England beat India comfortably by 100 runs to level the ODI series at Lord’s. India won the toss and decided to bowl first, Rohit Sharma was expecting some assistance from the pitch early on which can be utilized by Bumrah and Shammi as they did in Edgebaston. Bumrah and Shammi troubled both Jason Roy and Johny Bairstow, but the luck didn’t favor the bowlers this time like in the previous match. Both openers were beaten continuously, however, didn’t find an edge on most occasions and when they found it, it went to the gaps. Jason Roy and Johny Bairstow also played some good shots in between.
Shammi was excellent, Bairstow edged one to second slip, but no one grabbed the opportunity, Rohit had already moved from the second slip in the previous delivery. Still no luck for Shammi, he has bowled beautifully so far although the figures don’t tell the story. Roy smashed one back to Bumrah but didn’t stick to his hand, really tough chance. Excellent bowling, best players like Bumrah quickly work out a plan and adapts to what’s happening in the middle. Hardik Pandya comes as the first bowling change for Shammi. Jason Roy clicks the one in the air and straight to Surya Kumar Yadav in the deep. England was 41/1 after 8.5 overs, the first wicket for Hardik and India. Joe Root, a very fine player of spin bowling comes in.
Hardik Pandya was removed from the attack after two overs and Chahal came to the party in the 13th over. Bairstow welcomed him with a boundary, Chahal slightly overpitched and gave a little bit of room, a perfect position to play that through extra cover, excellent from Bairstow. Bairstow didn’t stop there, two other boundaries of Prasidh Krishna in the next over, and he quickly moves on to 37 from 35 balls after the 14th over. Bairstow goes hard at the leg side, too full delivery from Chahal, misses and hits the stumps. Chahal scalps second for India and this is a huge wicket, a big breakthrough for India, England is 72/2. The pair has given a sign of recovery and a partnership was building. A poor shot selection from Bairstow spoils the rhythm and Chahal was smart this time.
Change of bowling, Shammi returns at the nursery end in the 17 the over. Stokes skies one into the air, Chahal tries to get there but not quick enough. Stokes didn’t stop there and he was in a mood to swing the bat, cracking an aggressive cover drive for a single in the next delivery.
A confident appeal from Chahal for leg before, and the umpire was given it out, Root immediately reviews it. Pitched full-on middle and leg, Root went for the sweep and missed it. Replays confirmed that no edge and the ball is going to hit the middle stump. Root’s head is down and he walked back to the pavilion and England was 82/3. The only reason Root would have called for a review might be, thinking the ball would have turned and gone down the leg side.
England is in trouble and the captain walks in, but the expectation of building a partnership didn’t go well with English fans’ expectations. Shammi bowls Jos Butler out with a cracking delivery. An attempt to flick a full and straight delivery landed on the middle and off stump, but Butler completely misses it. That was a massive wicket for India, what high-quality bowling from Shammi, England was 87/4. All the hopes were now on Stokes and Livingstone, England was looking up to them to build a partnership here. Stokes didn’t defend much, he was continuously reverse sweeping Chahal and scored few boundaries as well. Chahal had the last laugh, Stokes went for the reverse sweep against a straight ball, pitched just outside off, and would have gone to hit the middle. England lost their fifth and a collapse was in sight like the previous game.
Thanks to Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone, they have added 46 runs off 45 balls for the 6th wicket, which was the highest of the match so far. Hardik Pandya comes to the attack on the 29th over and Livingstone changed the gear and scored 15 runs in the first five balls including a six and a four. Hardik Pandya bowled a short ball and Livingstone was down the track again and pulled it, only to find Shreyas Iyer at the deep square leg. England was reduced to 148/6.
It was looking like India is going to wash up the English tail quickly when Wiley top-edged one towards fine leg, Prasidh Krishna dropped a sitter and that was going to cost India. Moeen Ali and David Wiley went on to make the highest partnership of the game and have taken the score beyond 200. Both of them smashed 2 sixes and 2 fours each, of which Wiley smacked six against the number one ODI bowler Bumrah. Change of pace from Bumrah got Wiley in the same over, however, by that time the English score was 237/8. England was bowled out for 246 in the 49th over and it wasn’t looking like a decent score that time.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhavan started cautiously, but the bounce and movement from Topley troubled the Indian openers and that wasn’t the start that India expected. Soon India was reduced to 31/4 in 11.2 overs with all the top order batsmen including Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhavan, Rishabh Pant, and Virat Kohli back in the pavilion. Surya Kumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya added 42 runs off 54 balls and that was the best partnership in the Indian innings. India couldn’t find any rhythm after the initial blow and was losing wickets in intervals.
Reece Topley was the leading wicket-taker, with the figures of 6 wickets for 24 runs in the 9.5 overs bowled. David Wiley provided excellent support from the other end and his figures read 1 for 27 in 9 overs. The battle has now taken to the 3rd ODI to decide on who is going to take the series.
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