After a series of ups and downs, India won the one-day international by a convincing margin, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. England crashed after a dominant start to their chase saw them cross 135 without loss in the 15th over, thanks to a pair of fine debuts from Krunal Pandya and Prasidh Krishna, as well as crucial contributions from many senior hands.
The 25-year-old Krishna’s figures were the best by an Indian debutant as England’s innings ended at 251 in 42.1 overs.
Jonny Bairstow, like Shikhar Dhawan earlier in the day, fell just shy of a century, though the openers achieved their success in somewhat different ways. While India needed the spark provided by Krunal’s 26-ball fifty and an unbroken sixth-wicket stand with KL Rahul that yielded 112 from 57 at the death., Dhawan set himself to bat for most of the innings and helped lay the foundation in partnership with Virat Kohli.
Meanwhile, Bairstow exemplifies England’s ultra-aggressive approach. By the time the first wicket dropped, he and Jason Roy had seemingly broken the chase, as the openers hurried off to post their 12th-century opening stand in ODIs. However, England imploded spectacularly in the face of a resurgent Indian bowling attack led by Krishna and Shardul Thakur, who both returned from expensive early spells to share seven wickets between them.
Following Krishna’s dismissal of Roy, England lost two wickets and scored just two runs from the next 17 deliveries, with Bairstow deprived of the attack. It would have been worse if Kohli had kept on to an outside edge pushed by Krishna from Eoin Morgan’s first delivery; the India captain promptly admitted his error by unsuccessfully attempting to run out his colleague, who appeared to be on his way back to the dressing room.
In the end, India’s main problem was a shoulder injury sustained on the field by one of their own, as Shreyas Iyer walked off in apparent discomfort after having his hand to a strong Bairstow drive. Rohit Sharma, too, did not bat during England’s innings after being hit on the elbow by Mark Wood while batting.
If we talk about the 2nd ODI, after suffering injuries in the first match on Tuesday, England captain Eoin Morgan and wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings might miss the second ODI against India at the MCA Stadium in Pune.
Both batsmen were hurt while fielding. Morgan broke the webbing between Billings’ right thumb and index finger if he sprained his collar bone joint. Eoin Morgan needed four stitches before he could weep.
