England vs India, 2018 second ODI: David Willey’s fiery fifty is the SK turning point of the match
In a must-win game for the hosts England, for them to stay alive in the series they went in with an unchanged side. There were some people who felt Jake Ball merited a chance instead of Moen Ali considering the pitch which was a bit slow and had something in it for the fast bowlers.
After their convincing win where Kuldeep Yadav’s superlative bowling performance of 6/25 followed by Rohit Sharma’s 137 no in the chase meant that India also went in unchanged for this game. Eoin Morgan won the toss and surprisingly decided to bat first. The trend nowadays is to generally put the opposition into bat.
That decision proved to be a masterstroke as the pitch became slower and was tough to score freely on during the second innings. England’s batsmen put more value on their wickets and built a solid platform after choosing to bat first. They were cruising at 191/3 in 30 overs with Joe Root and Eoin Morgan dominating proceedings.
But India pulled things back rather well in the next ten overs, leaving the hosts 225/6 in 40 overs. At one stage they were on course for a total in excess of 340 and it looked like India would manage to restrict to a much lower total.
After removing Moen Ali (14), India’s bowlers seemed to have dropped their guard a bit as fast bowler David Willey’s fiery batting came as a shock to them. The left-handed batsmen who is capable of hitting the big shots went to score his maiden fifty. Undoubtedly, his knock in partnership with Joe Root is the SK Turning Point of the Match.
England’s experienced batsmen put their hands up when it mattere
England were very aware that they would need to negotiate the Kuldeep Yadav threat without too much damage. Also what halted their batting surge in the first ODI was the constant fall of wickets ensuring no concrete partnerships could be formed. Too many of their batsmen got off to starts and didn’t convert it.
In the all-important clash at The Lord’s, the experience of Joe Root came in really handy for England. Some doubted Joe Root’s inability to convert his starts into bigger scores in ODI’s. Joe Root’s beautifully crafted century (113) laced with eight boundaries and a six was exactly what the doctor ordered as far as the hosts were concerned.
He was supported well by Eoin Morgan (53) and David Willey( 50 no) on course to providing India a stiff target of 323 to chase down on a pitch which had something for the bowlers especially the spinners.
Eoin Morgan’s gut feeling was backed up really well by his bowlers
Eoin Morgan decided to bat first as he felt the pitch would become slower and harder to bat on as the game progresses. His gut feeling proved to be spot on. On a slightly spongy surface where the batsmen needed to get themselves in, England’s Joe Root played the innings that was required to ensure India were on the back foot chasing a mammoth total of 323 runs.
With the pitch slowing down and having something in it for the spinners, Eoin Morgan’s decision to stick with Moeen Ali proved to be the right one. Moen Ali along with Adil Rashid bossed the middle stage of the innings after couple of reckless shots meant both the openers were dismissed early in the chase for England.
After KL Rahul’s early dismissal (0), the burden of building the innings and ensuring India were in a position to chase the stiff target fell on Virat Kohli’s able shoulders. But the spinners, Moen( 10-0-41-1) and Adil Rashid( 10-0-38-2) never allowed the batsmen to get away.
They understood that this pitch had something in it for them and bowling together they completely curbed the scoring for India. The spin duo who have been among the main reasons for England’s resurgence in the LOI format post the ICC World Cup 2015 yet again proved why they are so critical to England’s success.
In the end, India were plagued by issues that has bothered them in recent times- the number 4 position yet again yielding no results, the death overs bowling not being good enough and their batsmen collectively not being able to handle spinners.
India will have not too much time to ponder on what went wrong in the second ODI as they head into the series decider at Headingley, Leeds. The series decider promises to be a cracker of a contest as England have found their footing with a convincing win at The Lord’s and India would want to bounce back after a disappointing defeat to win the series.