ODI World Cup 2023: India vs England, 29th ODI – Who Said What?

India. (Photo Source: Twitter/BCCI)

India kept their winning streak alive in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, following a tremendous win over defending champions England at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, in Lucknow. Batting first, the Men in Blue struggled to get going but Rohit Sharma led by example and hit 87 runs to keep the ship sailing. After he got out, Suryakumar Yadav played one of his best ODI knocks, as his 49 runs helped India post 229 runs on board in the first innings.

When it came to the chase, the duo of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah rattled through England’s top order. Bumrah picked up the wickets of Dawid Malan and Joe Root in the fifth over of the innings while Bumrah sent Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes back to the pavilion before the first powerplay. Later on, Kuldeep Yadav was fantastic along with Ravindra Jadeja, as India managed a comfortable win over the Three Lions.

Rohit leading from the front

After losing three early wickets, Rohit kept his calm and played a brilliant knock under pressure. Unlike his naturally aggressive game, the cricketer got adjudged to the conditions in Lucknow and managed to pull India out of a poor position. He played a huge role in helping India post a good total on a surface, that’s not an easy one to bat on.

Bumrah-Shami camaraderie

The pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami was sensational yet again as they picked up a total of five wickets. England’s top order had no answer to the questions Indian bowlers asked and that’s a massive positive ahead of the business end of the competition.

The Strategy

Jos Buttler electing to bowl first seemed odd as the pitch seemed to get on the slower side right from the beginning. On the other hand, Ben Stokes losing his wicket by playing an aggressive brand of cricket under pressure seemed odd as well. Hence, the team will have to go back to the dressing room and work on their strategies as it seems to be the end of their campaign in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023.

Losing skipper Jos Buttler said:

Very disappointed. At the halfway stage, chasing 230, we fancied ourselves, same old story. I wasn’t sure if dew would come or not. We bowled well, took wickets, we would have taken 229. Personally, I wanted to soak some pressure up and then build a partnership and kill the momentum that India had. It’s about committing and executing your skill. There wasn’t scoreboard pressure. We are just falling short whichever way we are doing it. Some top players, we are a long way short of our best. Excellent start in the powerplay, there was a bit of indifferent bounce, the ground fielding was good. It felt like today was the day, but we didn’t back it up with the bat. We still got lots to play for.

Winning skipper Rohit Sharma said:

This was the game, a lot of character in the squad. All our experienced played stood up at the right time and got the game for us. Looking at how the tournament has go on, we had to come and bat here. We were challenged upfront, they bowled pretty well upfront. To get to a total on a pitch that something in it, we just wanted to get to a total we could play with it. We were not great with the bat. Losing three wickets isn’t the ideal situation. Couple of guys threw it, including myself. When you look at the overall picture, we were 30 runs short. It’s not something you see everyday. When you start your innings, you have to try and get a couple of wickets to put the pressure back on the opposition. You can always rely on our seamers to come good and get those crucial breakthroughs. They exploited the conditions. They put the ball in the right areas. We have a good balance (in the bowling), there’s a bit of options and with experience as well. It’s very important that the batters put runs on the board.

POTM Rohit Sharma said:

Looking at where we were after the first 10 overs it was really important to create that partnership with KL Rahul. It was a challenging pitch, it got better to bat on as the game progressed, but happy with that win. I have got experience, it’s not only about going out there and playing my shots (got to assess the conditions and situation) as well. It was necessary for me to create that partnership with KL. I still felt we were 20 runs short (at the halfway stage). Batting against the new ball was a bit challenging, the ball got softer and it wasn’t easy rotating strike either. Like I said we were 15-20 runs short, but I will take that win any day..