Lucknow: In front of 46,000 fans at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium on Sunday, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah bowled spells to remember for a long time as India thrashed England by 100 runs to maintain their unbeaten run in the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup and jump to the top of the points table with 12 points.
Put in to bat first for the first time in the competition, India could only make 229/9 on a tricky two-paced pitch. Captain Rohit Sharma top-scored for India with 87 from 101 balls and stood tall even as others fell around him.
Rohit held the innings together with a gritty knock laced with ten fours and three sixes, while adding 91 runs for the fourth wicket with K.L. Rahul. Suryakumar Yadav made a crucial 49 for India to go above 200.
England had scored 30 runs off their first 27 balls, but after that, Bumrah and Shami, along with Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, blew them away with a fantastic show of accurate bowling to skittle the listless defending champions for 129 in 34.5 overs.
While Shami took 4-22, Bumrah was superb in 3-32. Kuldeep was great in 2-24 while Jadeja took 1-16 as England lost their fifth match in a row.
Chasing 230, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow got going by hitting five boundaries in 4.3 overs. But in an attempt to cut Jasprit Bumrah through the off-side, Malan could only get an inside edge shattering his stumps. The fans’ voice grew louder on the very next ball as Bumrah trapped Joe Root plumb lbw with a skiddy delivery which kept low, with the batter burning a review.
Relentless bowling from the Indian bowlers, where they beat the edges of the batters consistently, resulted in Ben Stokes trying to smash Mohammed Shami down the ground but was castled. There was no end to England’s trouble as Jonny Bairstow got an inside edge on the pads while trying to cut off Shami and the ball rolled onto the stumps.
England’s hopes continued to slide as Kuldeep Yadav got a tossed-up delivery to turn a mile and got some grip off the pitch to leave Jos Buttler’s stumps in tatters. Shami came back in the 24th over and immediately struck on the first ball by having Moeen Ali nick behind to KL Rahul.
Though dew came around, there was no stopping England’s slide. Ravindra Jadeja had Chris Woakes stumped easily while Kuldeep Yadav trapped Liam Livingstone plumb in front through a googly.
Adil Rashid and David Willey tried delaying the inevitable, but Shami took the former out by castling him through the gate and Bumrah castled Mark Wood to bring England’s misery to an end.
Brief scores:
India 229/9 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 87, Suryakumar Yadav 49; David Willey 3-45, Chris Woakes 2-33) beat England 129 in 34.5 overs (Liam Livingstone 27, Dawid Malan 16; Mohammed Shami 4-22, Jasprit Bumrah 3-32) by 100 runs
(IANS)
