Here’s your report.
Jonny Bairstow wins the Player of the Match Award. He’s changed into his shorts, and is smiling. “Delighted to get over the line. I thought we were excellent in the last game we were ahead of the run-rate so it was exactly the same mindset, we saw Ben play some entertaining shots so it was just getting him up the other end. [No plan in the opening partnership] It’s natural, I think I played eight balls in the first 8 or 9 overs while JAson was going all guns, the other day I got off to a good start. The relationship we’v got is great and long may it last. Favourite shot? The one over deep cover. “
And that, phew, is that. Just one last game to go in this epic contest between these two sides. Thanks for all the texts, emails and physics explanations - we’ll see you on Sunday morning!
Kohli: “I thought they batted brilliant well tonight, some of the most amazing batting you’re going to see. You have to give credit, tonight the partnership of Jonny and Ben Stokes didn’t give us a chance. I don’t think the dew played any part in t e second part, its no excuse but as you likely said when two of the best teams are playing against each other one side is going to dominate. Tonight was a case of lack of execution of line and length but at the same time they gave as no chance which is quite rare when you play at that strike rate.” He has to manage Hardik Pandya’s injury. Happy with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant’s batting. Very pleased with his young guys but some of the days it comes off when you’re defending and tonight wasn’t our night.
Here comes the question about his lack of hundreds. “I never played for hundred in my life. I will continue to play this way till the end of my career. ALong the way if you cross a milestone its nice but yuo’re not goign to sit back at teh end of the career how you play the game is more important.”
Atherton is musing on England’s batting. “Fabulous, not just the statistical excellence but the way they score their runs. Once Bairstow started to get the strike, ... left-hand , right hand combination, Kohli had nowhere to go... The white ball must provide such freedom for a player like Bairstow who was under the kosh at Ahmedabad.”
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A final email wafts in from John Starbuck. “He may have missed a couple of catches and failed with the bat, but the stand-in captain didn’t do too badly, did he?
The boy done good. It would be interesting to try and work out how much the team runs itself, such is the strength of the Morgan brand. Stuart Broad has just described the hitting as like a computer game - which is an excellent summary.
Partnerships of 110, 175 and 50 did it for England.
Ah we have Ben Stokes: “I think the pleasing thing for us as a team is that we didn’t go away from our values as a team. Same intent as we always do but managed to get over the line quite easily. At half time, a better wicket than the first game, over the years, we’ve set big totals and chased big totals and we don’t fear too much. We always encourage our players to take the positive options. From a personal and team point of view it was good to express ourselves. We speak about match ups and when the spinners came on I decided that was my match up.. all about picking the match-up. Jonny in amazing form at the moment. Strike rate of their [Roy and Bairstow] scoring is the best in the world.
ENGLAND WIN BY SIX WICKETS!
43.3 over: England 337-4 (Malan 16, Livingstone 27) England win with six overs, four balls and a light lunch to spare. Fabulous hitting from both sides, but England were unstoppable. England level the series, with the decider on Sunday, but retain their status as World No. 1.
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43rd over: England 325-4 (Malan 12, Livingstone 27) England need 337 to win Prasidh on the money, three cracking yorkers that Livingstone can’t get away. Two from the over. England look very content in the dug-out, Moeen Ali waits, knees together, in the dark-blue pads.
“Hi Tanya- am I the only one utterly frustrated with YJB yet again? I mean, when your opponent is down, grind him into the dust, don’t let him get you!
“He knows how prone England are to collapses, so when Stokes goes, surely, SURELY he has to stay to the end?”
Gareth, that seems a touch harsh, the man got 124...
42nd over: England 325-4 (Malan 12, Livingstone 27) England need 337 to win And so this match, after all the bling, will peter to an end. Malan outside edges Bhuvneshwar for four. A casual single or two. Nine needed.
41st over: England 320-4 (Malan 6, Livingstone 26) England need 337 to win Prasidh keeps it tight, but England can slouch back in their deckchairs and wait for the bad balls. Livingstone has removed the - unlikely but theoretically possible - collapse with cool, calm hitting. Impressive.
So, writes George Wigley, “Is this peak (and trough) England: 91 runs and no wickets, in 31 balls, immediately followed by 2 runs and 3 wickets in 9 balls?”
40th over: England 318-4 (Malan 5, Livingstone 26) England need 337 to win Livingstone, on ODI debut, eyes up the parsimonious Bhuvneshwar and bangs him for two sixes. Utterly without fear. Bhuvneshwar hits Malan on the pads last ball, India gamble on the review but it pitched just outside leg.
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39th over: England 302-4 (Malan 4, Livingstone 12) England need 337 to win Kohli perseveres with Kuldeep and Livingstone bang-pulls a short one for four, and they pick up a handful more singles.
“Hi Tanja, reminds me of those natural history films where a couple of adult lionesses almost kill a buffalo and then leave to it their adolescent cubs to finish off.” Brilliant Henry Lubienski! Hope the adolescents have been concentrating and not on their phones.
38th over: England 295-4 (Malan 3, Livingstone 6) England need 337 to win Nurdle and nudge, and England pick up seven from Krunal’s over.
37th over: England 287-4 (Malan 1, Livingstone 1 ) England need 337 to win Well. What an over from Prasidh and a sensational display of nerve-holding. I’d have been planning my dinner by now. England now have a pretty easy equation but two new batsmen and a seed of doubt.
“Hi Tanya,” Hi, Joe Sweeney. “As fellow member of the fair-haired fraternity I feel compelled to defend Bairstow & Stokes from Gary Naylor’s accusations of over-grooming. It isn’t always easy to detect our arm/leg hair with the naked eye (but it’s there) - only way to be sure would to be give said limb a stroke.”
WICKET! Buttler b Prasidh 0
A three ball duck! Buttler has no answer to a perfect yorker.
WICKET! Bairstow c Kohli b Prasidh 124
Pinged it, gloriously, but straight to Virat Kohli at cover! Surely too little, too late....
36th over: England 287-2 (Malan 1, Bairstow 124) England need 337 to win Brilliant from Stokes, utterly brilliant. Unselfish and thrilling: 11 fours and 7 sixes of magnificence. He throws his head back as he walks off, but there’s a rueful grin too.
Stokes 50 to 99 in 12 balls: 66616426624W
— Nick Hoult (@NHoultCricket) March 26, 2021
WICKET! Stokes c Pant b Bhuvneshwar 99 (52 balls)
No! With the third fastest hundred by an Englishman on the cards, Stokes gloves a short ball from Bhuvneshwar through to Pant.
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35th over: England 281-1 (Stokes 95, Bairstow 123) England need 337 to win None of Kohli’s bankers from the first ODI coming up trumps today. Prasidh now gets the treatment. Bairstow carves over extra-cover for six, a skilful woodcutter at his pile. A full toss is crashed straight down the ground for four. The next is pulled for four more, casual as a denim jacket at the roller disco.
India hit 14 sixes in their innings, England have 18 in 35!
34th over: England 266-1 (Stokes 95, Bairstow 109) England need 337 to win Krunal Pandiya having second-match syndrome as Stokes shows no empathy. Desperate to avoid being tonked he bowls two wides but to be honest that’s as good as it gets as Stokes steams three sixes and a four, one of the sixes going through the fingers of poor Kuldeep on the boundary.
Michael Meager writes: CricViz has England well ahead. . collapse time?
33rd over: England 237-1 (Stokes 68, Bairstow 109) England need 337 to win Stokes eyes up the field and smashes Kuldeep: SIX! Six! SIX! Into the stands, as disrepectful as it comes. Kuldeep looks at the ground and gulps. We’ve all been there. Kohli goes over for a chat. At the end of the over Rahul puts his hand round Kuldeep and pats him on the back.
Take back what I said about second fiddle. India have no answer to this.
32nd over: England 218-1 (Stokes 50, Bairstow 108) England need 337 to win A mis-field and scampered single brings Stokes his fifty off 40 balls. Great, careful, second-fiddle-yet-ruthless innings. Bairstow then pulls Thakur with the snap of a banger, losing his bottom hand but none of the power. Four. With soft hands, he nudges the last ball for a single.
An email from Sydney, and Arthur Graves. “ Why couldn’t the English test-team bat like this during the just finished test series? Is it a mindset thing? Surely the wickets aren’t that different, are they?”
They’ve just been discussing this on the radio. A cracking pitch this with nothing really in it for the spinners. Whether that is because India know England wanted to play on spinning pitches in LOI to prepare for the T20 World Cup I don’t know.
Rohit, Kuldeep, and Kohli chew the fat.
Bairstow 100!
31st over: England 211-1 (Stokes 49, Bairstow 102) England need 337 to win Reaches his hundred with another whoop-a-loop six over midwicket . Takes his helmet off, smiles, looks to the sky, kisses the helmet, has a hug with Stokes. Wonderful innings: brutal, unrelenting and not perturbed by the lack of the strike early on (95 balls). He’s in fantastic form at the moment. Seventeen runs from Kuldeep’s over as Stokes joins in, smashing a looping delivery for six and four more close to the hands of midwicket. Drinks.
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30th over: England 194-1 (Stokes 39, Bairstow 95) England need 337 to win Stokes starts the over by throwing the bat at a wide one and top-edging Thakur for four. Better, much better, with subsequent deliveries, though a Stokes drive deserves more than a single. Can Bairstow reach his hundred from the last two delivery? No, just misses being caught off an uneasy prod, then a single.
Writes Ian Copestake: “Not an email in defence of Ribena, but your cough medicine comparison made me wonder if you knew it needed diluting?”
Oh, you.
29th over: England 188-1 (Stokes 34, Bairstow 94) England need 337 to win Bairstow muscles a ball from under his nose and hoofs it 87m for six! He now has exactly the same score as he was out for in the first ODI. When England fell to bits.
28th over: England 180-1 (Stokes 33, Bairstow 87) England need 337 to win Bhuvneshwar goes uncharacteristically short and wide first ball and is slammed for four. The rest of the over is Bhuvneshwar doing what Bhuvneshwar does best.
Asks Gary Naylor:
Have you noticed, @tjaldred, that both sets of players depilate their arms? There may be method in it - cyclists do it to their legs, as scrapes and road (read grass for cricketers) burns heal more readily.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) March 26, 2021
Looks a bit strange though.
I hadn’t! Are you sure? Would we necessarily see the hair on their arms? Is that why some of the bowlers have taken to wearing arm guards? What about the ones with long sleeves? So many questions...
27th over: England 175-1 (Stokes 33, Bairstow 82) England need 337 to win A feisty pull from Bairstow sends a short ball from Kuldeep swaying down to backward square for four. Kuldeep finishes the over with a beauty that spins away from Stokes and hops over the top edge of his swinging bat into the gloves of Pant.
Good stat from Tim on the spinners’ ineffectiveness this series:
#INDvENG The spinners on both sides in this series have taken 2 for 397 between them at an average of 198, the seamers 19 for 666 at 35 @tjaldred
— Tim de Lisle (@TimdeLisle) March 26, 2021
26th over: England 170-1 (Stokes 33, Bairstow 77) England need 337 to win It feels like Kohli’s final throw of the dice to bring back Bhuvneshar Kumar. And it so nearly works - as Stokes ambles back for a second run and a smashing throw from Kuldeep Yadav seems to run him out. Or does it? The third umpire replays and enlarges and replays and enlarges and in the end Stokes gets the benefit of the doubt, there’s less than an invisible fingernail in it. Kohli has both hands on his hips. At just over half way through, England are half way there - need another 167.
More thoughts on DRS, this time from Graeme Thorn, “The key to understanding DRS is that it’s a review system, not a video umpiring system: “umpire’s call” is essentially stating that there isn’t enough evidence from tracking or from pictures or sound that theon-field decision should be overturned.”
And one last though from Gary Bartley: “Just a quick one on Umpire’s Call. To remove it would remove one of those magical cricket intangibles, namely that some reviews just ‘look’ out. And conversely some don’t, even if the ball tracking predicts them to be hitting the same amount of the stumps.
If you shoulder-arms to one that swings back in at you, you’re getting given out. If you get a big stride in and miss a sweep, you’ll probably get away with it.
Probably.”
25th over: England 167-1 (Stokes 31, Bairstow 76) England need 337 to win. A much-needed breather for India as Thakur restricts England to just three runs.
24th over: England 164-1 (Stokes 31, Bairstow 73) England need 337 to win. Krunal’s final ball is shovelled into the stratsophere over mid-wicket by Stokes, who has so far cannoned three sixes but no fours. And still the runs come.
An email with a slurp from Tim Sanders: “Hello Tanya – I feel duty-bound to quash any thoughts of Ribena as a sports drink, since they responded to the UK tax on sugary drinks by switching entirely to artificial sweeteners. I have Type 1 diabetes, and the old stuff was my emergency ration of choice for a blood sugar dip. My wife would occasionally be woken by the final slurps following a ‘hypo’ in the small hours. However, they made the switch without changing the look of the carton, so one night I found that a) the Ribena tasted funny, and b) aspartame is no use at all for hypoglycaemia. So now, it’s jelly babies all the way. I sometimes pause to reflect on the terrible waste of all those lovely blackcurrants.”
Oh poor you! (though personally I think Ribena tastes like cough medicine.)
23rd over: England 154-1 (Stokes 24, Bairstow 70) England need 337 to win. Bairstow brings up the England 150 with ppp-perfection in a front foot drive down the ground. He’d already sent the first ball off Prasidh’s over crashing square for four more. This is easy pickings for power-pants England at the moment.
“Afternoon Tanya.” Hello Tom Hopkins
“I tend to agree with Nic (14th over). People think they want clarity/consistency/certainty, but as football is currently finding out they really don’t. They want something that feels ‘fair’, not a quantifiable property. Also as VAR (which doesn’t even try to predict anything) is showing us, the technology doesn’t really provide certainly in any case.
“By the way:Two atoms are walking down the street. One of them says to the other, “Dammit! I’ve lost an electron.”
“Oh no”, his friend replies, “are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m positive.””
Boom Boom!
22nd over: England 142-1 (Stokes 23, Bairstow 59) England need 337 to win. Lots of big shots, but no big runs to show for them as Krunal is tight. Ah, till the last ball, which Stokes pulls with the spin, body swinging with the bat, bat low, ball high - SIX!
“So Nick from Watford is basically saying that umpire’s call in DRS is Schrödinger’s wicket,” writes Robin Hazlehurst. “It is both out and not out simultaneously, and so the ball is both alive and dead simultaneously.”
21st over: England 130-1 (Stokes 16, Bairstow 56) England need 337 to win. Smart fielding from Hardik Pandya sends a run-out upstairs but the throw would have had to be absolutely on point - and it wasn’t. England are ahead of the run-rate, as they were on Tuesday - I think it was about this time that Kohli brought back Prasidh to devastating effect.
20th over: England 128-1 (Stokes 14, Bairstow 56) England need 337 to win. Stokes! Six! Sends Krunal oofing into the imaginary crowd, bat arcing through the air to finish almost where it started. A handy collection of singles and the score speeds along nicely.
“Thanks for bringing us the cricket at our desks, we’re all jealous.” Ah ,well, glad to be of service, Andrew Waters.
“On umpire’s call, I agree with Physicist Nic at 13:29 that to call fo the removal of umpire’s call is to fail to understand machine measurement. It is therefore right that some allowance is given and the umpire’s experience relied on in close cases. However, the problem is that umpire’s call only works one way. Where ball tracking shows the ball hitting the stumps, but within the umpire’s call tolerance, then the batman can still be not out. However, where ball tracking shows the ball missing by even a millimetre, then the batsman is always not out, even if the umpire gave it the other way. For the life of me I can’t understand what logic there is in allowing for an error one way but not the other. I suppose that they want to give the benefit of the doubt to the batsman, but what you’re really doing is failing to acknowledge that a machine error could occur in either direction.”
18th over: England 118-1 (Stokes 6, Bairstow 54) England need 337 to win. Bairstow has ants in his pants, running, or attempting to, on the B of the bang. Just two from Kuldeep’s over.
“I’m glad that Roy and Bairstow displayed considerable patience to begin with, especially against the wily Bhuvra.” writes Column Fordham. “As pointed out observantly by Krishna Iyer (surely an amalgam of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer?), they seem to be following the Indian approach of ‘build and see’. They now seem to reaping the rewards and freeing their wrists. Will the middle order be able to back their good up? Or will we collapse in a miserable heap as per the first ODI?”
17th over: England 116-1 (Stokes 5, Bairstow 53) England need 337 to win.
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16th over: England 111-1 (Stokes 1, Bairstow 52) England need 337 to win. Bairstow, refreshed by isotonic Ribena, or somesuch, eyes up Kuldeep’s first ball and reaches fifty with a wham-bam into the stand. He and Roy run a tight two that would have seen Roy run-out had the throw been more accurate. Unperturbed, they go again next ball, Roy is fuming, throws his bat in the air in disgust. Kuldeep is desperate to review an lbw appeal against Stokes first ball, Pant isn’t keen but Kohli is swung by his bowler. Not out. By a lot.
“Put the puppy on the shelf behind the curtain,” advises John Starbuck. “Works for cats.” I like it, but cats are clever...
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WICKET! Roy run-out (Rohit Sharma) 55
A terrible mix-up as Roy clips the ball nicely and starts running, only for the ball to be picked up smartly at mid-wicket and the stumps thrown down and Roy is out by a year and a day.
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15th over: England 100-0 (Roy 54, Bairstow 43) England need 337 to win. The England hundred comes up as Bairstow enters that Jedi-like state he inhabits at his best, successive, monstrous sixes off Thakur who gets a Kohli talk-to, and sorts out his length for the rest of the over. That is drinks and England are sitting pretty, just where they’d like to be. I think at this point in the first ODI I wrote that it was hard for England to lose it from here so I won’t give you the benefit of my counsel.
14th over: England 87-0 (Roy 54, Bairstow 30) England need 337 to win. Roy reaches his fifty with a toe-ended clunk off Kuldeep that goes for six! Well played.
A physicist writes:“Hi, I’ve just finished two hours of teaching A level physics covering the basics of uncertainties in experimental data.”
“ Umpires call as it exists in DRS is an expression of the quintessentially unknowable position of the ball had bat/pads/boots not interrupted it. To call for it’s removal is to be fundamentally naïve of machine measurement. And further any desire to make sporting decisions “perfect” just comes across as a juvenile self importance, “I deserve to be treated 100% fairly”. Of course you do, but this is the real world and sometimes you just have to suck it up!”
Thank you Nic from Watford!
How about this as a physics/cricket cross over joke:
Where does bad light end up?
- Answer: In a prism.
13th over: England 77-0 (Roy 46, Bairstow 28) England need 337 to win. Bairstow somehow hits Thakur for six without any follow through - think of someone giving gentle catches to a five year old using an old tennis raquet from the back of the shed. The ball before he is beaten by a snorter that rises off the pitch and keeps going high into the hands of the leaping Pant.
13th over: England 68-0 (Roy 43, Bairstow 22) England need 337 to win. Smart bowling from Kuldeep, England only able to pick up a scattering of singles.
Such is the brightness of the Manchester sun that I’ve had to draw the curtains, much to the chagrin of the puppy who can no longer sunbathe. We see Stokes staring unblinking at the action. The sky is now milk-tray purple.
12th over: England 64-0 (Roy 41, Bairstow 21) England need 337 to win. The camera pans over the roofs of Pune as the sun dips further and sky turns salmon pink. Allow yourself a quiet sigh for journeys past. Thakur delivers a wide first ball, but is on the money there on in, with Bairstow timing a drive nicely but straight to the fielder, and Roy nipping one through the covers for another.
“Interesting that Rishab missed out an additional 4 runs from his non-LBW during his innings” writes Jimmy C. “ If India needed 4 to win off the last ball and that happened then everyone, not least Sir Virat of Kohli would be apoplectic with rage! Same scenario if he’d missed it and the ball-tracker showed the ball missing the stumps. Something I’ve considered unfair since DRS came into being and I’m surprised it has not happened in a game yet.
“I’d think that, especially in an LOI or T20, where limited deliveries are available, that an overturned OUT decision should be a dead-ball and the delivery rebowled. No one loses and the integrity of the game remains.”
11th over: England 61-0 (Roy 40, Bairstow 20) England need 337 to win. Kohli whistles up for Kuldeep Yadav, to replace Bhuvneshwar. Short and stocky, like a British rail restaurant car pepper pot, with high hair - and its a smashing over, just two from it. At the same time in their innings, India were 45-2.
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10th over: England 59-0 (Roy 39, Bairstow 19) England need 337 to win. A bowling change as Shardul Thakur replaces Prasidh He blots his four-dot copybook with a ball too short that Bairstow pulls to midwicket, then a not-bad ball that Bairstow punches through the covers with white rose panache.
“First time i’m writing in,” Welcome Krishna Iyer! “But i’ve been following the Guardian OBO for a while now (mostly for Test cricket) and would like to thank you all for doing such a fine job. It’s a pity the broadcasters in India don’t feel the need to telecast matches (especially Test cricket) being held elsewhere in the world. On the flip side, it brings you more readers even for home matches for those of us looking for a fresher and arguably, a more cricket oriented and less “home-team fanboy” perspective.”
“Watching this innings and reading the comparison between Pant and Sehwag is a little strange to me. I get that they evoke the same sort of emotion, particularly for us Indian supporters when they go hammer and tongs. I can’t help but think however, think Jason Roy comes closer to Sehwag than Pant does when it comes to actual batting styles. The same immovable feet often planted close together and that incredible hand-eye coordination. .I’ve always found myself thinking about Virender Sehwag when I watch Jason Roy on one of his good days and likewise, his bad ones when he’s caught on his crease for lack of footwork, again a la Sehwag.
“Back to the game- I wonder if England has consciously taken a leaf from the now orthodox playbook that India have been following so assiduously.”
9th over: England 51-0 (Roy 39, Bairstow 7) England need 337 to win. Virat Kohli turns down an opportunity to review an lbw shout against Bairstow - ooof, it’s a close one though probably would have been umpire’s call. Bairstow brings up the fifty, and his second four, with a paddle off the hips down to the fine leg boundary. Fine bowling from Bhuvneshwar.
“In the first seven overs, Jonny Bairstow faced eight balls,” writes Tim de Lisle. “ If it’s a house party. he seems to have got locked in the bathroom.”
8th over: England 46-0 (Roy 39, Bairstow 7) England need 337 to win. Bairstow has only faced 11 balls of the first eight overs! Prasidh tight and methodical till the final ball which is too fat and juicy - and wide - for Roy to resist and he dispatches it for four.
Shreerang Sarpotdar writes:
@tjaldred Re: the DRS debate, it's more that the umpire's call is the DRS system's way of saying "I'm not completely sure". At its core the DRS is really taking an educated (statistical) guess. To take away umpire's call means substituting one source of uncertainty for another.
— Shreerang Sarpotdar (@shreerangs) March 26, 2021
I think Kohli’s biggest complaint was that it was hard to explain to the layperson - which I respect - but perhaps if you go down that road you end up with the Hundred - which is designed to be easier to understand... will they have umpire’s call in that I wonder?
7th over: England 40-0 (Roy 34, Bairstow 5) England need 337 to win. Jason Roy is hogging the strike, but it doesn’t matter, as he feathers the most delicate of cuts over the top of Pant’s head and then unfurls a ferocious on drive, weight slipping onto the back foot, on tip-toes, with a click of perfection. Bhuvneshwar winces.
6th over: England 30-0 (Roy 25, Bairstow 5) England need 337 to win. Jason Roy now in full flow, three boundaries off Prasidh’s over, who pitches too short and is pulled without mercy.
5th over: England 17-0 (Roy 12, Bairstow 5) England need 337 to win. Seven off Bhuvneshwar’s over, as Bairstow gets off the mark with a pull for four. At the house party, the first few guests have arrived with drinks and the sound system (does that makes me sound 150?) is cranked up.
“Hello Tanya!” Hey, Abhijato Sensarma! “I guess what most common cricket fans (AND a handful of cricket experts) fail to realise is that the DRS is based on a system of predicting where the ball will go, not actually tracking a ball’s trajectory to the stumps. As a result, it employs a system where it’s a singular point in the system we see based on its predictive calculations, not the spherical, physical ball which is shown in the graphics. And if it’s just a virtual point we’re talking about... Isn’t an ‘umpire’s call’ necessary to determine whether real-time judgement corresponds with the eventual, fallible prediction by computers?” Um, perhaps we need a physicist on this?
4th over: England 10-0 (Roy 9, Bairstow 0) England need 337 to win. At last, a boundary! Roy, nicely balanced on two close-together feet, drives Prasidh crisply through the onside for four. Earlier in the over he’d chipped without much of a clue just short of Virat Kohli at cover.
I like this comparison with Sehwag.
@tjaldred On Pant, now enjoy watching him bat even more. Evokes the same feelings in me as watching @virendersehwag , @therealkapildev bat.Fearless and fun! That fraction of a sec he took to nail that slower ball for 6 just shows he is in great form and seeing the ball well.#obo
— Anandkumar N (@anandkumarn) March 26, 2021
3rd over: England 5-0 (Roy 5, Bairstow 0) England need 337 to win. Bhuvneshwar Kumar keeps it tight, very tight, the third ball swings in and screams past the outside edge of the driving Roy. Next ball, Roy has another go and can’t make contact with a wider one. A very quick single finishes the over and frustration will be building in those two boom-boom beating English hearts.
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2nd over: England 4-0 (Roy 4, Bairstow 0) England need 337 to win. Prasidh, four wickets in the first ODI, opens things at the other end. Tall, faintly bearded, legs up to his armpits, everything very straight in delivery. Roy drives nicely but straight to mid-off. The sun appears in the Manchester sky and illuminates the faded arm of my sofa. Roy lifts his leg like a pup at a lamppost and nudges a single off his hip.
1st over: England 3-0 (Roy 3, Bairstow 0) England need 337 to win. Bhuvneshwar takes the first over and Roy picks up a couple from the first ball with an inside edge. A polite single follows, as an orange sun starts to dip down the sk and the floodlights come on.
Interesting discussion on umpire’s call on Sky, after Virat Kohli said it was “creating a lot of confusion.” and from a “basic cricket common sense” there should not be “debates” and a ball should either be out or not. Right the players are in the middle, and England begin their chase....
An email drops in, from Kevin Wilson, “England are great for medium fast first power play bowlers, not just the Currans but also David Willey. And you could probably include Mark Wood in that list too, albeit with about 15mph extra on top. None of these guys are anywhere near good enough at the death. Whether they bowl at full pace or with predictable pace off, they serve 3-4 balls per over in ‘the slot’ for any batsmen who’s in to slam it into the stands. Fair play to Topley but we’re dependent on Archer so much to mitigate the destruction that good teams will exploit at the death.”
Good point though, to be fair, the method has worked well enough to date - taken them to No.1 in the World and the World Cup. But this Indian side are unbelievable - kids, schooled in the IPL, able to come in and hit their socks off.
Is Rishabh Pant shortly to be the biggest star in cricket? His batting is breathtaking, the kids love him and he has the cheeky smile and chutzpah to appeal to everyone.
Some stats to prove how India plot their ODI innings - last ten overs are crucial (and big).
India in overs 41-50 in their last three ODIs
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) March 26, 2021
110/0 vs Aus Canberra
112/1 vs Eng Pune (1st ODI)
126/3 vs Eng Pune (2nd ODI)#INDvENG
Thanks Adam! Great stuff as always. England have got themselves rather a challenge there - I guess we can expect them to go big in the chase from the start, just like Eoin likes it - even the team is temporarily under Jos Buttler’s steely eye. But they’ll need the middle order to do more than they did last time, and not just leave it to the big guns at the top. Respectful fist bump to Reece Topley, especially for that final spell which controlled the Pandya brothers in full flow.
India nailed their plan. Lay a foundation in the power play, build in risk-free fashion through the middle overs, explode at the death. It’s an old-school approach but it suits their experienced line-up down to the ground. They made 112 in the first half of the innings and exacly double that, 224 in the second. Neat. That included 126 of the best in the brutal final stanza, which only Reece Topley was able to mitigate for England. KL Rahul’s ton was well waited for after his troubles in the T20s and a major part of permitting Pant (77 from 40) and Hardik (35 from 16) to give it their all when it mattered most.
Right, so England need 337 to stay in the series. For that, I’ll pass the baton to the redoubtable Tanya Aldred. Thanks for your company!
ENGLAND SET 337
50th over: India 336-6 (Krunal 12, Thakur 0) A slower ball to finish, Krunal getting it into the gap at square leg but only for a couple. A tremendous effort form Topley at the death, his last two overs going for 13 in contrast to the carnage going on around him.
WICKET! Hardik c Roy b Topley 35 (India 334-6)
So well bowled, Reece Topley. Mixing up his pace through this 50th over, he gets Hardik with the knuckle ball, taken by Roy at long-on. Seven from five balls in the 50th so far - a fine performance.
49th over: India 327-5 (Hardik 30, Krunal 8) Tom Curran has over No49. Here we go. At Hardik... and he SLAPS him over long-on for SIX! Imagine seeing a shot like that before the T20 revolution - it’s a different sport now. Krunal’s turn later in the set and he plays a very similar stroke but over the man at cover for four more! He’s a lovely player to watch, swinging his blade so fluently. 14 from the over all up, giving Tom Curran 2/83 from his ten. From memory, he had 0/19 from his first five. That’s a nasty second spell.
Some more love for Pant via Robert Speed. “He may be the most destructive, effective and match-winning player in international cricket right now.” Yas K is with you: “Once upon a time ‘agricultural’ would be a disparaging term but as that remarkable Pant not out illustrates, you can still tend the crop with a bat. Astounding.”
The best compliment I can pay? The Gilchrist comparisons are valid.
48th over: India 313-5 (Hardik 23, Krunal 2) Oh dear, a brainfade from Buttler, failing to glove a straightforward chance off Hardik from Topley’s first ball back. All dropped catches hurt, but putting this guy down with three overs to go? Yikes. Topley holds his nerve though, two singles and a dot following - the latter via a short and wide slower ball, fantastic modern death bowling. It puts him ahead in the count, so to speak, with two deliveries to go. He goes full with the first but it’s at an awkward height and angle, Hardik only able to punt it out to deep midwicket on the bounce. Krunal’s turn now, helping a slower ball to fine leg for a single. What a brilliant effort, just four from the over to stem the bleeding.... for now, at least.
WICKET! Pant c Roy b T Curran India 308-4
The Pant show is over, his sliced shot not going the distance this time, caught at third man by Roy. 77 from 40 balls with seven glorious sixes - wow. The last was another one-handed effort, muscled over point - madness. It brought up the Indian 300. Hardik then pulled six more over midwicket when his opportunity arrived. His brother now joins him in the middle for the final three overs.
47th over: India 309-5 (Hardik 21, Krunal 0)
46th over: India 294-4 (Pant 70, Hardik 13) Five to go, Sam Curran to bowl the first of those. Oooh, and Hardik Pandya is well into it right away, pulling his first ball from hip height waaaay over square leg for SIX! Two deliveries later it’s Pant’s turn, taking an off-cutter slower ball over the left-armer’s head for SIX MORE! He didn’t even have both hands on the bat when contact was made! Madness. Down the ground once more, Roy and Bairstow combine to make a stop on the rope. Back to Hadrik, two balls to go... AND IT’S SIX MORE! That’s a poor ball from Curran, a full toss on pads, clipped away over backward square, into the seats. Once more into the breach for young man... and it’s a wide, just outside the tram tracks. He has to go again and nearly castles the swinging Hardik - a swing and a miss. 21 from the over. That makes 84 runs in the last six overs. Phew.
45th over: India 273-4 (Pant 63, Hardik 0) Pant flays a couple out to extra cover to finish the Tom Curran over and an excellent one at that, bringing the wicket of KL Rahul and costing just six runs.
WICKET! KL Rahul c Topley b T Curran 108 (India 271-4)
Rahul holes out to deep midwicket! And make no mistake, Tom Curran earned that with the four well-executed full deliveries that preceded the dismissal, denying both men the chance to free their arms. However, as Mike Atherton points out on telly, this might be a good outcome for the hosts, now able to unleash the Panya brothers.
44th over: India 267-3 (KL Rahul 106, Pant 59) Sam Curran has a job ahead of him here. And, in the circumstances, he’s done well to get out the other end of this over giving up just one boundary - a full toss to Rahul, hit straight back past him - and ten runs all up. So, for Buttler, he has six overs left and plenty of options with Stokes (five to bowl), Topley and Sam Curran (four) or Tom Curran (three).
KL Rahul to 100 from 108 balls!
He lost his spot in the T20 team last week but he’s been back in business in these ODIs, laying a formidable foundation today.
43rd over: India 257-3 (KL Rahul 99, Pant 57) Brutal from Pant, down on that back-knee again, this time to flat-bat Stokes over long-off for SIX more. That’s his fifth big’un of the innings. He tries to make it a sixth over midwicket but Stokes’ change of angle around the wicket hurries him just a tad, the ball landing with the sweeper on the bounce. Rahul’s turn, retaining strike with a single - his 99th run.
Rishabh Pant to 50!
42nd over: India 247-3 (KL Rahul 94, Pant 50) Wow, WHAT A SHOT after the reprieve, flicking Tom Curran for SIX! And four more via the same shot to finish, albeit this time fine of the man inside the circle on the 45. Before the dismissal-that-wasn’t, Rahul started with an inside-out cover drive for SIX himself, then pulled four more. That makes 22 off it with Pant to 50 in 28 balls. In the absence of Jofra Archer to bowl some of these death overs, 350-plus is on.
Lovely spot from the great Vic Marks on Pant’s Test debut.
Credit to Vic Marks @guardian for spotting the special talent @RishabhPant17 on his debut 3 years back.
— Prof Dhiraj Gupta (@DhirajGuptaBHRS) March 5, 2021
It was indeed a 'I was there' moment, as was his 💯 today#indiavsEngland @BCCI @bhogleharsha pic.twitter.com/cPtoaA7b8M
NOT OUT! Yep, forearm it is. Pant survives for a second time.
IS PANT CAUGHT BEHIND? He’s reviewing once more. Off the arm?
41st over: India 225-3 (KL Rahul 86, Pant 40) GOODNESS ME! RISHABH PANT! SIX, lifting a full ball over backward square - as you do. FOUR past long-on, too good for the sweeper. SIX over that same man, a flat-bat effort with so much power and timing. He’s an utter gem, this man. Stokes holds his nerve to get out of the over with two from the final three balls but it’s 15 all up to get the party started.
NOT OUT! Yep, he’s hit it - the back of the bat! The ball ran away to the rope but it is a dead ball after the decision, so he doesn’t get the runs. This is a fair bit loophole in the playing conditions as they stand (and interact with DRS), but that’s a debate for another time.
40th over: India 210-3 (KL Rahul 84, Pant 27) “This is all a bit ominous,” says Guy Hornsby. “Like you’re popping out for a post-work beer, it all seems respectable, but you know it’s going to messy in an hour and you’ll wake up in a skip.” Ohh! How I miss my Friday after work magical mystery tours...
IS PANT LBW TO TOM CURRAN? He’s given out on the field, missing a reverse sweep/lap/scoop. Here’s the review. Has he hit it?
39th over: India 203-3 (KL Rahul 82, Pant 22) India beyond 200 with a bullet, Pant slamming Topley through midwicket for four. The young man is up and about now at the perfect time of the innings.
38th over: India 194-3 (KL Rahul 79, Pant 17) Rashid to finish his spell and Pant now elects to unfurl, albeit a miscued effort - he’s lucky it doesn’t end up down long-on’s throat. Ooooh, he doesn’t miss out to complete the over though, in a shot reminiscent of what we saw from him in Test cricket earlier in the year with his back knee kissing the turf as he launches 20 rows over midwicket! Wow! Rashid’s ten overs went for 65 and included the vital wicket of Kohli.
37th over: India 184-3 (KL Rahul 77, Pant 9) Here’s Topley, back for the first time since the power play. And Rahul doesn’t mind that extra pace, leaning back to hammer a short ball through midwicket, landing just inside the rope. It’s Pant with the chance to pull to finish the over, but he picks out the sweeper to retain the strike.
“In a similar vein to King legend I once had a Chicken called Ace Cool named after the hawian big wave surfer of the same name,” reports Matthew Fellows. “He survived a fox attack when all of the others got eaten. Make of that what you will.” A lot going on there!
36th over: India 176-3 (KL Rahul 71, Pant 7) India are either delaying their launch by design or are waiting until the spinners have finished their work before turning up the volume. Only three singles off Rashid’s penultimate over, Pant yet to get fancy or anything close.
35th over: India 173-3 (KL Rahul 69, Pant 6) Moeen to start his final over and he’s done it well, four singles here making 0/47 for the spell. Sure, his wicket drought continues but he’s given Buttler plenty of flexibility with his seamers at the death. Drinks!
Abhijato Sensarma has a thought. “We could be doing worse than calling him Kinda Lowkey Rahul, going by the pace at which he’s playing himself into form.”
I’m still coming to terms with the King Legend revelation, chuckling to myself about it every 30 seconds or so.
34th over: India 169-3 (KL Rahul 67, Pant 4) Five singles off Rashid - both sides would probably be happy enough with that. The legspinner has two overs left in the bank with 1/52 to his name so far.
33rd over: India 164-3 (KL Rahul 65, Pant 1) Moeen continues and King Legend Rahul slaps him through cover for four. Earlier in the over, the new man Pant got himself off the mark to midwicket. He won’t give himself long to get into the swing before exploding.
WICKET! Kohli c Buttler b Rashid 66 (India 158-3)
KL Rahul starts the over by lifting Rashid for six but the legspinner gets the last laugh, finding Kohli’s outside edge, this time taken safely by his captain behind the stumps! He was sorted out by a bit of extra bounce when attempting to work him off the back foot.
32nd over: India 158-3 (KL Rahul 60)
KL Rahul to 50!
31st over: India 149-2 (Kohli 65, KL Rahul 52) The more important part of this story is Dinesh Karthik on Sky revealing that Rahul refers to himself as ‘King Legend’. That’s quite something. Let’s back him in, though: he’s had a rough trot and played himself back into form.
30th over: India 142-2 (Kohli 61, KL Rahul 49) Double the score after 30? I reckon they’ll end up closer to 384 than 284. In saying that, this is a useful over from Rashid, three singles then three dots.
29th over: India 139-2 (Kohli 60, KL Rahul 47) A quieter over off Moeen, four singles. It takes the partnership beyond 100.
“I’m sorry but Buttler should’ve had Topley back for a couple with Rashid five overs ago a la Plunkett in the middle overs,” says Neil Osborne. “It’s moments like these that a captain needs to recognise a match winning/losing period of play.”
Tom v d Gucht on a similiar theme: “I just wanted to say how great Liam Plunkett was. Not just for his middle innings wicket taking skills, but also for his all-round burly machismo and viking presence on the pitch.” He’d be handy here, that’s for sure.
28th over: India 135-2 (Kohli 58, KL Rahul 45) There it is, SIX for Kohli the ball after reaching his 50! It comes from a Rashid long-hop, lifted 20 rows back over backward square. Have that! This pair have now put on 98 in 116 balls. “This innings is feeling like one of those cycle races which proceeds at fairly pedestrian pace for what seems like an eternity before a pell mell dash for the line,” says Brian Withington. Something like that. There’s a lot of talk around the old ‘double the score at 30 overs’ maxim (Richie Benaud’s rule), but it can often be double the score at 35 in modern ODIs. Well, that was the rough calculation when teams went huge in the 2015 World Cup, and this is a very 2015-style build we’re watching from India.
Kohli to 50!
27th over: India 126-2 (Kohli 50, KL Rahul 44) India’s champion reaches the milestone from 62 balls. He hasn’t struck a boundary since the 14th over but it matters little at this stage of the build.
I” have an important-yet-inconsequential query,” writes Abhijato Sensarma. “What’s the most productive a batsman’s ever been over a period of more than a year without scoring an international century? I feel this ‘dry run’ from Virat Kohli has to be right up there.”
Like it. A volunteer to jump into the spreadsheets and work this out?
26th over: India 121-2 (Kohli 47, KL Rahul 42) Shot, KL Rahul. Picking Adil’s wrong’un, he was deep in the crease and cutting past backward point for four. With five over singles, that’s a handy over.
25th over: India 112-2 (Kohli 44, KL Rahul 36) Halfway there. Moeen likewise, 0/21 from his five overs. Part of why I quite like 50-over cricket is that there is enough time in the game to deploy very different tactics. England and India are the best two teams in the world but adopt such a different approach to batting first.
24th over: India 108-2 (Kohli 42, KL Rahul 34) There reaches a point in a build like this where, even though the run rate is in check, the fielding team find themselves under the pump knowing what can come after the base is properly laid. England are nearing that point.
23rd over: India 103-2 (Kohli 39, KL Rahul 32) Just 26 runs from the last five overs of spin - four here off Moeen - but it’s the Kohli chance that defines this period of play. As Jarrod Kimber notes here, middle-overs wickets against India are so valuable as they build.
Moeen Ali averages 118 over his last 20 ODIs.
— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) March 26, 2021
India average 60 runs per wicket between overs 10-40.
22nd over: India 99-2 (Kohli 36, KL Rahul 31) KOHLI DROPPED! By the captain! Rashid found the outside edge with a bit of turn but Buttler’s gloves were nowhere near it. That’s going to really sting.
21st over: India 94-2 (Kohli 33, KL Rahul 29) Rahul toughed out a scrappy period early and it’s paying off now, timing Moeen through square leg for two to begin. With two spinners on, Kohli has ditched his helmet and is straight down the track, taking one to long-on.
20th over: India 90-2 (Kohli 32, KL Rahul 26) Adil Rashid’s turn for the first time today, with a slip in position from the get-go at Rahul. But the Indian No4 is up to the task, driving on the up between cover and mid-off. That’s the shot of the day so far. Three singles down the ground to close out the over. Dinesh Karthik, who has been a revelation on Sky Cricket during the white-ball games, says the plan here is simple: get to 150 by the 30 over mark then let rip. “Just play to the template. They are very comfortable accelerating.”
“G’day Adam.” Morning to you, Yaz K. “When did Nadal start bowling? Come on England, lets stifle them and get their captain out.”
I wonder how many of the headbands will remain when Covid bubbles are no longer and they can get their hair cut again?
19th over: India 83-2 (Kohli 31, KL Rahul 20) Six singles off Moeen, picking out the sweepers one after another. No real urgency.
18th over: India 77-2 (Kohli 28, KL Rahul 17) The Curran brothers have taken 1/35 from ten overs in this innings so far, just two risk-free singles here. “You know who is in the touring party by who is added and taken off the WhatsApp group,” Broad says of staying on top of squad movements this winter. I like him on TV - gives plenty.
17th over: India 75-2 (Kohli 27, KL Rahul 16) Moeen into the attack and starts well, just three singles in front of square. Interesting conversation on Sky, Ian Ward asking Stuart Broad if there was fear in the group after Moeen tested positive with Covid. “To be honest, there was.” Of course, they had flown to Sri Lanka together before the diagnosis. It’s too easy to overlook what these cricketers have risked by darting around the world to tour during the pandemic.
@collinsadam Hi, the meandering pace of ODIs gives us time to solve the world's problems. Has anyone thought of using Pant's reverse scoop to get the ship unstuck? We could give some support to @SuezDiggerGuy.#INDvENG
— Anandkumar N (@anandkumarn) March 26, 2021
I remember reading once that Ian Harvey’s back-of-the-hand slower ball could achieve peace in the middle east. So, why not, Rishabh?
16th over: India 72-2 (Kohli 26, KL Rahul 14) Rahul is better off the back foot, pulling two from Tom Curran. Kohli then takes a couple himself, worked behind square - nice running. They go to drinks.
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15th over: India 66-2 (Kohli 23, KL Rahul 11) Ohhh, how’s that gone between Buttler and slip? KL Rahul is the beneficiary, squeezing an accurate Stokes yorker off the bottom edge, racing along the grass through the non-existent gap. Four runs but great bowling. Stokes goes upstairs at Kohli but just misses, a wide called. Has Stokes also been asked to remove the sleeve he is wearing on his bowling arm? It looks that way. Unfortunately, no Curtly v Deano action. The great Victorian innovator would have turned 60 this week.
14th over: India 56-2 (Kohli 20, KL Rahul 5) “Kohli is turning the strike over but KL Rahul can’t return the favour,” says Rob Key with Rahul now five from 16 balls. Down the other end, Kohli jags himself a less-convincing boundary from the inside edge after walking at Tom Curran, who continues to look good early in this spell.
13th over: India 50-2 (Kohli 16, KL Rahul 4) Top edge... safe! Stokes hurried Rahul up there, far from at ease so far. That’s shown again later in the over when taking off for a single that’s never there, sent back by his captain. He did a fine job alongside Krunal Pandya in the final stanza of India’s innings on Tuesday but this is a different role. “He looks like a man who is struggling,” notes Rob Key.
12th over: India 47-2 (Kohli 15, KL Rahul 2) Tom Curran once again testing KL Rahul’s defence, which makes a lot of sense after his dismissals in the T20s. Now an edge, albeit along the ground to third man. Two useful overs to begin from the right-armer.
An interesting interview during the week with Chris Woakes, who talked to Ali Martin about, among other things, how odd it is that he hasn’t played a game for six months after a superb home summer.
11th over: India 45-2 (Kohli 14, KL Rahul 1) The field is back and Stokes is on. Four risk-free visits to the sweepers to begin the middle-over dance, Rahul off the mark to third man in the process.
10th over: India 41-2 (Kohli 11, KL Rahul 0) Curran the Elder now, replacing Topley. Ooooh, Kohli doesn’t half mind that change, shimmying down the track to reach an on-drive. A superb stroke. Welcome to the bowling crease, Tom. To his credit, that first ball jolts the right-armer straight into a nagging line and length, Kohli happy enough playing the rest of the set conservatively. That’s the power play done. The hosts added two more runs to their ten-over tally from Tuesday but lost two more wickets along the way.
Thinnest arms in today's cricket @collinsadam? That'll be Pathum Nissanka, Sri Lanka's new wonderkid. What a lovely player though, going to score a lot of runs in the old-fashioned way.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) March 26, 2021
Looked born for it on debut, didn’t he? A First Class average odf 67!
9th over: India 37-2 (Kohli 7, KL Rahul 0) Spot on to Rahul to start, challenging his defence with both deliveries to complete the successul over. Slammin’ Sammy has 1/16 from his five so far.
“Chris Tremlett simultaneously the skinniest and heavily built bowler of recent times,” writes Claire Tinsley. “I saw a clip of him bowling recently, he looked liked The Hulk reimagined as a military medium trundler. Which would make for a great film.”
Speaking of gym pics, I trust we saw Sachin’s with Trem? A pun!
WICKET! Rohit c Rashid b S Curran 25 (India 37-2)
A gift! A half-volley outside leg, helped straight into the safe hands of Adil Rashid at short fine leg. Just when Rohit looked dangerous.
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8th over: India 36-1 (Rohit 25, Kohli 6) Here comes Rohit! He sniffs an opportunity to put the foot down against Topley and does so expertly, clipping a half-volley, carving a cut and slamming a pulling. Three boundaries, moving the opener to 25 from 24.
7th over: India 24-1 (Rohit 13, Kohli 6) Kohli doesn’t miss out on the pads, as Curran learns early in the over here, tucked away with ease. He nearly sneaks an inducker under Rohit, so there’s still a bit of shape, but the pressure has been released somewhat with boundaries in the last three overs. India’s stars are settling.
“Adam.” John Starbuck, good morning. “One way to find the thinly-armed players is to check the weight of their bats, which began to get heavier when the likes of Gooch, Lamb and Botham started the power games.”
That’s one way. But I think I’m after crude gym-selfie aesthetics.
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6th over: India 18-1 (Rohit 12, Kohli 1) Kohli off the mark, digging out a yorker for one. That’s confident bowling from Topley - I like it. As is his shout for leg before against Rohit, he’s it’s turned down - sneaking down the legside the assessment of Buttler when electing not to review. To finish, the first bad delivery of the day, a full toss outside the off-stump dispatched past point by the opener.
5th over: India 13-1 (Rohit 8, Kohli 0) “Great technique” Nasser says when looking back at the Stokes snaffle from the previous over, turning his hips and moving to the right in order to take the ball at the last possible moment alongside his body. Back to Rohit, jumping on the front foot to drive Curran down the ground to start the new over - that’s one of his signature shots and the first boundary of the day. Slammin’ Sammy bounces back well, beating the Indian superstar later in the over with one that seams across him. A lot to like from England’s southpaw openers so far in this power play.
4th over: India 9-1 (Rohit 4, Kohli 0) Topley has settled really well, decking away from Dhawan who watched and watched and watched then played - just enough movement to kiss that outside edge. It was moving quickly but Stokes was up to the task at second slip.
“Have you seen the size of Topley’s arms?” asks @AndyinBrum on the tweet. “They’re bigger than my thighs.”
We need a measurement scale with Marcus Stoinis at one end - that bit is easy. Who has the skinniest arms in modern cricket?
WICKET! Dhawan c Stokes b Topley 4 (India 9-1)
Taken at second slip! Dhawan set up nicely. Fine bowling.
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3rd over: India 7-0 (Rohit 3, Dhawan 4) Rohit flicks early in the over, one to the sweeper, with Dhawan happy again leaving the new ball while it shaping away from him. He’s charging now but Curran sees him on the advance, banging it in short. Good cricket. Nice and tidy.
For various reasons, England are without Root, Morgan, Billings, Archer, Wood and Woakes. Big challenge in Pune today.
— Lawrence Booth (@the_topspin) March 26, 2021
2nd over: India 6-0 (Rohit 2, Dhawan 4) Dhawan takes a look at Topley to begin - nice carry through the Buttler on a couple of occasions. Fuller, he checks a drive to cover and gets a single when Roy can’t quite complete a clean stop on the circle. Quicker to Rohit, who is hurried up on his hip. Useful start from the big left-armer.
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1st over: India 4-0 (Rohit 1, Dhawan 3) Line and length to begin from Sam Curran, who bowled nicely in the power play on Tuesday. Rohit is off the mark with a clip, Dhawan then happy leaving a couple of nicely-hooped outswingers. He’s using his bat to finish, leaning on a well-timed push through cover, taking three from it.
The players are on the field. Rohit and Dhawan for India, the former taking strike. Sam Curran is sending down the first over. PLAY!
Wood hasn’t picked up another niggle, by the way. He’s simply been rested, the England camp are saying. Makes sense, especially when there is a chance to take another look at Topley. The definitive piece on his injuries was written by my press box colleague, Rob Johnston. He spoke to Topley throughout his comeback. Worth it.
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“Morning, Adam.” Hello Smylers. “Good to have you on the controls this morning. When our 8-year-old, Aidan, heard the England line-up for the previous match, he commented that Ben Stokes is the only player to have played in every game on the India tour. I think he’s right. Obviously the squads will never be identical between formats, but just a single player featuring in all games still feels pretty unusual.”
Aidan is right. And it does stand out, given the emphasis on rest and rotation. However, it is worth noting that he missed the Sri Lankan leg with a view to being able to go on this Indian run, which includes the IPL. It’s fair to conclude that he’s going to need another decent breather during the home summer before the Ashes. Relentless!
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
A fantastic opportunity for Topley, the tall left-arm quick who has 17 wickets in 11 ODIs at 26. Ten of those caps were in 2015 and 2016 before a four year absence due to a number of dreadful back injuries. He took 1/31 against Ireland on his international return last August.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
Rishabh Pant is yet to really fire across 16 ODIs, passing 50 only once. But based on what we’ve seen from him over the last three months, in all formats of the game, it is a matter of when not if.
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Jos Buttler speaks at the toss. The stand-in skipper says they will continue to play in their aggressive fashion. And no jitters: he isn’t concerned about bowling first after losing the way on Tuesday. Kohli says he would have batted. “Runs on the board really helped us.”
Rishabh Pant is replacing Shreyas with Reece Topley into the England side in the place of Mark Wood. Full teams shortly.
England have won the toss
They’re fielding first
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Liam Livingstone has been presented his ODI cap. He’s played for England before, in the T20 format. Of that experience in 2017, he’s explained that he was a touch overawed, never really getting out of the blocks. But when he does, the Lancashire batsman is as brutal as any doing the rounds. Off the back of a couple of fine seasons in the Big Bash League with Perth earlier in winter, this feels like the right time for the 27-year-old to make his mark on the international stage.
Preamble
What does the number one ranking in the one-day world mean to England? Over the next couple of fixtures, we are about to find out. Eoin Morgan’s earned that gong, formally rising to the top of the pops the year before the home World Cup, which they won. If they can’t bounce back today and on Sunday, three years on, the tag moves to India.
Does it matter an awful lot when all 50-over cricket is assessed through the prism of the World Cup cycle? And when even that is governed (astutely) by the Super League? Not really. But, as Morgan said himself it, this isn’t something they are coughing up mindlessly.
The degree of difficulty is greater for the visitors at Pune today after losing their captain to injury during their loss on Tuesday, having split the webbing in his right hand fielding. Sam Billings also misses after injuring his collar bone when diving around on the boundary rope. In their place comes Liam Livingstone on ODI debut and Dawid Malan. In the case of the latter, he expected to return home after the T20s, was kept on as backup and now is back in the XI.
In terms of the armband, that moves to Jos Buttler, who has led the side in Morgan’s absence on ten occasions since 2016, so he has a fair idea of what is what.
As for India, they have the chance to not only win this series in straight sets but, in doing so, secure all three trophies from this England visit. Again, something that isn’t necessarily going to change the cricketing world as we know it, but emblematic of the brilliant 2021 this side are having across the formats.
Shreyer Iyer has been ruled out after after a shoulder injury of his own, to be replaced by Rishabh Pant or Suryakumar Yadav. That’s what you call depth. After missing out on that World Cup Final in 2019, this is a team on a mission every time they step out in blue.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. Good morning to you all.
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