India win by three wickets, lead England in three match ODI series 1-0

India win by three wickets, lead England in three match ODI series 1-0

India took a 1-0 lead in the three match ODI series by beating England by 6 wickets with 13 balls remaining.

The win was powered by a 200-run partnership between skipper Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav. (Source: PTI)
India triumphed over the England in the first ODI held at the Maharashtra Cricket Ground near Pune. They thus took a 1-0 lead in the three match series but they did so with the slimmest of margins. The win was powered by a fantastic 200-run partnership between skipper Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav.

India had won the toss and Virat Kohli decided to let England bat first stating that he would like to take advantage of the dew that expected in the evening. India took the field and had their first breakthrough in the sixth over. Alex Hales was the man to fall to a direct hit from Jasprit Bumrah.
But Joe Root, who came in next stuck with Jason Roy. The duo then put up a 69 run partnership for the second wicket before the latter was stumped by MS Dhoni to a Ravindra Jadeja delivery. It was the first of three major partnerships that took England’s total to 350. The last of the three between Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali was the one that did the most damage to India.
England ended up smashing 105 runs in the last eight overs, giving India a total that was just 50 runs shy of 400.

KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan opened India’s stint at the crease. Dhawan was making his comeback after recovering from an injury. it turned out to be an anticlimax of a return for him as he was the first to depart for India. Dhawan made just one run and walked before the end of the third over. Virat Kohli came up with his batting gear for the first time as Indian ODI captain.
Kohli could do nothing but stand and watch as he saw Rahul fall, followed by Yuvraj Singh and then his predecessor MS Dhoni. Yuvraj did smash the ball around the park but he couldn’t stay around for long. After Dhoni, in came Kedar Jadhav and he turned out to be the man who would stand with his captain.

What followed was a carnage in which Jadhav and Kohli notched up 200 runs in under 25 overs. In the process both notched up their respective 100s. But, unlike what everyone thought, both weren’t around to finish things off for India.