England vs India ODIs: 5 instances when England got bamboozled by an Indian spinner
On 19 June 2018, England bludgeoned the Aussies in Nottingham, scoring a world record of 481-6 and won the match by a huge margin of 242 runs. Nearly a month later, the same England team has been deceived by an extraordinary spell of 23-year old Indian Chinaman.
Since the 2015 World Cup, the England team has depicted fearless brand of cricket under Morgan's captaincy. But when it comes to Indian spin bowling, they have always been vulnerable to its precision and uncertainty.
The T20I series between England and India provided an exciting start to the long tour and gave us a glimpse of the current Indian team's versatile nature building up to the ODI series.
ODI series
Winning the toss and deciding to bowl first in the series opener, Kohli realized that bringing in the Chinaman early was necessary after the blistering start by England openers in the powerplay. Kuldeep got rid of Jason Roy in the 2nd ball of his spell, starting a landslide in their innings.
Ending with magical figures of 10-0-25-6, he registered the best bowling figure in a match by a left-arm spinner, restricting England to an under par score of 268. With Rohit's unbeaten 137 off 114 balls, India recorded their second best-ever win against England (in terms of no. of balls left to spare) in ODIs.
At the post-match presentation, Eoin Morgan said- "Playing against spin is a challenge we will hopefully continue to improve on. Kuldeep extracted more turn than any other spinner. Our playing against spin will have to improve. To be honest, between now and the World Cup we need to expose our areas of weakness and this is one of them."
Though Morgan's concern is right at the moment, the England team's vulnerability to Indian spinners goes way long back into decades. So its time to have a look at some intriguing spells by Indian spinners against England.
#5 Ravindra Jadeja (8-0-33-4), Kolkata (2010)
Coming into the team after some good performances in U-19 World Cup, Jadeja made his mark as an allrounder in a 5-match ODI series against England in 2010. Being 0-4 down in the series, England looked for a consolation win in the last match.
Keeping in mind that the Indian team are good chasers, Cook won the toss and decided to bowl first on a spin pitch in Kolkata. Chasing a total of 272, England were cruising towards the target with ease as Cook and Kieswetter notched up a 100-run opening partnership in 16 overs.
Jadeja with his supreme accuracy gave India a crucial breakthrough with Kieswetter's wicket. He along with Ashwin created a havoc in England's innings and reduced them to a paltry score of 176 from 129-1. With his hostile spell of 8-0-33-4, Jadeja won the man of the match award.