India vs England 2016-17: Talking points from the 3rd ODI
England registered their first win of their tour of India as they beat India by five runs in the third ODI at Kolkata. India still ended up winning the series 2-1 and the action will now shift to the three-match T20I series.
After winning the toss, India elected to field. England got off to the perfect start with a new-look opening partnership of Jason Roy and Sam Billings. But both batsmen were dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja and although there were three fifties in the England innings, it was only thanks to Stokes and Woakes that they managed to get 321/8.
In response, India lost both openers cheaply. Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh began the rebuilding process and soon after Kohli departed, it was Yuvraj and Dhoni who were given the responsibility of guiding India home. In the end, however, it fell on the inexperienced international duo of Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya, who showed plenty of composure but just couldn’t quite get India home in the end.
Here are the major talking points from the game, which also happened to be Kohli’s first loss as a captain in India:
Perfect pitch for ODI
With par scores on the rise and batsmen scoring runs for fun, many fear for the bowlers, especially in ODIs. While T20s have always been about runs and entertainment and Tests being about taking 20 wickets and patience, ODI seemed to be losing relevance.
Afterall, you can’t blame them. It is little fun watching a high-scoring run chase when they are commonplace. If even 350+ total isn’t safe and is likely to be chased more often than not, bowlers become mere cannon fodder. But the pitch provided for the third ODI might be a template for others to replicate so the format doesn’t lose its relevance.
The pitch offered something for the fast bowlers and yet wasn’t heaped in favour of the bowlers making run-scoring difficult. There were six players who scored fifties in the match and big-hitting was still possible, once the batsman was set.
After scores of at least 350 in the last two matches, 321 might have seemed too less but the fact that the pitch was assisting the seamers meant that it was always going to be defendable which is more than what could be said about the first two ODIs of the series.