After the convincing win in the T20 series, the Indian team moves towards their next assignment on their UK tour. The ODI series will be played as a 3-match series and the first match is being played at Kennington Oval, London. The ODI format of the game is being sidetracked, especially this year with the World T20 approaching.
But with the upcoming 50 over World Cup in mind, teams must have started to prepare for it, and for both India and England, this series might be a good one to start with. With the beginning of the ODI series, many veterans of the game returned to the white-ball format. For England, the likes of Joe Root and Ben Strokes returned, while for India, the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammed Shami.
The Indian team was dealt a major blow before the match as the news broke that their star batsman, King Kohli, has a groin injury and he might miss this first ODI. Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and, looking at the weather conditions and pitch, invited England to bat first (India opted to bowl).
The England openers, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy, walked out to bat, and then “The Jasprit Bumrah Show” began. Bumrah was on fire for the Indian team tonight. He exploited the overcast conditions beautifully and sent English openers back to the pavilion in no time. England was reduced to 17 for 4 in just 6 overs. Bumrah was unplayable and English batsmen succumbed to him one after another. Rishabh Pant too played a vital role from behind stumps, then the wicket-keeper grabbed two excellent catches to dismiss Root and Strokes.
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England got some relief when their new appointed skippers, Jos Buttler and Moen Ali, came together and decided to counter-attack the Indian seamers. Both got along well and started to score some quick runs. It looked like England might be able to post a decent total with these batters, but the joy was short-lived as Prasidh Krishna struck and sent Moen Ali home with a simple catch and bowled. Buttler too followed him soon as the England captain once again failed to short ball plough from Indian seamers. The lower order hung around for a bit and managed to take them past 100, but soon they too were dismissed. India bowled out England for just 110 thanks to the career-best spell of Jasprit Bumrah, where he recorded 6/19 in 10 overs. This was the first time in history that the seamers took all the 10 wickets in an innings against England.
The Indian began the chase with a mere target of 111 to chase down. The Indian openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan started off in a scary way where both got into tricky situations and the result could have been run out on the first ball of the Indian innings. Soon, the Indian opener settled down and Rohit Sharma began his Pull and Hook shot show. Rohit Sharma scored 4 sixes and some boundaries with that same hook and pull short where he took on the extra bounce offered by the pitch and the short ball plough from England. Rohit Sharma brought up the 41st ODI fifty while Dhawan was steady and calm at the other end. Both Sharma and Dhawan had century run stands and they finished the game in the 19th over. India chased down 111 targets with ease and won the game by 10 wickets, going up 1-0 in the ODI series.
