India vs England 2022, 2nd ODI: India aim for ruthlessness at Lord’s | Cricket News – Times of India
Since they lost the fifth Test at Edgbaston, India have been on a roll in the limited-overs leg of their English tour. Playing some ‘Bazball’ style aggressive, exciting cricket, Rohit Sharma & Co clinched the T20I series 2-1 and then routed the hosts by 10 wickets in the first ODI at The Oval.
It was England’s first 10-wicket pasting in almost a decade, and clearly their worst performance in this format in a while.
India will look to continue their white-ball dominance over England and seal the series when the two sides meet on the other side of The Thames at the historic Lord’s Cricket Ground in the second day/night ODI on Thursday.
India were so dominant on Tuesday that despite it being a day/night game, the lights were hardly needed-After rolling over Jos Buttler & Co for 110 in 25.2 overs, thanks to a surreal spell of fast bowling from Jasprit Bumrah, India, with their skipper Rohit Sharma unleashing his ferocious, vintage pull shots, completed the win with 31.2 overs to spare.
Pitching the ball consistently in good length areas outside the off-stump, Bumrah left the English batsmen confused, about whether to play him off the backfoot or go forward, whether to leave the ball or jab at it.
When it seams and swings around, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is normally India’s most dangerous bowler- as was seen in the T20 series-but Bumrah, who’s now the No. 1 ODI bowler in the world, post his Oval magic, showed that he can be a nightmare for the batsmen in such a scenario too.
“The Oval pitch has great bounce but Indian bowlers bowled the right lengths & that made all the difference. A great bowling performance by India’s pace attack especially Bumrah who was just phenomenal. I’ve been of the opinion for a while now that Bumrah is the best bowler across formats. It was good to hear @nassercricket agree with me on-air,” tweeted legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday.
Few would disagree.
Clearly, England need to devise a plan quickly on how to tackle Bumrah-the best approach would be to play him out safely. The sound thrashing has also shown them that the idea to prepare a green top and skittle out India can backfire badly, since the visitors now have a potent pace attack in their arsenal.
While Bumrah can be unplayable on his day, Mohammed Shami, who took three for 31 to provide a fine support act at The Oval, can be menacing too. Though he got just five overs, in which he took a nice, low catch off his own bowling to send back Moeen Ali, Prasidh Krishna displayed why he’s amongst the most impressive of the young crop of Indian fast bowlers.
Fit and firing on all cylinders now, Hardik Pandya is consistently clocking speeds of 140, which means that there’s no ‘cooling off ’ period for the batsmen. From India’s point of view, it would be interesting to see if former skipper Virat Kohli, who missed out on the first game due to a mild groin injury, is available for the second match.
The way veteran openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan tore into England’s four-pronged pace attack at The Oval, continuing India’s new, bold, all-out attack approach in white-ball cricket, bodes well for India as they plan for the ODI World Cup next year.
The ridiculously short, lop-sided game left India’s middle-order and spinners untested, but that’s nothing compared to the psychological scars they’ve given England.
It’s the best most clinical performance India have delivered under new coach Rahul Dravid against a normally top side.
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