India thump England as worrying ODI slump continues with witless batting and predictable bowling
India thump England as worrying ODI slump continues with witless batting and predictable bowling
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The format changed, and so did most of the Indian team. But the outcome was the same, with England thumped in Brendon McCullum’s first one-day international as head coach. Do not be fooled by the margin of victory, four wickets. Look instead at the 68 balls India had to spare chasing 249. This was a worrying performance and result, because this series is key Champions Trophy preparation, and their batting is rudderless. England were flattered by late wickets.
They are miles off India, who were without the injured Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, and possess such riches that they overlooked Rishabh Pant and Arshdeep Singh, as well as Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy, who were both so prominent in the T20 series. Only four members of this XI played in last week’s T20s. Their depth is outrageous, and growing. Having chosen to bat first, England were bowled out again, this time with 14 balls spare, for 248. In all six matches on this tour, their No 11 has found himself batting – the surest sign of a misfiring batting unit. They have been bowled out four times, and finished nine down twice. This continues a trend set at the 2023 World Cup in India. In their nine matches, they were bowled out four times and finished nine down on five occasions, in arguably the limpest defence in World Cup history.
With England’s bowlers doing so much batting, they barely stand a chance with the ball. So it was here, as they reduced India to 19 for two, but just did not have enough to work with on a flat pitch. Jofra Archer started well, then faded as Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill settled. By the time the flurry of late wickets arrived, India had the game won. ARCHER STRIKES 🔥. Jaiswal's debut is over early and England have the breakthrough ❌.
📺 Watch #INDvENG on @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/rXsXafd4gI. The batting problems were not exactly the same as in the 4-1 T20 defeat. There, they could just not pick or play leg-spin but, with Chakravarthy benched, they lost just one wicket, last man Saqib Mahmood, to Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist-spin. Instead they allowed finger spinners to wheel away unabated, gifted wickets to innocuous short balls from quicks, and suffered a ruinous run-out, which in the blink of an eye wrecked a super start.
Openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett batted beautifully, and with maturity, for the first eight overs. Salt was prepared to pat back two maidens, then piled into the debutant Harshit Rana, taking 26 from his third over to double England’s score. In the space of eight balls, they hit three sixes and four fours. They were cruising, and doing a passable impression of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow, the opening pair who underpinned the 2019 team.
One skill that set Roy and Bairstow apart was their symbiotic running, but that was Salt and Duckett’s undoing, derailing England’s innings. Salt pierced the off side off Hardik Pandya, and ran mighty hard, searching for three. Duckett, probably rightly, was happy with two. Watching the ball and not his partner, Salt hared back and was run out by half a pitch. It was slapstick stuff, and brainless cricket that sparked a collapse, during which England fell from 75 without loss to 77 for three, in the space of eight balls, at the end of the powerplay.
Disaster for England 😬. Has Ben Duckett ran out Phil Salt here?. 📺 Watch #INDvENG on @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/3zhyHIUJl9. “Of course,” said the captain Jos Buttler when asked if it was a sliding-doors moment. “We really had the momentum at that point and absolutely once we’ve got it, we need to continue to keep putting the opposition under pressure for longer. That’s been the story for us so far – how can we keep that momentum going for longer when we’ve got it? When we’ve got it, hold on to it.”.
In Harshit’s next over, Duckett tried to accelerate when recalibration was required, and his plinked pull was brilliantly taken by Yashasvi Jaiswal, running back from midwicket. Then Harry Brook had a flirt down the leg side at a bouncer he could have left, continuing a disappointing tour. Brook’s performances in India, in all cricket, are a blot on his burgeoning reputation. The jury remains out here.
Joe Root will provide England with solidity when he acclimatises. But he was dismissed lbw by the outstanding Ravindra Jadeja, leaving a rebuild to England’s most senior and junior batsmen. The captain, Buttler, reined himself in, while Jacob Bethell played himself in. Buttler miscued a pull off a filthy short ball from Axar Patel, but Bethell showed his more experienced colleagues the way. He had eight from his first 28 balls, but reached 50 from 62. At 21, Bethell took Root’s record as England’s youngest half-centurion in India. In the following over, he was out lbw to Jadeja.
