point.

Kohli came out to bat at No 3 for the first time in the tour. Rohit and Kohli shared yet another brilliant partnership with each other which almost sealed the match for India. Rohit struck some exceptional shots en route to his well-deserved century. Kohli also played some wonderful cover drives en route to 75 before being dismissed by Adil Rashid.

Rohit carried on his great work and eventually remained unbeaten on 137 as India sealed the match with deliveries to spare. They made a great statement and will be the overwhelming favourite to complete a whitewash.

This is what winning skipper Virat Kohli said at the post-match presentation

As clinical as it can be. We knew it was a good wicket to bat on. Those wrist spinners in the middle overs are going to be tricky. Kuldeep was outstanding. I don’t think I have seen a better spell in ODIs of late. We made a tactical decision looking at the dimension of the ground. These two wrist spinners have been making the difference since they have come in. They did it in South Africa. Anything is possible with the selections for Tests. The focus now is winning on the next two games. Especially the next game as the series is on the line. The weather has been lovely. The crowd support has been excellent.