CWC 2019 Flashback: England triumph despite Shami 5-fer, Rohit ton
This is the England that showed up at the 2019 Cricket World Cup – a typical high-scoring, high-intensity match with their batsmen killing the opposition’s confidence and their bowlers turning up just the right way. The stakes were high, England hadn’t beaten India since 1992 and were in desperate need of a win to keep their campaign alive. And they got it against an unbeaten, world-class unit that tried hard but eventually fell short. In the end, it was the intent to win that separated the two sides.
With 10 points in 8 matches, England were back in the hunt at No.4 on the points table. As for India, this was their first loss of the tournament.
Check out the full scorecard here
Bairstow-Roy turn up the heat
All England needed was their swashbuckling opener, Jason Roy to turn his team’s campaign around. On a belter of a batting wicket, both Roy and his equally flamboyant partner Jonny Bairstow wreaked havoc with the bat. Barring Jasprit Bumrah who conceded only 8 runs in his first 4 overs, the English duo took all the Indian bowlers to the cleaners. It wasn’t until the 23rd over that Kuldeep Yadav got the important breakthrough of Roy (66). But, Bairstow (111) continued his demolition for 9 more overs and brought up his first hundred of the World Cup and 8th in ODI cricket. Joe Root (44) and Ben Stokes (79) kept the scoreboard ticking with useful contributions. Captain Eoin Morgan (1) fell to a sizzling bouncer yet again.
Shami on a roll
He can’t seem to put a foot wrong, can he? At a time when England’s batsmen were going after every single ball, Mohammed Shami produced an extraordinary spell of fast bowling to stall their run-scoring rate. He got the prized wicket of Bairstow just when the centurion was looking to up the ante further. He also ripped the middle order apart, dismissing Root, Morgan and the dangerous Jos Buttler. Bumrah kept inducing pressure from the other end and finally got rewarded with the wicket of Stokes. Shami registered his first five-wicket haul of the World Cup and England, who once looked set for 400 were restricted to 337/7.
Rohit roars but India falter
Chasing only for the second time in the tournament, the Indian batsmen started slow on a pitch that was getting slower. The fact that KL Rahul (0) fell early in the third over didn’t help their cause. Still, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma took their time to dig in. Only 28 runs came in the first 10 overs. Looking in fine touch, captain Kohli then accelerated to score his 5th fifty of the tournament. Rohit struggled initially but soon found his timing to score his 25th ODI hundred, third in this World Cup.
Soon after, Kohli departed to a soft dismissal in the 29th over after adding 138 runs for the 2nd wicket. India lost the momentum and were only playing catch-up from thereon. Hardik Pandya’s 33-ball 45 instilled some hope but the required rate kept soaring. The credit entirely belonged to the English bowlers who executed their plans of bowling slower ones and cutters to the tee. Liam Plunkett, who replaced Moeen Ali in this game, finished with figures of 3/55. Chris Woakes too had a good outing with 2 wickets to his name.
Stat alert: A total of 13 sixes were scored in the England innings, but just one in India’s.
