Heartbreak for the whole of Asia as England registered a thumping victory just when it mattered the most. With this win accumulating 10 points in 8 matches, they are almost in the semifinals. The campaign for the English World Cup is certainly back on track and the dream of taking the trophy home for the first time is truly alive.
In the first few overs, the English openers had a hard time negotiating the threat from Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, but Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow started to assert their dominance. The duo came all out against the spinners and the rate of scoring started to go past seven.
Both batsmen in no time finished their half-centuries and Bairstow furthermore upped the ante. At almost every ball they began swinging and their partnership crossed the 150-mark. A moment of awesomeness in the field from substitute fielder Ravindra Jadeja gave the first breakthrough for India as Jason Roy was dismissed for 66.
Bairstow quickly finished his century alongside Joe Root, but the return spell of Mohammed Shami turned the match on its head. In consecutive overs, he removed Bairstow and Eoin Morgan to break the momentum and there was no boundary for the English for a stretch of nearly 10 overs. But Ben Stokes cut loose and pursued his amazing form run.
After suffering an injury during the first innings, KL Rahul did not take the field and did not look comfortable batting in the middle. He was dismissed for a 9-ball duck and three successive maiden overs were bowled by Chris Woakes. Jofra Archer, too, did not give away many runs and was unfortunate on the day when Joe Root dropped a sitter in the slips from his bowling, which could have sent Rohit packing for a duck.
During a very critical period in the innings, the Indian captain and vice-captain were in the middle. Not many runs had been scored between the 5th and 20th over, but the duo has done a nice job countering some decent bowling and keeping India alive in the chase. Kohli and Rohit finally settled and finished their respective half-centuries.
Unfortunately for Kohli, after reaching a fifty, fifth time consecutively in the tournament, he again dropped short of a 100. Rohit finished his third hundred of the tournament in Rishabh Pant’s company and it seemed as though their partnership was doing the trick. But both Rohit and Pant were dismissed, putting back pressure on the Indians.
Hardik Pandya chipped in and kept them in the hunt with a stupendous cameo. His 45 off 33 balls to some extent pulled things back in favor but once he dropped, the Indians showed no intention of winning the match at all. They just batted the remaining overs to make sure their momentum doesn’t take a hit, which saw the English register a comfortable win.
