Kuldeep, Rohit make light work of England, India go 1-0 up

India won the toss and elected to bowl first against hosts England in the ODI series opener at Trent Bridge.

The wrist spinners wreck a havoc, restricting England to a below-par score and one of India’s top three goes and smashes a century to make light work of the target. There was no change in India’s modus operandi even in the ODIs as the visitors blew away England with a thumping 8-wicket win in the first ODI at Trent Bridge.

Rohit Sharma slammed his 18^th ODI ton and batting through the innings as India knocked off the 269-run target in 40.1 overs with 8 wickets in the bank.

Rohit remained unbeaten on 137, showcasing his mastery with the bat at the top of the order. Rohit, who got to his half-century in 54 balls, brought up his century in 82 balls. His acceleration gave an account of the quality of the pitch and enhanced the greatness of Kuldeep’s efforts with the ball.

Rohit’s 114-ball stay at the crease was laced with 4 sixes and 15 fours. He was ably supported by captain Virat Kohli, who surprised everyone by walking in to bat at his usual no. 3 position. Kohli scored a crucial 75 off 82 balls, putting on a 167-run fourth wicket stand with Rohit.

The England bowling looked ordinary and the absence of a quality spinner looked evident.  

Kuldeep magic in England innings

The sight of Kuldeep Yadav brought tremors in the England camp, so strong that it not only shook them but brought them crashing down like a high-magnitude earthquake would do. On a ground, where most no. of 350 plus scores has been achieved, the last one being the highest-ever ODI total of 481 (by England against Australia), Kuldeep bulldozed through to bowl England out for 268 in the first ODI.

Kuldeep became the first left-arm wrist spinner to pick up six (6/25) wickets in an ODI, barely a week after he etched his name on the record books as the first of his kind to pick up a five-for in a T20I. 

It took just two deliveries for Kuldeep to show that England needed a lot more than a mere bowling machine to decode the questions posed by him. Jason Roy, who was enjoying the time of his life flat batting the inexperienced Indian new-ball attack comprising of Umesh Yadav and Siddharth Kaul, failed miserably in his attempt to put Kuldeep off his length early. Roy’s attempted reverse sweep went as far as Umesh Yadav, standing at covers, who accepted the gift gleefully to give India its first wicket.

Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow still seemed stuck in Old Trafford. The only thing that changed was their mode of dismissal from stumped to LBW. Both of them got deceived by Kuldeep – Root by his normal stock delivery and Bairstow by his wrong’un. From 73 for no loss in 10 overs, England went 82 for 3 in 13 overs. One wouldn’t blame the England supporters for going ‘not again, please’.

First there is magic, then there's Kuldeep Yadav's bowling, via @englandcricket pic.twitter.com/7Ugm0CSXjG

— Aritra Mukherjee (@aritram029) July 12, 2018

The ones thinking on those lines were in for another repeat of Old Trafford as England were again 'completely deceived' in their captain Eoin Morgan’s words by Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep, who was surprisingly dropped for the 3rd T20I, picked up wickets in each of his three spells. When England was seemingly recovering from the early dents put by India's chinaman through Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, Kuldeep came storming again, accounting for both Buttler(53) and Stokes(50) in his second spell. 

Buttler, the only one reading Kuldeep off his hands, had himself to blame. He perished trying to manufacture something from nothing. From a delivery going harmlessly down the leg side, Buttler got a tickle to Dhoni and gave India another chance to stifle England. It made a huge impact on the run-rate as only 16 runs came in the next five overs, blowing away any hopes the hosts had of reaching 280-300.

Stokes too completed his 12th ODI half-century in the interim, off 102 balls, but it was only an anchoring knock. He too fell trying to reverse sweep in the 45th over, Kaul held a brilliant diving catch at short third-man to reward him with a maiden five-wicket haul. The chinaman wasn't finished yet though. Five balls later, David Willey (1) also holed out. 

Kuldeep's impact was such that if his 10 overs are taken out of the game, India managed to take just 3 England wickets, conceding 243 runs in 39.5 overs. 

Towards the end, Moeen swung his bat around, as England managed to cross 250 in the penultimate over.

Toss Report

India won the toss and elected to bowl first against hosts England in the ODI series opener at Trent Bridge.

Putting an end to all speculations, Virat Kohli declared that KL Rahul will bat ahead of him at No. 3, which will push the Indian skipper to No. 4 in the batting order. 

India's playing XI news was dominated by the return of Suresh Raina --- making an ODI comeback after a gap of three years. Raina was preferred over Dinesh Karthik at No.6, chiefly because of his ability to bowl a few overs of off-spin, as India went in with just five bowlers including Hardik Pandya.   

Meanwhile, Siddharth Kaul, who made his T20 debut couple of weeks ago in Ireland, has been handed over his ODI cap as India after Bhuvneshwar Kumar couldn't recover completely from a stiff back. Kaul was picked ahead of Shardul Thakur.    

Indian captain Virat Kohli stated that they are up for the challenge against a strong side like England. “It looks like a hard pitch and we have chased well so far. Our strengths are different. The two wrist spinners bowling 20 overs in the middle overs are our strengths. I don't think any team are focussing on the rankings right now. In India, England gave us a tough time.”

England, on the other hand, is without the services of Alex Hales and in his absence included both Joe Root and Ben Stokes. A fully recovered Stokes is likely to be slotted in the middle order.

"The wicket still looks good. Unfortunately, Alex has done his side. Joe Root goes up to 3. Stokes at 5. Ben coming in has given us an extra option with the ball. Joe is hungry for runs. The standards that Joe has set for himself are very high,” said England captain Eoin Morgan.

Trent Bridge, which produced the highest total in ODI cricket (481 by England) barely three weeks ago, promises another high scoring match if the placid batting track is anything to go about.

England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav