Captain Rohit Sharma broke a long lean run with the bat by hitting a sparkling 119 and lead India to a four-wicket win over England in the second ODI at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday. Rohit’s masterly 32nd ODI century, laced with 12 fours and seven sixes, along with Shubman Gill’s 60 and handy knocks from Shreyas Iyer (44) and Axar Patel (41 not out) helped India chase down 305 with 33 balls remaining and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
But seeing a rampaging Rohit getting back to his best self with the bat must have brought in tons of relief to him and many important personnel in Indian cricket, especially with the Champions Trophy starting later this month.
It was a knock where Rohit was in his usual flow with the bat – the free-flowing shots, good use of wrists and impeccable timing all combining to give the fans’ their money’s worth. Chasing 305, Rohit got going by getting a thick edge flying over backward point for four off Gus Atkinson in the second over. From there, Rohit’s innings took a sublime turn – flicking Atkinson off his wrists for six and carving Saqib Mahmood for a maximum.
From the other end, Shubman Gill was pristine – playing his trademark short-arm jab and flick over the in-field to collect two boundaries. Rohit used his hands well to hoist Mahmood over long-off for six, before Gill got one to fly over outside edge for a boundary.
After a floodlight failure over the long-off fence held up play for 35 minutes, Rohit re-started in imperious fashion – glancing Mahmood over fine leg for four, and followed it up by smacking a six over long-on. He welcomed Adil Rashid with a sweep going for four, before cutting through point for another boundary to get his fifty in just 30 balls.
After the power-play ended, Gill slog-swept Rashid for six, before short arm-jabbing and pulling Mark Wood four boundaries. When Rashid was back, Gill kept finding extra cover fence twice for boundaries before getting a splendid 15th ODI fifty.
With Rohit dispatching Gus Atkinson for four and six respectively, followed by Gill pulling and glancing Jamie Overton for boundaries, the chase was already looking like a one-way traffic for India. But Overton bounced back by getting rid of Gill by executing an off-stump yorker to perfection, thus ending the 136-run opening partnership.
Rashid joined the wicket-taker’s party by getting a ball to turn away at the last moment and caught the feather edge of Virat Kohli’s bat, which was detected by UltraEdge on review, leading to the batter being dismissed for five.
After Shreyas Iyer got off the mark against Overton, Rohit swept Rashid for four and dispatched Overton for six, before getting his century by dancing down the pitch to hit the leg-spinner over mid-off for a six and bring up his 32nd ODI century in a nonchalant style.
A Captain’s knock by @ImRo45 , he smashes his 32nd ODI century in style!
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Rohit didn’t slow down after reaching his century – reverse-sweeping and glancing Rashid for fours, before carving Wood over backward point for another boundary. After Iyer whipped and pulled twice to get two fours and a six off Wood, Rohit toe-ended a slog to short mid-wicket off a full toss from Liam Livingstone and departed for 119 off 90 balls.
After Rohit’s departure, Iyer and Axar Patel slowed down a bit, with the latter hitting the boundaries. But on the last ball of the 37th over, a mix-up in search for a second run resulted in Iyer’s run-out for 44, which began a slight wobble for India.
KL Rahul fell for 10 after trying to pull a short ball from Overton, but gave a glove edge behind to Salt. Hardik Pandya took two fours off Atkinson before pulling the pacer straight to mid-wicket. But Axar and Jadeja ensured India got over the line, as the latter hit a lovely inside-out cover drive for four to get an emphatic win for the hosts’.
Previously, Joe Root and Ben Duckett smashed 69 and 65 respectively while Liam Livingstone applied finishing touches with his 41 as England posted a mammoth 304 in 49.5 overs, though they lost their last seven wickets for 85 runs. For India, Jadeja starred with the ball by picking 3-35 in his ten overs and kept his economy rate below four, even as other bowlers had their economy rates above five.
Electing to bat first, Duckett was at his best self from the word go and give England a flying start to their innings. It also helped that he was offered short and wide balls as well as some balls going down leg, which meant Duckett picked nine boundaries with ease.
On the other hand, Salt found the going tough and despite being dropped by Axar Patel in the first ten overs, he couldn’t make full use of the reprieve as his attempt to go for a big shot ended up in giving a top-edge to mid-on, giving debutant spinner Varun Chakaravarthy his first ODI wicket.
Duckett went on to get his fifty off 36 deliveries, but in an attempt to take on Jadeja, he went for a big shot and holed out to long-on in tame fashion. Root, though, out his foot down and be the anchor of England’s innings with a calculative knock. The highlight of his knock was him playing spinners on the back foot, and picking their early to get his boundaries via reverse-sweeps and pulls.
With Gill running back from mid-off and looking up over his shoulder to take the dangerous Harry Brook’s catch off Harshit Rana’s bowling, the onus was huge on Root and Jos Buttler to keep England going. But shortly after Root got his fifty, Buttler tried to loft off a slower ball from Pandya, but gave a catch to mid-off.
The big blow for England came in the 43rd over when against the run of play, Root couldn’t keep his aerial shot down against Jadeja and holed out to long-off, making it the fifth instance of him being dismissed by Jadeja.
With England’s score at 248/5, Livingstone hit a couple of boundaries off Rana and Mohammed Shami, with Rashid taking three fours off the latter. Though England got only 74 runs in last ten overs for the loss of six wickets, it was enough to ensure they went past 300, thanks to efforts by Root, Duckett and Livingstone. But then came Rohit and tilted the game in India’s favour.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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