Dhoni and Kedar Responsible for India Defeat against England
What started off pretty well, England’s World Cup campaign suddenly fell off a cliff after losing two successive games against Sri Lanka and Australia. And, perhaps, one more defeat would ruin their chances of making into the semis.
However, come the next match, Morgan and Co. showed why they are considered as one of the favourites to lift the trophy as England beat a formidable Indian side by 31 runs on Sunday only to lift themselves back into the top four in the points table.
Things went in favour of England right before even the start of the match. England won an important toss and without a doubt in mind, Morgan opted to bat first on what was a belter of a pitch offering no advantage to the bowlers.
Indian seamers bowled pretty well in the first ten overs, however, Mohammed Shami was a bit unlucky in his first spell, drawing more than five edges from England’s batters as England amassed as many as 47 runs in their first ten overs.
While Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav drew most of the criticism for the defeat, very few pointed out that Indian spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav went for as many as 168 runs in their 20 overs.
Mohammed Shami took his first five-wicket-haul against England on Sunday, picking the important wickets of Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler. However, the 29-year old bowler too leaked a barrage of runs in the death overs, as England notched a daunting 337 for seven in 50 overs.
Boasting of a powerful batting line up, it wasn’t an impossible target to chase for India, considering Virat and Rohit has been enjoying a good run in the tournament.
Dhoni and Kedar Responsible for India Defeat against England: In pursuit of 337, India notched 267 in 45 overs as 70 runs more were needed in the last five, with a last recognizable batting pair of MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav at the crease. India fell short of 31 runs as the duo could only manage to score 40 runs in the last five on a pitch which was getting slower and slower with every ball.
However, given, one more wicket would expose India’s tale, was it feasible to hit every ball for a boundary at that stage. Certainly, not.
Very few actually addressed the fact that India made the worst of starts, having made only 28 runs in first 10 overs as India were requiring 309 in next 40. While Virat and Rohit did up the ante, the former once again getting out in the 60s and Rohit losing his just after his century didn’t help the cause either.
Pant who was not in the World Cup squad few days earlier was given the chance to play his first world cup match on Sunday. However, chasing a big target, him coming ahead of Dhoni at a crucial stage in the match wasn’t a wise decision either.
Hardik and Rishabh Pant played vital cameos of 45 and 32 respectively, however, coming in at number four and five, someone from the two, especially Hardik Pandya should have played the full quota of overs in order to win the match on Sunday.
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