England vs India, 1st ODI: 5 Talking points from the game
After winning the decider at Bristol to seal the T20I series, India walked into the ODI series riding high on confidence as they look to give England a tough fight in a format where they have been on a roll in the past two years. It was a faceoff between the No.1 and No.2 ranked ODI side and certainly the two best teams currently in the International circuit.
The first encounter of the 3-match ODI series was scheduled to take place at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. This was the same venue where England, a month ago, registered the highest ODI total of 481 against Australia.
On a pleasant afternoon, Virat Kohli won the toss and asked the home team to put runs on the board. England started convincingly in the powerplay but it was only before Kuldeep came and wreaked havoc in that English middle order to push the hosts on the backfoot. His astonishing performance helped India to bowl them out to just 268 runs.
Chasing a modest 269, India's chase was intimidating for the home team. After a quick fiery 40 by Shikhar Dhawan, the duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli eased their way to see India home easily. Rohit, with his remarkable ton, did enough to send a strong message in the English camp as India cruised their way to victory by 8 wickets.
We take a look at 5 talking points from the match:
#1 Kuldeep Yadav leaves England stranded with his Chinaman
It was only time when Kuldeep Yadav unjustified Kohli’s decision to not play him in the decider of the T20I series in Bristol citing reasons of the shorter boundaries. The left-arm leg-spinner was yet again back in the business with England batsmen failing to pick him from his wrist.
His success has been supported by the fact that he has not tried to experiment much with his bowling and has stuck to his orthodox variations with googly and leg spin being his stock deliveries.
Even in today’s fixture, the Chinaman was right on the money to wreak havoc in that unsettled English middle order. He was impressive in his first spell to strike thrice in a span of 11 deliveries to see visitors make a comeback into the game.
Even in his 2nd spell, he continued his carnage to add three more to his tally to bag his maiden fifer in ODI cricket. He finished with mesmerizing figures of 6 for 25 in his 10 overs to become the only left-arm leg-spinner to bag a 6-fer in limited overs cricket.