Jasprit Bumrah produced the best figures for any Indian bowler against England in one-day international cricket to set up a one-sided and commanding win in the first game of the three-match series on Tuesday at The Oval, which was completed by a brilliant unbeaten half-century by India captain Rohit Sharma.
The ace Indian right-arm fast bowler, who last week also became India’s 36th Test captain against England in the fifth and final Test, bettered the figures recorded by Ashish Nehra (6/23) in the 2003 World Cup match in South Africa to set up a win for India on Tuesday.
Jasprit Bumrah returned with magical numbers of 7.2-3-19-6, accounting for the likes of Jason Roy (0), Jonny Bairstow (7), Joe Root (0), Liam Livingstone (0), David Willey (21) and Brydon Carse (15) in what turned out to be an unplayable, high quality and mesmerising spell of fast bowling.
Making full use of the conditions at the venue — it was overcast, windy and the pitch sported fresh green grass — exposed the frailties of the English batting line-up, gobbling up one weekend afternoon to leave them at an embarrassing position in the contest. At one stage, Jasprit Bumrah had taken as many as four wickets without having conceded more than a single run off the bat.
He was well supported by the right arm India fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who dismissed Ben Stokes zero and Jos Buttler 30 while also got rid of Craig Overton later in the innings to return with an impressive 3-31 from his seven overs. It was the first instance since 2013 that all of the 10 wickets in the opposition ranks were taken by fast bowlers for India.
For England, there was a lot of embarrassment in store on Tuesday as they not only failed to put up a fight with the bat but their World Cup winning players — some of them who were playing together for the first time since that 2019 final against New Zealand, disappointed.
It was also the first time that an Indian team defeated and English side by a margin of 10 wickets in one-day international cricket as the pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan did not show much problem in chasing down the target of 111 runs set by England.
As opening pair, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan brought up their 5000 runs as they finished at 114/0 in 18.4 overs with the Indian captain taking charge of scoring the runs.
England tried to attack Rohit Sharma with short bowling tactics but the Indian captain was far too good on the occasion, smacking 5 sixes and 7 boundaries to score 76 not out from just 58 balls whereas Shikhar Dhawan finished unbeaten on 31, coming from 54 balls with the help of 4 boundaries.
While India will look to seal the fate of the series in the second ODI to be played at Lord’s on Thursday, England will feel the pressure of bouncing back and matching India’s challenge particularly at a time when they have been thoroughly outplayed in limited-overs cricket.