England’s decision to bat first in the ODI series opener against England at Edgbaston on Tuesday seemed vindicated when Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell took them to 61/0. India’s bowlers had bowled well, but not done enough to dislodge the pair, beating the bat on numerous occasions without taking the outside edge.
Once the ball stopped swinging, Duckett began to open up, putting India under pressure. However, some on-field decisions from Shubman Gill helped India claw their way back into the match, reducing England to 107/6 in the 22nd over and eventually restricted them to a below-par score.
Brar end swap
The Edgbaston pitch was offering extra bounce, and Gurnoor Brar, with his height, was able to make full use of it from the surface. Duckett, waiting for his chance to pounce, took liberties against Brar, and his first two overs went for 31.
ALSO READ | Jasprit Bumrah’s return reminds England why he’s the best in the world
Something had to give. Gill reacted by swapping ends in the 13th over. He came in from the City end, which had a bigger leg-side boundary yesterday. The pacer continued with his natural length of hitting the pitch hard. Bethell was the first victim. He pulled the ball to the leg-side, but the longer boundary meant he was caught at square-leg by Washington Sundar. The change of ends had paid dividends.
In the same over, Duckett tried to cut a shorter ball, but Brar’s extra bounce meant he could not get on top of it, resulting in a top-edge that carried to Bumrah at third man, who was positioned much finer than the conventional spot.
New death bowler in town
Axar Patel, through the middle overs of an ODI game, is a wily customer with his precise pace variations and deceptive arm balls. But with only one ball remaining in the 34th over, Gill opted to hold Axar back for the final 10 overs with the softer and older ball. This phase also gave the all-rounder the protection of an extra fielder outside the ring.
The left-arm spinner first broke the 121-run partnership between Liam Dawson and Joe Root. It was a quicker, flatter delivery from Axar to Dawson, who was preparing himself to sweep everything at that point in his innings. Beaten by the pace, Dawson dragged one straight to Rohit at square-leg. Jofra Archer also got undone by a similar plan but was caught at long-off.
India’s Jasprit Bumrah and teammates celebrate the wicket of England skipper Harry Brook during 1st ODI, at Edgbaston stadium in Birmingham on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)
Then came the final throw of the dice with Gill opting for Axar to bowl the 48th over after Brar walked off with an injury. He initially called Shivam Dube but changed his mind later and threw the ball to his spinner, who picked up Adil Rashid and Josh Tongue in consecutive deliveries to close out the innings.
Bumrah’s return
Jasprit Bumrah’s first spell to Duckett was high-class, without much reward. Angling across the left-hander, Bumrah went past the edge on numerous occasions and bowled a few sharp deliveries coming back into Bethell, who was completely at sea on how to deal with those deliveries.
However, despite the help Bumrah was getting, Gill decided to take him out of the attack after just a four-over burst. As soon as Brar picked up a couple of wickets in the 13th over and the cream of the England middle-order came in with Harry Brook and Joe Root in the middle, Gill brought his premium bowler back in the 14th over.
It was a pearler of a delivery to Brook; the ball came in with the angle, and Brook, prepared to play the delivery coming into him, saw it hold its line. Brook casually flapped at the delivery, unusually, giving a slip catch to Rohit Sharma.
Gill sensed his opportunity as England lost three wickets in quick succession and brought Prasidh Krishna back into the attack to keep suffocating the English batters. Krishna picked up both Jos Buttler and Sam Curran in the same over, reducing England to 80/5 in 16.4 overs.
