India 262 for 4 (Gill 80, Patel 57*, Sundar 52*, Tongue 1-50) beat England 258 (Root 76*, Dawson 68, Axar 4-62, Prasidh 2-50) by six wickets
India also came into this match with their own problems to solve in international cricket’s middle format off the back of three bilateral defeats in their last six. Though the returning Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli offered little, Jasprit Bumrah’s first ODI appearance since 2023’s World Cup final defeat brought incisiveness, albeit with just a single wicket to show for it. Though Axar boasted the best figures with 4 for 62, it was the seam group led by Bumrah that set the tone, accounting for six of the top seven before Axar lopped off the tail.
Alas, Gill ended up limping off instead, assisted by 12th man Arshdeep Singh and India’s physiotherapist Kamlesh Jain, with just 109 left to clear for victory. India’s captain led the chase from the off, two boundaries off his first two balls setting the tone. A stunned, scythe of a cover drive off Josh Tongue in the sixth over, three balls after a swivel-pull over sponge, was undoubtedly the shot of the day.
A 19th ODI fifty looked highly likely to be converted to a 10th century as he shook off the fall of his seniors, Rohit and Kohli. Sam Curran struck with his third ball to remove Rohit, undone by a bit of cut and grip in the surface to spoon a heave to Brook at mid off. And after the biggest ovation of the day, Kohli was undone for 5 by searing pace from Archer, the right-hander stepping across his stumps and wearing one on the shin. It was from this point, at 48 for 2, that Gill and Shreyas Iyer put on 101.
India’s innings immediately went awry in their captain’s enforced absence. The misfortune of Gill’s injury was the stroke of luck England needed. It ended a match-turning stand that had shown no signs of stopping and India’s misery was compounded when Shreyas was run out for 35 via a direct hit from Harry Brook. KL Rahul followed him back to the dressing room five balls later, playing on for Tongue’s maiden dismissal on his ODI debut.
That loss of three batters in 15 balls shifted things England’s way after they had gone big early on with their quicks, with Archer and Tongue sending down 13 of the first 16 overs of the innings. It subsequently allowed Axar and Washington to tick over against Curran, Will Jacks and Adil Rashid from the 29th over through to the 36th, when Archer return to the attack. The fast bowler’s first two balls – a leg stump half-volley and a short, wide delivery outside off stump – were both nailed for four by Axar.
With a few lusty blows down the ground off Jacks, the allrounder was able to raise his bat for his fourth fifty from just 39 deliveries, made up of six boundaries, including one slog-sweep off the English offspinner that caused a punter to spill his drink attempting to catch it in the stands. With his milestone complete, it was left to Washington to cap his day off by launching Rashid into the sight screen to seal his maiden ODI fifty, the century stand and the match.
Brook’s assertion that he was “very happy to go out there and give India a good crack” upon winning the toss came back to bite him. A top-order collapse of 5 for 19 left the hosts reeling on 80 for 5 after just 100 balls of the first innings.
Jacob Bethell’s first go as an opener in limited-overs cricket was a torturous affair, with a trio of scampered singles that all came close to seeing him off for single figures. The first got him off the mark from his 13th ball, the third saw him just home as Shivam Dube hit the stumps. That single only took Bethell to 5 off 23.
The precocious left-hander eventually stuttered to 14 off 31, pulling Gurnoor Brar to deep square leg. Luckily for Bethell, Ben Duckett was doing his bit at the other end to make up for his partner’s stodginess, having been responsible for 41 of England’s first 50 runs.
After receiving a blow from Bumrah with just four to his name – England’s physio came out twice to tend to the Duckett’s right hand – he began unfurling regularly boundaries, including in a compelling back-and-forth with Brar.
Having ramped the Brar for six over the keeper’s head, a scuffed drive off the very next delivery was picked up by the seamer and thrown back, passed closely to Duckett as it bounced through to wicketkeeper Rahul. The pair exchanged glances before Brar followed up with a bouncer. Duckett duly pulled that for the second six of the over, into the stands at fine leg right next to the construction site.
Brar had the last laugh when Duckett scythed to deep third, where Bumrah completed a fine relay catch to himself right on the boundary sponge. And with Brook and Root now fresh to the crease, Gill made the call to bring on Bumrah, who struck immediately to dismiss England’s skipper for just 1, caught by Rohit at first slip after extra bounce surprised the right-hander.
Jos Buttler, playing his 200th ODI, failed to mark the occasion accordingly, caught right over the umpire’s head by Brar, stationed at mid-on, completely taking out Gill in the process after the India captain had also tracked the ball from mid-off. Prasidh Krishna was the beneficiary, doubling up three deliveries later as Curran nicked off for a three-ball duck.
Jacks’ 20 added some degree of normalcy from England’s perspective, before Root and Dawson were able to stick around for 134 deliveries and add some respectability to the score.
A stand of 121 saw Dawson as the aggressor, first to his half-century and doing so in 65 balls. He cracked on as best he could before dragging an Axar long-hop to deep square leg for 68 – his best score for England across all formats.
It soon became a procession for Axar, even if he had to wear a couple of blows from Root and Archer in his ninth over, lifted down the ground and swatted into The Hollies Stadium, respectively.
But Root was eventually left high and dry with 13 balls remaining in the innings. And England left looking sheepish once again in a format they once bossed.
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at Cricinfo
