Five Talking points from England v India 2nd ODI
After winning the first ODI at Manchester without breaking a sweat, the Indians were brimming with confidence coming into this encounter. Eoin Morgan won the toss and surprised everyone by opting to bat first in batting friendly conditions.
Jonny Bairstow got off to a decent start but yet again fell to Kuldeep Yadav. Jason Roy threw away his wicket and then Morgan combined with Joe Root for a good partnership. Then, David Willey played some stunning strokes for his half-century and propelled England to a competitive total of 322.
Chasing 323, India lost both their openers in the powerplay. Again it was Virat Kohli who carried India’s hopes on a chase but once he got out, India could never catch up with the run rate and fell short of the target by 86 runs. Here are 5 talking points from the game,
1. Root’s century
Before this series begun, there was a lot of curiosity and criticism surrounding Root’s limited overs credentials. He was the outsider in a batting line up filled with power hitters who can take the game away in a few overs.
He came to bat in the 11th over after Bairstow's dismissal and steadied the England innings by playing a very mature knock. He took a lesson for the fellow English batsmen on how to read Kuldeep’s googlies and leg spinners. He constantly used his feet against the spinners and never allowed them to settle. Even when other batsmen were falling at the other end, he remained calm and reached a well deserved century.