Chris Woakes jumped down the pitch and took a swing at Ravindra Jadeja, the ball gripped a touch and beat the outside edge and KL Rahul had the bails off in aflash. England were 98 for 7 and as the players took a break for drinks, the lights in Lucknow were turned off for a brief laser show.
To be fair, it seemed a bit of an overkill, like the fireworks at the end of the match, when England folded for 129, handing India a 100-run victory. In six matches in the tournament England have only one win, against Bangladesh, and are rooted firmly to the bottom of the table.
Perhaps no team has come into a World Cup with so much expected of them and done as little as England have. The only team running them close was India in 2007. But India have little to worry about in 2023. Top of the table and with a range of players who just keep coming up with the goods, irrespective of the opposition or the conditions, they are now the team to beat.
When England won the toss and put India in, the one real surprise was that India continued to bench R Ashwin. On a surface that looked more like a third-day pitch of a Test match, there was sure to be some purchase, a bit of variable bounce and what modern bowlers like to refer to as natural variation.
This was clear quite early on, with the ball stopping and coming onto the bat. Fortunately for India, there are few batsmen in the world better and watching the ball early and playing it late than Rohit Sharma.Not so positively for the home team, Rohit’s partners lacked his patience. Shubman Gill got one from Chris Woakes that moved in a smidge and had his middle stump pegged back. Virat Kohli, having gone eight balls without scoring, tried to force the pace, coming down the pitch and swinging for the fences, but he only found mid-on.Shreyas Iyer, for the umpteenth time, could not resist playing the pull, despite it not being one of his strong shots and sent a catch straight up in the air. India had not really been tested batting first in this tournament and here they were at 40 for 3.
The situation was set up nicely for KL Rahul, as the need of the hour was crease occupation and working the ball into the gaps, accumulating rather than manufacturing runs. Rohit provided the template, not committing to the stroke early and deflecting the ball into the gaps to pick up safe ones and twos.
When Rohit got to his 50, off 66 balls, he did not even acknowledge e the cheers of the crowd with a raise of the bat. Possibly because he knew that there was still plenty of work to be done and also because he was not best pleased with the manner in which wickets fell at the other end.
When all was going well, KL Rahul (39) went too hard at one and a 91-run fourth-wicket partnership had come to an end. In the 37th over, a visibly tiring Rohit tried to monster one over deep midwicket but was well caught by Liam Livingstone, falling short of a century by 13 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav (49), with some help from the tail, pushed India along to 229 for 9. Then came the old twocard trick. Jasprit Bumrah pushed the batsmen back in the crease, and Dawid Malan dragged the ball back into his stumps. Bumrah then delivered.
the perfect ball to Joe Root, landing on off and coming in a touch. Root has a tendency to fall over early enough and the umpire’s finger went up for the LBW shout. The review was taken and even a faint murmur there was not enough to save Root.
Mohammad Shami then took over setting up Ben Stokes with a series of deliveries going and away and then nipping one back. He replicated this reverse to get rid of Jonny Bairstow and England were 49 for 4.
From there, the bowlers chipped in and it was only a yorker from Bumrah that denied Shami his second five-wicket haul in as many matches in this tournament. He had to settle for 4 for 22.
England might complain that the pitch was not one on which you could hit through the line with any confidence. They may also express unhappiness at the Root dismissal. But, both these things are largely irrelevant. The fact of the matter was that Rohit had shown them exactly how to approach run-scoring in these conditions and they didn’t, or couldn’t adapt their approach to match his.
Denial of responsibility! My Droll is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
