Krunal Pandya posted the fastest half-century by a player in the one-day international debut
| First one day international, Pune |
| India 317-5 (50 overs): Dhawan 98 (106); Stokes 3-34 |
| England 251 (42.1 overs): Bairstow 94 (66); Krishna 4-54 |
| India won with 66 runs |
| Scorecard |
England missed a chance to win a staggering first day international against India and lost in Pune by 66 runs.
Jonny Bairstow’s sparkling 94 of just 66 balls had the world champion well on course for his 318 goal.
India’s speed bowlers roared back, and an English team that missed the rested Joe Root lost five wickets for 41 runs before eventually slumping to 251.
The hosts had previously been lifted to 317-5 by Shikhar Dhawan’s 98 and 58, not Krunal Pandya, whose 26-ball half-century was the fastest by a debutant in one-day internationals.
On a bloody day, English captain Eoin Morgan spent some time out of the field with the webbing split on his right hand while Sam Billings sprained his collarbone joint and tried to stop at the border.
Rohit Sharma was hit in the elbow by Mark Wood and seriously, new Lancashire signs Shreyas Iyer suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder.
The second in the three-game series takes place on Friday on the same floor.
India wins style battle
The one-day portion of this long England tour is the least significant compared to the tourists’ defeats on the Test and Twenty20 series, but the world’s top two teams have still played compelling competition in an empty stadium.
While England was led to 2019 World Cup glory through its unrestrained aggression, India still favors an old-fashioned approach to cricket over 50.
Their confidence in a late attack could have backfired if it hadn’t been for Krunal and KL Rahul, who capitalized when England got lost when influential skipper Morgan was sent off on lap 41.
The home team had no answer to Bairstow’s brutality, just for a resurgence of their sailors to bring the game back into balance.
England relied on a lower order that played little cricket and they were gradually being smothered by their hosts.
England wasted Bairstow’s brilliance
Bairstow’s staggering hit was reminiscent of England’s bullying ahead of the 2019 World Cup victory and threatened to illuminate the chase.
He muscled the ball, mostly on the leg side, and devastated an attack from India with seven sixs and six fours.
However, when Jason Roy was caught after just 14.2 overs at time 46 to finish an opening score of 135, England lost all fluency.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was stingy, while debutant Prasidh Krishna took four wickets and Shardul Thakur took three.
Ben Stokes took cover, Bairstow pulled himself out on the side of the leg, Morgan bounced out, and Jos Buttler was caught on the crease to be lbw.
Moeen Ali had a difficult day behind him in his second match since November, dropping Dhawan and conceding 28 runs in his three overs.
He seemed to save England by bat, but when he left Bhuvneshwar 30 minutes behind, tourists’ hopes went with him.
Emotional krunal exalts India
Krunal and Hardik Pandya’s father died in January
In a real square, the posh Shikhar was a strong place on the wicket, sharing 64 with Rohit and 105 with Captain Virat Kohli, who looked ominous as he availed himself on 56.
The left-handed Shikhar also benefited from two failures, the first a difficult chance for a diving Roy at point 16 and the second an easy chance for Moeen at the leg edge on the 59th.
As India wanted to accelerate, the quick Mark Wood returned to get Kohli on a deep square leg and Dhawan pulled into the middle of the wicket as part of Stokes’ 3-34 in his first ODI since the World Cup final.
Morgan had just left the field when Krunal, Hardik’s older brother, joined Rahul to start a blur of the ball, which was peeled into all parts.
The daring left-hander carved across the outside and whipped his pads off, which was the catalyst for 112 runs from the last 9.3 overs.
The father of the Pandya brothers died in January. Emotional receiving his cap before the game and again when interviewed during recess, Krunal hugged Hardik tearfully.
“One of our sweetest victories”
England’s Captain Eoin Morgan: “We did a lot right today. I thought the bowlers were excellent, as did our two openers. We stopped building. We’re an aggressive brand of cricket, we just have to do better than today.” That’s how we play and that’s how we keep playing “
India’s captain Virat Kohli: “This is one of our sweetest wins in recent years. The comeback of all of our bowlers has been an amazing feat. I’m a really proud man, the team showed great character and intensity.”
