India Humble England In The White Ball Cricket Format

After the demoralizing defeat in the 5th test match at Birmingham at the hands of a rejuvenated English test side in red hot form, the onus was up to India to make sure that defeat didn’t impact their limited-overs leg of the series. Coming back from a hammering in the test match where the Englishmen chased down a mammoth target of 378 runs with only three wickets down, and at a staggering run rate of almost 5 runs an over seemed to be an uphill task for India, but they did it in style. Team India thrashed England in the T-20 and ODI series to clinch victories in both limited over formats.  

The England cricket team was walloped by a young Indian side in the first ODI at the Oval. The Englishmen were bundled out for only 110 runs inside the 26th over. The target was chased down by the experienced Indian openers in the 19th over of the innings. Jasprit Bumrah was breathing fire as he comprehensively dismantled the heavyweight English top order which included big names like Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow & Joe Root. Bumrah bowled with an immaculate line & length, appreciably swinging the new white ball both ways as he wreaked havoc in the English batting lineup. He ended up taking a six-wicket haul conceding only 19 runs, which were also his best figures in an ODI. This performance not only earned him the man of the match award but also meant that he became the number one ODI bowler in the world. His partner in crime Mohammed Shami was also brilliant, he took 3 wickets & both these speedsters made sure that England was never in the game.  

England came back strongly in the 2nd ODI at Lord’s and hammered India by a margin of 100 runs. Batting first at the home of cricket, the Englishmen scored 246 runs in their allotted 50 overs. While the pitch at Lord’s was offering some help for the bowlers, the Indian bowlers were decent again with their line & lengths. The prime destroyer this time was Yuzi Chahal taking 4 wickets, Bumrah & Pandya chipping in with 2 wickets each. None of the English batters got going & the 246 runs were mainly achieved with the help of a 62-run partnership between Moeen Ali and David Willey for the 7th wicket. The target looked achievable until Reece Topley did the same thing that Bumrah did in the first ODI. Topley annihilated the Indian top order taking 6 wickets for 24 runs which squeezed out any hope of India getting near the 247 runs target.  

After two bowling masterclasses in both ODIs at London, the decider at Manchester was lit up by a batting masterclass from the fiery Rishabh Pant & an extremely important all-round performance by Hardik Pandya. With the help of Jos Butler’s 60 & Jason Roy’s 41, England managed to score 259 runs but was again bowled out before playing their full quota of overs. Hardik Pandya bowled brilliantly and took 4 wickets, only conceding 24 runs in his 7 overs. After defending 246 in the 2nd ODI, England fancied their chances of defending another below-par score. They were on the path to doing it when they had India reeling with 4 wickets down and just 72 runs on the board, but Pant and Pandya had different plans. Both the youngsters put on a proper batting show, thrashing the England bowlers all around the ground. Pandya scored a magnificent 55 balls 71 to go with his 4 wickets & and Pant steered India home with his maiden unbeaten century. Pant’s inning was special, it was calculated yet brutal as his 125 of 113 deliveries meant that India chased down the target of 260 in less than 43 overs.   

India managed to bounce right back after the defeat in the Birmingham test and won both the ODI and T-20 series. Beating the mighty England white-ball side in both short formats is no mean feat & it should gain the Indian limited overs team a lot of respect. The only concern for India has been the form of Virat Kohli, who hasn’t scored much in the past two years. Though, India would be extremely happy with the performance of Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah & Rishabh Pant as they’re the young guns, meaning Indian cricket’s future is in safe and capable hands.  

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By Waqas Mustafa, Sky247 Team