Virat & Co paid dividends of slow start as hosts win by 31 runs
England piled up (337/7) and India were in a heap (306/5) as the hosts rewrote the story of their home campaign to hand down the Men in Blue their first defeat in this World Cup and, in the process more importantly for themselves, give their semi-final hope a big push.
The India defeat, first in the tournament, came after a long Dhoni tuk-tuk show which rounded off the Indian innings at 306, 32 runs short of the required total.
They also rewrote the story around the might of Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, hammering them for their worst figures in six matches. While Yadav went back with 1/77, Chahal was a dismal 0-88 even as Shami brought in India's first 5-wicket haul and his career best giving away 69 runs. In for an injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami has so far starred in Indian wins with 13 wickets, including a hat-trick, in three matches.
It was a summary dismissal of the Indian arm by centurion Jonny Bairstow (111) and the audacious Ben Stokes' dazzling 79 that adorned the English answer to their own woes after their skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and gave them a friendly platform to perform on.
England showed measured caution and aggression to keep up with the developing situations and then take everything under their control with a first wicket stand of 160 runs with injury returnee Jason Roy making his presence felt with 66 despite missing three matches. Roy may have walked at 21, had skipper Kohli taken a referral to Hardik Pandya's appeal of a caught behind, but he decided to go with umpire Aleem Dar's decision otherwise.
This was England's soundest victory in a while, rekindling the chant around them being pre-tournament favourites. Though many hearts will break in Pakistan and they will cry betrayal at India's doused show to a score that at many points looked gettable, fact is India lost intent around the time Pandya left and never could recover from the England squeeze.
At a time when a T20 kind of innings with a 10 per over run rate could have done the wonders, the batsmen in the middle slid into a Test match gear, rotating strikes but hardly ever getting the aggression to explode on the boundary.
Earlier in the innings, Kohli did herald stability and calm both in the middle and in the stands to steer India towards the massive total with Rohit Sharma without showing the pressure of the situation and KL Rahul going for a duck. In no time, he got to his 50 in 59 balls with seven boundaries and was seen pumping his fist and almost patting his back every time he sent ball travelling to the boundary to some scintillating cover drives.
Sharma, more in a mind bind for some time, aided with his signature pull and a hook to open up with two boundaries a little later in the innings. India's 100 came in 23.1 overs and the Sharma-Kohli partnership too entered cautiously into its three-figure presence. However, the early-overs caution meant the run rate had mounted from six plus to eight plus an over by then.
Taking note of that Sharma hit Ben Stokes for three consecutive fours, all effortless and stylish and signature Rohit, one through backward square, the other through point and the third scooting away to the backward point boundary. He then swept Rashid to square leg, igniting the fireworks. Sharma had overtaken the skipper and was looking good at 75 in 81 balls while Kohli stood at 64. India, requiring under 200 at this point, it started looking doable.
Kohli's fifth 50 in as many innings had as usual come unnoticed though with yeomen effort, staring a mountain of runs to get to for victory and a run rate that would have given heebie-jeebies to anyone lesser. But just 16 runs later, his soft dismissal, second in a row, had him walking at 66 when he was caught at backward point by sub Vince and a fightback immediately got back into the doldrums, bringing in Rishabh Pant to warfront for the first time in his World Cup career.
Soon Sharma was in his 90s and the innings 31-overs old, 98 in 101 balls and his third century of the tournament in 105 balls with 14 boundaries. As compared to Bairstow's 90-ball ton, this one looked grander, come as it did with more grit and in a tight situation. Sharma now becomes only the 2nd Indian to get three World Cup centuries but the effort went waste as he decided to swing his bat, a little inelegantly for him soon after, only to be caught behind off to a slow delivery by Woakes at 102.
India's 200 came soon after in 221 deliveries with 25 boundaries when Pandya was sent in to save the situation with cautious aggression, if he could indeed strike that balance. Pant, meanwhile, was the joker in the pack, really, doing very un-cricket things in the middle, like swinging his bat which went flying to the keeper who almost ran for cover! He did his best to get run out twice in short succession while Sharma stood exasperated at the other end, signalling him to take deep breaths and calm down. So much so that after the over, the 12th man had to come in running to give instructions! But he did contribute 33 runs to the total before leaving the field after being caught at the square leg boundary to a flashy catch by a diving Woakes.
England, meanwhile, kept the squeeze on with Dhoni failing to pick up any of the threads. Pandya left Dhoni to fend for the team after adding 45 runs in 33 balls, lofting the ball to Vince at long on. Under Dhoni's stewardship the run rate soared from 10 to 20 an over and beyond as he struggled to get to the boundary and most of the time sauntered to singles. Seven dots, 20 singles, 3 fours and a six in 31 balls of the Dhoni-Jadhav partnership!
India finally lost to England by 31 runs living up to what Kohli said after losing the toss. "Never a problem, love chasing. But honestly, would have batted first as well. We haven't chased after the first game, so…." From here on, India who have a stressed KL Rahul's back to deal with along with other issues of the middle.