Concerns regarding K.L. Rahul’s form put to rest in the first ODI against England, India have little to worry about as they go into the second ODI of the three-match series at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Friday. If Rahul batted himself back to form, the performances of the Indian debutants — Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya — was the highlight of India’s impressive win in the opening encounter.
Following a disappointing T20I series, Rahul found his rythmn in the first ODI, playing an unbeaten knock of 62. Debutants Krunal Pandya (58* off 31 balls and 1/59) and Prasidh Krishna (4/54) too provided the much-needed impetus to the side. Riding on the back of sublime performances, India will now look to win the second ODI and take an unassailable lead in the series. Pleased with the performance in the opener, India skipper Virat Kohli after the match had called it “one of our sweetest wins”.
Shreyas Iyer’s absence though will open the door for Suryakumar Yadav to get into the squad and continue from where he left in the T20I series. Iyer hurt his left shoulder in the series opener and might need to undergo surgery.
England, too, had many positives to take from the first ODI despite the 66-run defeat. The biggest positive was the performance of openers Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy. The duo had taken the team to a score of 131 at the top to set the tempo for the chase.
However, their middle-order failed and the match started to tilt in India’s favour. The visitors’ batting performance, apart from the openers, was dismal and they were all out for 251 despite having a good platform at the top of the innings.
Bairstow on Wednesday admitted that his side failed to capitalise on key periods. “I think our game plan has been very good for the last four years. It got us to where we are at with our ODI cricket. I don’t think even yesterday, we did huge amount of wrong (things). There were just key periods we didn’t capitalise on. We lost the key moments in the game,” Bairstow had said in the virtual press-conference.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Thursday said that he has not changed his batting style to bat at number three in the ongoing ODI series against India.
In the absence of regular number three batsman Joe Root, Stokes was promoted up in the batting order in the first ODI of the three-match series. However, Stokes failed to impress with the bat and got out after scoring just one run. “It is a slightly different role batting at number three than my normal five or six position in this team. Potentially, you will be facing 100 balls compared to maybe 50-60 balls like I normally do. So, I’ve not changed too much,” Stokes said in a virtual press conference on Thursday.
“It was my first game since the World Cup final, great to be back out there and play some ODI cricket. There’s gonna be a talk about whoever is gonna fill that place at number three with Root not being here. There is always gonna be a discussion about it but people keep talking and I’ll just go out and try to do what I’ve been asked to do,” he added.
“Disappointed with how things ended up last game, we know we are a much better team than that. We are very good at putting previous games to bed quickly whether that be a successful game or a poor game. All our concentration will be on tomorrow,” Stokes said.