England defeat India to keep semi-final hopes alive
England kept their World Cup hopes alive whilst handing a first defeat of the tournament to India in a 31-run win at Edgbaston on Sunday.
After winning the toss, England put aside their recent batting woes to post a more-than-competitive score of 337-7 from their 50 overs, thanks largely to a Jonny Bairstow hundred and a quick-fire 79 from all-rounder Ben Stokes.
India always looked behind the rate during the chase but appeared well set for a late siege following a third century of the tournament for Rohit Sharma (102), who was shelled by Joe Root on just 4, and another masterful knock by captain Virat Kohli (66).
India, however, left their lower order with too much to do as the returning Liam Plunkett claimed three wickets, including the prize scalp of Kohli.
Jason Roy returned from injury to partner Jonny Bairstow at the top of the order against India
England’s starts with the bat in the tournament haven’t been at the blistering tempo they’ve become accustomed to over the last four years, but the opening pair of Bairstow, who hit a brilliant 111, and the returning Jason Roy (66), were back to their ferocious best, sharing a scintillating opening stand of 160 from 22 overs.
Some clever India bowling, however – particularly from Mohammed Shami, who took his maiden ODI five-wicket haul – did well to claw back some of the momentum during the middle overs.
Jonny Bairstow silences the critics with his first century of the Cricket World Cup 2019
India stumbled early on in their pursuit, as Chris Woakes got England off to the perfect start with three maidens, which included the wicket of KL Rahul (0), caught and bowled.
Rohit and Kohli looked to be shepherding their side towards an exciting finish in front of a packed crowd in Birmingham, with both combining watchfully for a second-wicket stand of 138, before Liam Plunkett returned to the attack and forced Kohli to chase a wide delivery outside off stump and hit straight to sub fielder James Vince at backward-point.
Classy Rohit Sharma showed why he is India’s leading run scorer so far in the tournament with 440 runs
Rohit continued to motor on, combining with Rishabh Pant (32) to keep India in touch with the required rate. The game took a twist, however, when, shortly after reaching his 25th ODI century, Rohit nicked off to Woakes via a wild heave across the line.
By the time Plunkett picked up the wicket of the dangerous Pant following a sublime catch by Woakes in the deep, India were faced with a tall order of 105 runs in the final ten overs.
Plunkett stood tall once more, removing the hard-hitting Hardik Pandya (45), which left MS Dhoni (42*) and Kedar Jadhav (12*) with an almost impossible task.
Liam Plunkett celebrates the wicket of Virat Kohli, one of three for the 34-year-old in the match
Coming into the match under a lot of media scrutiny following their losses to Sri Lanka and Australia, it was by no means the complete performance by England but they shook off their recent woes and won the key moments.
Despite the loss, India will almost certainly progress to the semi-final, owed to Pakistan’s far inferior net run-rate, but they will be disappointed that they couldn’t capitalise on the foundations laid by Rohit and Kohli with the bat, and perturbed by some of their bowlers’ inability to squeeze England’s batsman. Chahal, for example, was flayed for 88 runs, though his captain was quick to blame the short Edgbaston boundary for his spinner’s poor figures.
