4 things you may have missed in the final England v India ODI
After the euphoria of the 2018 World Cup came to an end, all eyes were set on the third and deciding one day international between India and England at Leeds. Both the teams are amongst the best in the world in the 50 over format.
Hence, the fans were hoping for a tight contest. England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to field first. India got off to a bad start as Rohit Sharma departed early. The Delhi duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli tried to revive India’s innings but Dhawan was run out owing to some excellent fielding by Ben Stokes. From there on, wickets kept felling at regular intervals and India could only muster 256 runs from their 50 overs.
In reply, England got off to a smashing start as the English openers went hell for leather in the mandatory powerplay. Although India did manage to get rid of the English openers, but the senior duo of Joe Root and Eoin Morgan dug in and played out the wrist spin threat of India with ease. Their brilliant partnership ensured that England chased down the target easily.
Let us have a some of the things you may have missed from the final ODI.
#1 Dhoni struggles again
After getting a lot of flak for his subdued innings in the second ODI, Indian fans expected former captain M.S Dhoni to bounce back in style. However, things did not change much for Dhoni, as he struggled to get the boundaries away.
His innings of 42 runs from 66 balls sucked all the momentum from India’s innings. Indian fans were expecting a high voltage finish from Dhoni, but he edged a regulation catch to Jos Buttler off the bowling of David Willey in the 46th over. Some might say that the lack of wickets to play with forced his hand, but Dhoni did not go for the big shots even in the last 10 overs. India need to sort out this middle order conundrum to get the best out of Dhoni.