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Lord’s, London: England take the Metro Bank ODI series against India 2-1, winning the final game at Lord’s Cricket Ground by 27 runs in a high scoring extravaganza on Sunday, July 19. A Ben Duckett century, fifties from Jacob Bethell and Joe Root, and a Jos Buttler hammering powered England to a record total of 387/3. In response a comeback century from Rohit Sharma, and stellar half-centuries from Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli got India close to an unreal victory, but clutch bowling from Sam Curran broke Indian hearts as the visitors mustered a commendable 360/7.
Harry Brook won the toss and put England to bat first, an odd decision looking at Lord’s recent reputation for unpredictable and slower wickets. Luckily for openers Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell, the Indian attack of four specialist pacers, with two in Prince Yadav and Gurnoor Brar fairly new to the international scene, and the all-round spin of Axar Patel, they got flying regardless of the uneven pitch. A few early shaves had the two left handers feeling a little threatened, but inconsistent lines and lengths melted away that pressure as they built confidence in the middle.
Following 58 runs in the powerplay, India were regularly rotating trying to find anyone who could bring in the breakthrough, which played out negatively as no single bowler was getting the space to find their rhythm. Duckett and Bethell quite comfortably had the highest opening partnership in an ODI at Lord’s, which would not be the last record to be broken in the innings. At 192/0 in the 31st over, India finally landed their first hit. Bethell, on 91 pulled Prasidh Krishna’s shorter one straight to Rohit Sharma at deep square, a perfect shot but poor placement, to end the opening stand.
Joe Root in immaculate form came in pecking away with strike rotation to maintain England’s momentum. Duckett took charge following the opening wicket, scoring his fourth ODI century and kept going even after crossing the ton mark. The unorthodox stroke play saw him flying, but would be the cause of his demise, as a late shuffle against a shorter Prince Yadav ball did not allow him to generate enough power in a dink over the bowler’s, instead finding his hands, as he walked back after a spectacular 141.
Approaching the final ten overs, England was already looking at an easy 300+ score, and maybe getting to the highest ODI total at Lord’s. Not only would they do that they would cause far more damage than they could imagine, decimating the internationally novice Indian bowling. England scored a whopping 126 runs in the third powerplay, courtesy of Root, showcasing his clever way to maintain a high strike rate, just in time for the Hundred and Jos Buttler essentially playing a T20 innings. Root finished on an unbeaten 74, scoring his third half-century of the series and Buttler scored 41 off just 12 balls as England got to a whopping 387/3.
Among the records broken were the highest ODI total ever at Lord’s, England’s highest score against India in an ODI, Duckett’s 141 being the highest individual ODI score at the venue, Brar conceding the most expensive figures for India in an ODI without taking a wicket, setting India a total for which they would need to complete their most successful run chase in the format, and the most successful run chase in England.
Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson gave captain Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma a hard time with some tighter lengths early on. Rohit, amidst retirement rumors was desperate to prove his worth, and prove it he did. The change to Josh Tongue gave India the opening to attack, as Rohit went on the charge, and Gill joined him on soon, to give India a decent start at 49/0 in the powerplay.
Gill took off after the opening ten, scoring his second fifty of the series. Rohit joined him soon with a much-needed inning, as the pair made a 100-run opening stand. Gill faced some issues with his hamstring, just as he did in the first ODI at roughly around the same hour point, yet unlike in Birmingham, he soldered on. But he could not go on much longer, as Adil Rashid brought an end to his innings on 77 with an LBW, giving England the breakthrough.
The wicket gave way to the beloved “Ro-Ko” duo of Rohit and Virat Kohli out in the middle, and it was Ro who took center stage. Rohit scored his 34th ODI hundred in just 84 deliveries, keeping the celebrations to a minimum, knowing the job was not yet done despite this already statement of an inning. His ton marked yet another milestone in this game as he became the first Indian ODI centurion at Lord’s.
The entrance of Sam Curran and Bethell brought a stagger to the flow, increasing the run rate. Through that however, “Ro-Ko” brought up a 100-run partnership, their 21st in the format, only second behind Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. But Rohit’s endurance had begun being tested, as he also began facing hamstring troubles like Gill earlier. He still was not planning on stopping, attacking Bethell, but the spinner put Rohit out of his misery, bowling him on 138 as he attempted a slog sweep and the ‘hitman’ walked back to thunderous applause from the crowd.
The setup could not be more perfect. India found themselves in a very similar position to England at the dawn of powerplay three, needing to score at around 12 per over, with a string of clutch IPL finishers yet to bat. Kohli went past the half-century point for the 133rd time in ODI Cricket, refusing to celebrate just like Rohit, until the job was done. Ishan Kishan came in with swinging on the agenda, which would be his undoing against Curran’s trademark ‘moonball’, getting caught by substitute Rehan Ahmed coming from deep mid-wicket.
Shreyas Iyer fell next in the exact same manner, same bowler, same fielder, only slogging off. Curran struck yet again, taking the game away with the wicket of Kohli. Another slower one going high as India got desperate, finding Brook at the edge of the 30-yard circle to draw curtains on Kohli on 74. Archer struck the final nail in the coffin, clipping KL Rahul’s off stump bail.
Heading into the 48th over, India were ironically ahead of England by a couple runs, highlighting the disastrous death overs for the visitors with the ball as the cause of defeat. The game was in the bag and England took their foot off the pedal, leading to a couple more leaked runs as India got up to 360/7, the second highest total at the Home of Cricket.
What they said
Indian captain Shubman Gill: (On India’s weak bowling) “Our bowling is a little inexperienced, and I think we were put under the pump in this match, and we didn’t respond well. I think we didn’t start well in the power play.
“We gave away too many loose balls, and then we were always kind of chasing the game, trying to, you know, take wickets, create something which didn’t happen for us and then the game was already, I think, kind of ahead from us, and then the last three overs, we gave six to them. That’s where the momentum, I think, completely shifted.”
England captain Harry Brook: (On rotating his side in the future) “That’s something to think about down the line really. We’ve always said that we want to try and select the XI on the conditions really.
“We try our best to read the conditions as well as we can before the game and try and pick the side that we think is going to be dominant on that surface.”
