After losing out on the Test series against England, India were quick to bounce back. With Hardik Pandya and skipper Rohit Sharma back, they were strong enough to hand England a loss.
Due to back and shoulder problems, Hardik had a little role at the World Cup, facing only 45 balls and bowling only four overs over the course of five games. However, on Thursday night at the Ageas Bowl, he was instrumental in India’s 50-run victory.
His best score was 51 off 33 as India posted 198 for 8, playing with a lot of attacking intent. He then finished with 4 for 33 after taking three wickets with the new ball to destroy England’s top order.
After recovering from Covid-19, Rohit Sharma decided to play competitive cricket again. On a great pitch, he elected to bat first. It set the tone with 24 off 14 before edging Moeen Ali’s arm ball through to Jos Buttler.
Although Chris Jordan’s stunning spell of 2 for 23 in four overs, forgoing his regular yorker strategy in favour of hard lengths, held India below 200, Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav both contributed with quick-scoring cameos that put England’s assault under strain.
With the new, swinging ball, England needed to get going quickly but instead fell to 33 for 4. As the sun set, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, making his debut, and Arshdeep Singh both discovered incredible movement. Bhuvneshwar bowled Buttler for a first-ball duck with a hooping inswinger.
In his first over, Hardik struck twice, getting rid of Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone. He then got rid of Jason Roy with the first ball following the powerplay for an unusually shaky 4 off 16 balls.
Hardik Pandya showcased great performance with bat as well as ball to help India get the win
To keep England’s hopes alive, Moeen and Harry Brook contributed 61 runs for the fifth wicket in six overs, but Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed both of them in the space of five balls to put a stop to the match.
In the powerplay, India aggressively attacked England and Moeen in particular. Ishan Kishan, a left-handed bowler, was the opponent for Buttler’s offspinner in the third over, but after Kishan struck a single, Rohit slog-swept him for two straight fours past square leg.
He fell shortly after, edging to Buttler, but Hooda persisted in going after Moeen, hitting successive sixes over long-on to increase his lead to 12 off 3 balls. As Buttler had intended, Kishan fell to Moeen’s second delivery, top-edging a sweep to short fine leg, but India concluded the powerplay with 66 for 2, with Moeen’s two overs contributing a total of 26.
