24 March,2021 07:11 AM IST | Pune | Shreeram Gokhale
Prasidh Krishna celebrates an England wicket during the first ODI at Pune yesterday. Pic/AFP; (right) India batsman Krunal Pandya en route his unbeaten 58 against England in the first ODI. Pic/PTI
India showed exemplary resilience and the ability to flight back to win the three-match ODI series-opener by 66 runs against England at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium here on Tuesday.
India scored only 39 runs in the batting powerplay of 10 overs and were then reduced to 205 for five with less than 10 overs left. But Virat Kohli's men did well to come back and post a competitive 317-5.
Then, in the chase, England's Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow seemed to be running away with the game, racing to 135 in just over 14 overs. But just like Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli, KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya with the bat, India found heroes in Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur with the ball.
Bairstow made a 66-ball 94 and Roy got a 35-ball 46 before debutant pacer Krishna got two wickets in back-to-back overs. Thakur then followed it up with a spell of 4-0-15-3.
England were bowled out for 251 off 42.1 overs. It was a debut to remember for both Krishna and Krunal. While Krunal blasted 58 runs off 31 balls and took one wicket, Krishna finished with a four-wicket haul (8.1-1-54-4).
Earlier, on a wicket that had something in it for the pacers, Rohit Sharma and Dhawan started cautiously and importantly, handled a testing new-ball spell from Mark Wood and Sam Curran well.
After Rohit's wicket, Dhawan and Kohli began scoring freely. Dhawan upped the ante with some meaty blows, while Kohli scored almost a run-a-ball 50 with minimum fuss.
The pair added 105 runs in 91 balls before Kohli (56 off 60 balls, 6x4) hit a well-timed pick up flick straight to Moeen Ali at deep midwicket.
Dhawan kept finding boundaries at regular intervals while Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya failed to impress. Batting at No 5, and struggling for form, Rahul started cautiously and with Dhawan in his 90s, runs dried up a bit. That eventually got to the left-hander, who tried to pull a short delivery from Ben Stokes, only to find Eoin Morgan. Dhawan's 98 came off 106 balls (11x4, 2x6).
At 205 for 5, India looked in a bit of trouble but Krunal hit Curran for back-to-back fours in the 42nd over, racing to 18 off the first 10 balls he faced. Pandya reached his 50 off just 26 balls, the fastest by a debutant in the history of ODI cricket. Rahul then smacked Adil Rashid for a straight six.
Within no time, the partnership raced to an unbroken 112-run off just 57 balls. Rahul was unbeaten on 62 off 43 balls (4x6, 4x4).
Brief scores
India 317-5 (S Dhawan 98, KL Rahul 62', V Kohli 56, K Pandya 58'; B Stokes 3-34) beat England 251 in 42.1 overs (J Bairstow 94, J Roy 46; P Krishna 4-54, S Thakur 3-37, B Kumar 2-30) by 66 runs
