England 304 (Root 69, Duckett 65, Jadeja 3-35) vs India
Joe Root and Ben Duckett led the way for England with a pair of 60s, before Liam Livingstone applied some late muscle with 41 from 32 balls. However, India’s spinners, with Ravindra Jadeja to the fore, turned the screw in now-familiar fashion to give their team the edge in the second ODI at Cuttack.
After winning the toss and choosing to take first use of a black-soil surface, England found contributions from each of their top seven, including a third 50-plus opening stand in consecutive matches from Duckett and Phil Salt, and they had had designs on a 330-plus total while Root and Jos Buttler were easing through the gears in a fourth-wicket stand of 51.
However, both men fell in the space of four overs to trigger another dramatic collapse, with England losing their last seven wickets for 85, including three run-outs, as they were dismissed for 304 with one ball left unused.
Nevertheless, England did at least put a score on the board, with Duckett and Salt’s stand of 81 in 65 balls continuing their fine alliance. Where Salt had been England’s principal aggressor in their strong start to the first ODI, Duckett was the main man this time out, with his willingness to throw his hands through any hint of width handing him 10 boundaries in his 65 from 56 balls.
Salt, at the other end, had been limited to 6 from 11 balls in the first six overs when he was gifted an extraordinary let-off by Axar Patel on the deep third boundary. An attempted uppercut off Hardik Pandya plopped straight into his hands … and out again, with Axar’s casual attempt giving way to astonishment and embarrassment as the ball fell to ground. Salt’s very next shot was a firm drive for four off Shami, and he seemed to have found his groove when he launched a Hardik slower ball over long-on for the first six of England’s innings.
Varun Chakravarthy, however, was itching to get involved. After 14 wickets at 9.85 in the T20Is, he had earned his ODI debut at the age of 33, and needed just 11 balls to make his mark. Salt had already been warned of the dangers of hitting across the line when he failed to get hold of a slogged free-hit, and three balls later, a similar swipe resulted in a leading edge to a composed Jadeja at mid-off.
Root had a first-ball scare as Varun reviewed a tight appeal for lbw that was shown to be missing leg, but another big let-off came in the next over, as Duckett, on 54, wafted into another uppercut off Harshit Rana, but Shreyas Iyer at deep third was too slow in judging the flight of the ball. He made good ground in the end with a fingertipped dive, but the chance went begging.
Duckett demonstrated his power and touch with an astonishing whipped pull through midwicket off Rana, but the canny Jadeja soon had his measure. Varying his pace throughout his first over, he almost bowled Duckett round his legs as he attempted a scoop, then used his angle from round the wicket to force the left-hander to fetch the ball from outside his off stump. Duckett knelt into a slog-sweep and failed to get hold of it as Hardik held on at long-on.
Harry Brook arrived with his technique against spin under scrutiny, and straight into the teeth of a typical middle-overs squeeze at 102 for 2 in the 16th. He could have gone for a five-ball duck had umpire Brown upheld an lbw appeal from Varun that ball-tracking suggested would clip leg, but signalled his belligerence in Varun’s next over with an astonishing lofted drive for six over wide long-off.
The threat from India’s spinners had not been thwarted, however, and on 16, Root should have been sent on his way as Axar beat him on the sweep but declined to go for the review. Rohit was seen throwing his hands up in exasperation one over later, when the big screen showed three reds on the review-that-wasn’t.
Between them, Brook and Root rode their luck and grew into their third-wicket stand of 66, and when Rana returned for a change of pace, Brook took his cue with two supremely timed boundaries, the first finesse, the second raw power. Rana, however, had the last laugh; in his next over, Brook climbed through a slower ball but failed to connect properly. Shubman Gill sprinted a full 30 yards from mid-off to grab a stunning take over his shoulder at long-on.
India burned their final review when Root attempted another reverse-sweep on 36, with the thinnest brush of glove saving him from Varun’s otherwise adjacent lbw appeal. But undeterred, he kept going for the stroke, with two more in the same over, picking off the vast gap between deep third and extra cover.
By now, he had his captain for company. Buttler’s power is self-evident but his run-a-ball knock was all about placement, as he focused on strike rotation to keep England’s innings building towards the projected big finish. One of his two boundaries was a gift – a wild shy from Rana in his follow-through that whizzed past the keeper for overthrows – but as he and Root nudged along to a fifty stand from 52 balls, England were handily placed at 219 for 3 in the 39th over.
Buttler, however, decided the time was nigh to up the ante, and the most aggressive shot of his innings would be his last – with mid-off up, he made room to drill Hardik through the off side, but Gill was on hand in the covers to cling on low with another superb take.
With England’s batting depth impacted by an untimely hamstring injury for Jacob Bethell, the onus was on Root to bat through the innings. But, on 69, he too made room to leg and plopped a lofted drive to Kohli at wide long-off, to fall to Jadeja for the fifth time in ODIs. In came Jamie Overton, trusted once again at No.7 despite his formless displays in the T20Is. Sure enough, he threw his long levers in Jadeja’s next over, and handed Gill in the covers his simplest take of the day.
Livingstone survived a tough chance to the keeper off Jadeja on 10, but found his range with two big sixes to help hoist the total past 300. Adil Rashid did his bit too, clubbing three fours in a row off Shami as the 48th over, the biggest of the innings, went for 15. However, he was then run out for 14 from 5 as he turned blind for a second run after a wonderful return from the deep from Jadeja. It was an error that typified England’s missed opportunities.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
