With injuries and defeats mounting, there was a sense of creeping crisis enveloping England as this game began, and a perfectly pitched chase by the elegant, experienced Indian batsmen did little to douse that. England have now lost six of the seven matches on this tour, and both series with a game to spare. The gulf in class is yawning but by comparison with others on the tour, there was less shame in this four-wicket defeat, secured with 33 balls to spare. The worrying aspect is that it was so routine, despite an improved batting performance. That progress brought only a score of 304, which was no more than par on a good pitch at a ground where the biggest boundary was only 63 metres long.
England’s bowling attack lacks the weapons to defend par totals and India’s chase looked most shaky when a dodgy floodlight forced the players off, putting a new twist on ‘bad light stopped play’. At this charming, ramshackle ground, one of the eight pylons packed in six overs into India’s reply, leading to just one ball being bowled in 40 farcical minutes before the faulty tower sparked back into life.
There's a problem with a floodlight in India 💡. The home crowd have taken upon themselves to light the ground 😅. 📺 Watch #INDvENG on @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/y2QrbDJmPM. India were scoring at eight runs an over before the delay, and Rohit Sharma continued on his merry way when the players returned. We can add that to England’s list of issues early in a big year of competition between these teams: an ominous return to form for India’s embattled captain. His 32nd ODI hundred was gorgeous, putting to bed a poor run that saw him dropped at the end of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Rohit did what England’s batsmen could not: he cashed in on a good start. The tourists’ batting efforts were hurt before the game even began, with news emerging that the hamstrung Jacob Bethell is out of the Champions Trophy with a torn hamstring. With Jamie Smith still nursing a calf injury, Jamie Overton was loftily carded at No 7, adding to the burden on the top six. That top six largely functioned as they are designed to, with Ben Duckett getting them off to a flyer, Joe Root holding things together through the middle, and Liam Livingstone hitting bombs at the end. Yet none of them could go on to make a game-defining score. All six reached 26, but none reached 70. As a result, they were bowled out again, with one ball to spare. Their No 11 has batted in every game on this tour, as he did in every game at the ODI World Cup in 2023.
Perhaps it is progress – baby steps – that they all got starts. But not once on this tour has a batsman truly taken responsibility for the direction of an innings. Livingstone was blameless, run out trying to push it in the final over, but the other five were caught trying to hit a six. England managed four sixes, Rohit stroked seven from his own bat. By the time he was dismissed, skying a Livingstone pie in the 30th over of the chase for 119, India needed just 85 at four an over.
"That's a poor shot". Duckett goes for 6️⃣5️⃣ 😬. 📺 Watch #INDvENG on @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/WnoyHlc1J5. Rohit had dished out another lesson to England’s batsmen, but captain Jos Buttler felt vindicated. “He scored at a rate that just confirms the way we want to play is the right way to play to try to win games,” he said. Duckett, who batted beautifully, was most wasteful. He had left Phil Salt trailing in his wake in the powerplay, blazing boundaries off seam and spin, but did not learn when he was dropped on 54. In the superb Ravindra Jadeja’s first over, he tried to launch six over cow corner, but was easily taken. Knocks ending in the 16th over do not win many ODIs.
That brought Harry Brook to the crease. He showed a welcome desire to tough it out, but struggled to rotate the strike against spin. So when the seamer Harshit Rana came on, his eyes lit up, but he was caught brilliantly by Shubman Gill, running back from mid-off when he miscued a slower ball. There ended another curious innings from Brook, who does not look himself. Buttler, meanwhile, looks in prime touch, but also fell in the thirties when taking his first big risk, trying to plop Hardik Pandya over mid-off.
Overton came to the crease in the 43rd over, when Root tried to hit Jadeja over long-off. Even that felt a touch early for the Surrey all-rounder, a specialist hitter of seam, as the spinners were still bowling. He did not last long, and England’s innings slid away. The last 10 overs saw some acceleration from a strong position, but not enough, as they lost six for 85. Overton’s presence gave Buttler an extra frontline bowler, but with their best new-ball operator, Jofra Archer, and their best middle-overs basher, Brydon Carse, both rested, this was a tame attack. Rohit tucked into Gus Atkinson in his 100-ball opening stand of 136 with the equally stylish Gill, and by the time Adil Rashid arrived to steady things after the pylon palaver, it was already too late.
