India Vs England 2021: Twitter Erupts As England Suffer An Epic Collapse To Hand India A Comprehensive Win

By Yash Mittal

Updated - 23 Mar 2021, 10:45 PM

India, Michael Vaughan, Virat Kohli, Dinesh KarthikIndia, Sanjay Bangar, Dinesh Karthik
India [Image-BCCI]

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A brilliant comeback by Team India’s bowlers-led by debutant Prasidh Krishna [4/54] and Shardul Thakur [3/37] has helped the hosts to insinuate a stunning English collapse- from 0/135 to 251 all-out- and pick up a comprehensive 66-run victory in the first ODI in Pune.

Chasing 318, England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow batted cautiously in the first five overs, especially against Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who got the ball to hop around.

Just 24 runs came in the first five overs but post that they proceeded to launch a stunning assault on India bowlers. Jonny Bairstow started it off by smashing two sixes and two fours off Prasidh Krishna in the sixth over.

India, England
Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy [Image-BCCI]
22 runs came off Krishna’s over after which Roy and Bairstow knocked the stuffing out of the Indian bowlers as they racked up 65 in the next five to take England’s total to 0-89 in the first ten.

Bairstow completed his half-century in just 40 deliveries with a pull behind square off Kuldeep and he backed it up with a six over mid-wicket as England raced to 0-107 in 12 overs.

Bairstow was in that sort of mood that it didn’t really matter who was bowling. The swashbuckler smashed consecutive sixes in the next over bowled by Krunal Pandya and then another one-off Kuldeep as he raced to 80 off just 50 deliveries.

India, England
Prasidh Krishna with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul [Image-BCCI]
With England smashing their way to 0/131 in just 14 overs, India desperately needed a wicket to stage a comeback. And, that is exactly what Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur provided them in the next 10 overs.

Kohli brought Krishna in the attack and the debutant, who had suffered the wrath of Bairstow during his first spell, responded brilliantly as he claimed the wickets of both Jason Roy (46 off 35 balls) and Ben Stokes (1 off 11 balls) within a space of 2 overs. He could have also got Eoin Morgan for a duck but for skipper Virat Kohli who dropped a simple catch in the slip cordon.

Shardul Thakur [Image-BCCI]
However, it did not prove to be a costly miss thanks to Shardul Thakur. The seam-bowling all-rounder came back in his second spell to dismiss Bairstow (94 off 66 balls), Eoin Morgan (22 off 30 balls) and Jos Buttler (2 off 4 balls) within a span of two overs as England slumped from 0/135 to 5/176.

Sam Billings and Moeen Ali stitched a valuable 41-run-stand for the sixth wicket but Prasidh Krishna once again proved to be the partnership-breaker as he induced Billings into an ill-fated drive and Kohli did not make any mistake this time around as he completed an easy catch at short cover.

Moeen Ali looked in good touch during his 37-ball 30 but before he could convert it into a game-changing knock, Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent him packing on the first ball of his second spell as he got one to zip and bounce off the surface to take Ali’s outside edge.

With 79 needed off the last eight overs, England had no option but to force the pace and take the attack to the Indian bowlers and in doing so, Sam Curran perished as he mistimed a lofted hoike across the line off Krunal Pandya to give Shubman Gill an easy catch. England 8-240. The wheels eventually came off as Bhuvneshwar sent Adil Rashid packing in the next over. The innings eventually ended with Prasidh Krishna claiming his 4th wicket to become the first Indian debutant to take four ODI wickets as India notched up a comprehensive 66-run win.

 

 

India posted 6/317 thanks to half-centuries from Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Krunal Pandya and KL Rahul

Batting first, India got off to a sedate but steady start as the opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma laid the platform with yet another 50+ partnership.

The duo accumulated 64 runs in 15.1 overs but just as it looked like Rohit Sharma was getting prime for a big knock, he needlessly chased a wide delivery from Ben Stokes to give an easy catch to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

With the run-rate hovering around the 4 run mark, India got a move on during the middle-overs thanks to the duo of Virat Kohli (56) and Shikhar Dhawan (98), who stitched a 105-run-stand for the 2nd wicket in just 17 overs.

Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli [Image-BCCI]
Virat Kohli looked in imperious touch right from the start of his innings. It was a typical Kohli knock laced with swift running between the wickets and sumptuous strokeplay.

Virat raced to a run-a-ball fifty but just as it looked like the champion batsman was warming up for his first international hundred since November 2019, he fell against the run of play as he chipped the attempted flick straight to Moeen Ali at deep midwicket.

Kohli’s wicket not only put the breaks on the scoring but also saw India lose three prized wickets in the form of Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, and Shikhar Dhawan, who missed out on his 18th ODI ton as he fell to Ben Stokes for 98.

It was an imperious inning by the Indian southpaw, who regained his form after having been dropped from the playing 11 following the first T20I where he struggled to a 12-ball 4.

It was a typical Shikhar Dhawan knock, laced with boundaries all around the ground. The southpaw got two lucky reprieves- a close LBW call off Adil Rashid and a dropped catch by Moeen Ali- but barring that, the stylish opener looked in absolute control throughout his knock.

KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya
KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya. (Credits: Twitter)

With India managing just 46 runs between overs 31-40, the home side desperately needed a move on, which they got thanks to debutant Krunal Pandya and KL Rahul.

Krunal Pandya announced himself to the ODI arena with a counterattacking knock, one that put the English bowlers on the backfoot.

Pandya (58* off 31) smashed three boundaries off the first seven balls he faced, and he never looked back post that as he raced his way to a 26-ball half-century- the fastest by a cricketer on ODI debut.

KL Rahul too regained his form and gave a glimpse of his immense talent as he played some sumptuous strokes during his unbeaten 43-ball 62. Thanks to the duo’s onslaught, India smashed 112 runs in the last 10 to end up with 5/317 after 50 overs.

 

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

https://twitter.com/im_yash2307/status/1374386559248523271

https://twitter.com/im_yash2307/status/1374343094921928711?s=19

https://twitter.com/im_yash2307/status/1374313036366843908?s=19

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