England overcame their mauling in the opening ODI to complete a comfortable victory against India at Lords and take the series to a deciding match at Headingley this Tuesday.
Match Report
Having won the toss ,Eoin Morgan took the decision to bat first. In modern thinking most sides prefer to chase a score so in choosing to set one Morgan was bucking the trend and Virat Kohli even quipped during the pre-match interview that had he known that Morgan wished to bat first then the 2 captains could have forgone the toss as he would have put England in. Whether this was a bluff from Kohli we will never know but one should remember that the game was being played at Lords, home of Middlesex county cricket club, the side that Eoin Morgan has played for for the last 14 years - it's reasonable to assume that he knows something of the conditions there.
As it was it proved an excellent decision. London had received it's first rain in almost a month overnight and therefore there was a slight bit of moisture and zip to pitch for the England openers to work with. However, even in the opening over the pitch showed signs of being a little 2 paced when Jason Roy edged an 85mph Umesh Yadav delivery only for it to fall short of Dhoni behind the stumps. As has so often been the case against India, England's openers made hay against the Indian seamers, reaching 69 without loss in the 10 over PP1. It was no surprise then when at the first opportunity to put the field back, Kohli turned to England's tormentor from the 1st game, Kuldeep Yadav and perhaps equally it was no surprise when he struck with just his 2nd ball to bowl Johnny Bairstow. The young wrist spinner would go one to claim the wickets of Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan both of whom contributed largely to their own downfall and holed out to men on the boundary. That being said, in general England played Kuldeep well and looked to be aggressive towards the Chinaman bowler, never really allowing him to settle into a grove and wreck the kind of mayhem that he has on a couple of occasions so far this summer.
At the halfway point with Root and Morgan set and England with 180 on the board a score towards 350 looked on the cards. However a quick flurry of wickets soon saw England slip to 239-6 with just 8 overs left with 300 now looking like the absolute best they could hope for. David Willey though had other ideas! He has been a dangerous batsmen in domestic white ball cricket for several years but has never been able to transfer that hitting into the international arena. Today though he took the Indians for a 30 ball half century and along with the impressive Joe Root who made 113 from 116 balls saw England through to a very competitive 323.
India started their innings well with Dharwan in particular striking the ball nicely through the off-side. At the other end, the in form Rohit Sharma was finding it a bit harder to get his timing going and resorted to an ugly swipe at a Mark Wood slower ball to be bowled. Dharwan soon followed slashing to Willey to backward point. It was again a disappointing end for the Indian opener who also threw his wicket away in the first game when well set. KL Rahul became a 3rd wicket in as many overs when he inside edged a Plunkett delivery and was brilliantly caught behind by Buttler. A period of rebuilding then followed between Kohli and Raina who dealt mostly in singles as they took the India score up to 140 before Moeen Ali had Kohli given LBW with a ball that turned and skidded on. With Adil Rashid bowling in tandem at the other end and the now dry pitch, worn and turning, it became England's day to win a game with spin. Moeen Ali finished with match figures of 42-1 and Rashid 38-2 as England strangled India in the middle overs.
With expert finisher Dhoni at the crease and big hitting Pandya still around many would have given India a chance. However, the match ended in a very odd manner, with India and in particular MS Dohni happy to just occupy the crease. By the time Dhoni was finally out for 37 from 59 balls he had let the required run rate get up to 27 an over and while England had bowled well there was a definite lack of urgency in the great man's innings. You don't like to see any player and specifically one who has achieved so much in the game as Dhoni be jeered, slow hand clapped and booed but I can understand why spectators who have paid good money to see a contest would be annoyed when it appears that a player isn't taking the game seriously.
England finally completed their victory by taking the last Indian wicket from the final ball of the innings to bowl out India for 236 with Liam Plunkett finishing with 46-4
Match Analysis
For England this was a welcome return to form for 2 players who may have a big role to play in the 5 Test series to come. Joe Root had not scored a century in his last 15 international innings. For a player of his quality and importance to England's batting it was a very welcome return to form. I have written before that I felt that England were correct to drop him from the T20 side but should retain him for the ODIs and he proved why with an innings of substance to guide England through to a match winning score on a pitch that required more than just pure hitting power to make runs on.
Moeen Ali also bowled beautifully and claimed the prize scalp of Virat Kohli. From his very first ball he found turn and worried the Indian batsmen. If the summer in the UK continues to be hot and dry then having him in form with the ball and hopefully the bat too could be a major bonus for England. He is a mercurial type of player, brilliant one series and then poor the next. Let's hope he is heading back into a purple patch and back towards the Test team.
The World Cup final will be played in exactly 1 year from today at Lords. England and India may well go into that tournament as favourites to be in that final and so the deciding game against at Headingley now carries even more significance as these 2 teams seek to get an edge in the upcoming test series as well as laying a marker down for cricket's show piece tournament next year.