Indian captain lost yet another toss and that kind of set the tone for England to beat India in the second ODI and level the series. In another high run-chase, England kept their cool to chase down the target with 6.3 overs to spare in their innings. The visiting side seem to have learned the lesson after imploding in the first ODI.
After being sent into bat first, Indian openers disappointed with low scores who departed inside the first powerplay. The rest of the batsmen did not disappoint with the bat though! However, India batted very cautiously until the final 10 overs. KL Rahul (108 off 114) scored a century while Virat Kohli (66 off 79) and Rishabh Pant (77 off 40) both scored half-centuries to get India to 336/6 in 50 overs. If not for Pant’s and Hardik’s (35 off 16) hitting at the death, India’s total would have looked much worse.
Tom Curran was expensive with the ball conceding 83 runs from his 10 overs but he picked up the wickets of two high-flying batsmen in this match – Rahul and Pant! Reece Topley who replaced Wood in the XI bowled consistently throughout and bagged 2 wickets. Sam Curran and Adil Rashid with a wicket each were the other wicket-takers in England line-up.
During the run-chase, England opted for a cautious approach unlike the first ODI in this series! Their top-3 scored almost all of the runs to guide them to a comfortable victory in the end. Jason Roy scored 55 runs while Jonny Bairstow scored 124 runs. Ben Stokes scored 99 runs off just 52 deliveries but he was unlucky to miss his century by the smallest of margins possible! At one stage, England looked comfortable to register a 9-wicket victory but three quick wickets delayed their eventual victory – England collapsed from 285/1 to 287/4.
Even that collapse did not get India’s smile back. The assault from Bairstow and Stokes had such an impact. David Malan (16* off 23) and debutant Liam Livingstone (27* off 21) then remained unbeaten to take England to a 6-wicket victory. Indian spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya – had a very rough night on the field! They both were expensive without any wicket. Krunal conceded 72 runs from 6 overs while Kuldeep conceded 84 runs from his 10 overs!
England opener Jonny Bairstow has been adjudged as the Player of the Match for his explosive at the top of the order. He played just 112 deliveries for his 124 runs which included 11 fours and 7 sixes. With this 6-wicket victory, England leveled the 3-match series 1-1. The third and final ODI of the series is scheduled to be played at the same venue on Sunday (Mar 28).
Brief Scores: England – 337/4 in 43/3 overs (Jonny Bairstow – 124, Ben Stokes – 99, Prasidh Krishna – 2/58, Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 1/63) defeated India – 336/6 in 50 overs (KL Rahul – 108, Rishabh Pant – 77, Reece Topley – 2/50, Tom Curran – 2/83) by a margin of 6 wickets
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