Left-arm fast bowler Reece Topley returned with 9.5-2-24-6 to power England to a series-levelling victory in the one-day internationals against India, as the home team won the second match at Lord’s by a huge margin of 100 runs on Thursday night. The third and final ODI of the series will be played on Sunday in Manchester.
In what turned out to be a low scoring contest but a thrilling one between India and England, bowlers ruled the roost once again after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami set up a 10-wicket victory for India in the first ODI.
In the second match at Lord’s, Indian bowlers produced an all-round show led by their leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who took a 4-wicket haul to restrict England to a modest total of 246 in 49 overs.
Yuzvendra Chahal was absolutely brilliant with the ball as he recorded best bowling figures for any visiting Indian bowler at the ‘home of cricket’ against England in one day international cricket, returning with 10-0-47-4.
Among the other wicket-takers were Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, who took 2 wickets each whereas Mohammed Shami and Prasidh Krishna chipped in with 1 dismissal apiece.
The England batsmen were guilty of squandering their starts once again as Jason Roy was dismissed for 23, Jonny Bairstow made a sparkling 38, Joe Root scored 11 whereas Ben Stokes was dismissed for 21.
Liam Livingstone tried to take the attack to the Indian bowlers, hitting a couple of sixes and as many boundaries to score a run-a-ball 33 but Moeen Ali was the top-scorer for the home side, making 47 from 64 balls with two fours and as many sixes.
England were struggling at one stage in the middle but a 46-run stand for the sixth wicket between Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone, followed by a 62 run association between Moeen Ali and David Willey (41) powered them to a match-winning total.
In their reply, India once again lost their top order without any significant score on the board with Virat Kohli suffering another failure despite a promising start.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a 10-ball duck, Shikhar Dhawan could manage just 9 from 46 balls, and Virat Kohli perished on a delivery outside the off stump once again after a promising start which saw him scoring 16 runs from 25 balls with 3 boundaries. At the other end, promoted up in the batting order, Rishabh Pant had a failure at No 4, being dismissed for a 5-ball duck.
England, who have been under pressure for the majority of this white-ball leg of India tour, must be commended for their effort with the ball after their batsmen were made to suffer by the Indian bowlers once again.
England captain Jos Buttler came up with smart bowling changes combined with field placements that stifled the Indian batsmen, whereas the home team bowlers kept their lines and lengths tight in order to prevent the visiting batsmen from freeing up their arms.
Suryakumar Yadav (27), Hardik Pandya (29), Ravindra Jadeja (29) and Mohammed Shami (23) provided some later assistance to take India as far as possible but England were just too good with the ball at Lord’s to record a memorable victory — one that should bolster their confidence going into the series decider to be played on Sunday.