England 235/6 (Joe Root 99*; Gurnur Brar 2/67) India 233 (Shreyas Iyer 66, Virat Kohli 65; Jofra Archer 3/47) by four wickets
Joe Root’s brilliant innings of 99 runs leveled the ongoing ODI series between India and England. In the second ODI match played in Cardiff, India, batting first, were given a target of 234 runs. England had to struggle a bit to reach the target, but Root’s half-century carried England to victory.Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer scored excellent half-centuries for India. Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Brar also performed well in the bowling department, but they could not lead India to victory.
Harry Brooke won the toss and elected to play first. There was also a recent record behind it: the last three ODIs played in Cardiff were won by a team chasing the target.
Chasing a target of 234 runs, Bumrah had already sent Ben Duckett to the pavilion on the first ball of the over. Prasidh Krishna then got second opener Jacob Bethel caught by wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. However, Root then made 45 runs with captain Harry Brooke and 41 runs with Sam Curran, taking England to 94 runs in 19 overs. It seemed then that England would easily achieve the goal. Meanwhile, Root also continued his excellent form by scoring a half-century in his fifth consecutive ODI.
But once Curran and Buttler were out, the way was open for the Indian team to come back. However, Root took a slightly defensive approach and, along with Jacques, made 72 runs off 86 balls to take England very close to victory. Brar then sacked Jacques, but the pressure on England was greatly reduced.
Gus Atkinson, who came in after him, played some attractive shots and leg kicks against the Indian fast bowlers. What was surprising, however, was that when England were 20 runs short of the target, Root scored 97 runs. Despite this, he could not score a century. Even in the 45th over, when England needed four runs, Root was on 99, but Atkinson showed no intention of taking any and gave the team victory by scoring four.
For India, Kohli scored 65 runs and Shreyas scored 66 runs. Apart from him, no other batsman was able to make any impact in the first innings. This reduced the entire team to 233 runs.
Joffra Archer was England’s most successful bowler. He took three wickets for 47 runs and took all three wickets in the last five overs. Earlier in the powerplay, he played brilliantly and made just 24 runs without taking a single wicket.
Continuing his period of the last five overs to the death overs, Archer dismissed Kohli on a ball that, after falling into the field, came out easily, took the outside edge of the bat and fell into the hands of Adil Rashid standing at deep third. Just one ball earlier, Archer had bowled Kohli’s outside edge while attempting a throw, but the ball was hit before it could reach Buttler’s gloves.
With Kohli’s sacking, India’s biggest partnership also came to an end. He and Shreyas added 67 runs for the fourth wicket. Kohli looked in great form. He opened his account with an excellent direct hit to Archer’s ball.
In the 10th over, he hit two consecutive fours against Gus Atkinson. He first went forward and smashed it through mid, then hit a brilliant four through extra cover. However, after the power play, India’s score became 61/1. He then hit his seventh four with a straight hit off Karan’s ball to complete his half-century in just 50 balls. It was his seventh score of 50 or more in his last nine innings. It looked like he would score his 55th ODI century, but his innings ended with his 78th ODI half-century.
After Kohli’s wicket, Archer also dismissed Axar Patel on the second ball in a row, who, while trying to hit a ramp hit to a bouncer, got the ball into Buttler’s hands. After this, Shivam Dubey played a straight shot and Archer took a brilliant catch. After this, Saqib Mahmud threw India completely aside by sacking Brar.
Mahmood also dismissed Washington Sundar while attempting to hit a short ball. Shreyas tried to add quick runs with Bumrah in the final overs but was caught by the wicketkeeper off an Atkinson ball. Bumrah scored 18 runs in Mahmood’s ninth over, including four fours. Three of them went through the leg, and an impressive six went through the deep, thin leg. But Bumrah remained unbeaten with 20 runs.