The 2nd ODI match between England and India, held at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, started at 5:30 PM IST, after Harry Brook won the toss and elected to field first, as the pitch at Sophia Gardens is suitable for chasing the target in the second innings. The match’s first ball was bowled at 5:30 PM IST.
The playing XIs for both teams
India’s Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (C), Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna
England’s Playing XI: Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood
India Post 233 as Kohli, Shreyas Lead the Way
The first half of India’s batting was in favour of a balanced contest, as both sides had complete control in the game conditions, with the score after 25 overs standing at 133/3. The match began with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, the Indian openers, at the crease.
Both provided India with a brisk start, playing in a singles-and-doubles style and scoring boundaries on the loose deliveries. Captain Shubman Gill, after scoring 31 runs in 30 balls, was dismissed by Gus Atkinson in the 8th over.
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Virat Kohli came out to the crease and joined Rohit Sharma. India’s score after 10 overs was 61/1. The master duo of Rohit and Kohli took the innings further with singles, doubles, and boundaries.
The pair touched another milestone by making 8,008 partnership runs across all formats for India. However, the partnership ended in 17.5 overs, when Will Jacks had Rohit Sharma caught out. Rohit scored 26 (47).
Ishan Kishan’s dismissal in the 21st over by Sam Curran’s toe-crusher saw Ishan Kishan depart for 1 (8). Shreyas Iyer joined Virat Kohli, and both took a calm and steady approach, moving India’s innings to a score of 113 runs with the loss of 3 wickets.
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The second half of the first innings began with Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. Both looked set to move India’s scoreboard further, and in 26.1 overs, Virat Kohli reached his 79th ODI fifty and 14th fifty against England. In each over, one boundary and singles were coming from the duo’s bat, but in the 32nd over, Jofra Archer struck the most important wicket of the innings in the form of Virat Kohli. After playing an amazing knock of 66 (66), he ended up giving a catch to Adil Rashid at third man.
Last match’s star performer, Washington Sundar, came out to the crease and joined the run-scoring with Shreyas Iyer, who was batting with great rhythm. But Sundar couldn’t add many runs, as he was dismissed by Saqib Mahmood on the 4th delivery of the 33rd over. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer carried on fighting and scored his 25th ODI fifty with a six in Jofra Archer’s over.
Things went tight for India in the 36th over when Axar Patel got out to Archer’s short ball. Shreyas kept on scoring runs for India, but due to the lack of contribution by the other batters, he came under pressure and, in Gus Atkinson’s 44th over, he was caught out.
However, a 20-run late blitz by Jasprit Bumrah took India to a fighting total of 233. The hosts need 234 runs in 50 overs to level the series.
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