England vs India, 3rd ODI - Who Said What

Eoin Morgan and Joe Root, Take a bow! The way they played the spinners was a lesson for the Men in Blue today in the third ODI. The duo completely negated the effect of wrist-spinners and suddenly the bowling attack of the visitors looked toothless. However, the credit should go to England’s bowlers for using the conditions well and restricting India to a below-par total.

After putting India to bat first, they bowled exceptionally well in the powerplay overs as the score read only 32/1. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli then stitched a superb partnership and it was broken only due to the former’s mistake. After getting his eye in, Dhawan once again threw away his wicket. Kohli looked a class apart as always and scored 71 runs.

But his wicket proved to be the turning point again as runs came only in singles then. There were rare boundaries and the middle-order once again couldn’t do well under pressure. MS Dhoni tried his best and laboured his way to 42 runs but never got going. Eventually, it was Shardul Thakur who gave the finishing touches to the innings with a 22-run knock off 13 balls and took India’s total to 256 runs.

Straightforward chase

England got off to a brilliant start thanks to Jonny Bairstow who played a cameo of 30 runs from just 13 balls. James Vice looked good but was, unfortunately, run-out which brought Eoin Morgan and Joe Root together. The duo had time with them with no pressure of the required run-rate.

They milked the spinners easily despite the fact that the ball was turning square. Moreover, Kuldeep Yadav was picked with utter ease as he was expensive once again. Both added an unbeaten stand of 186 runs for the third and made sure that there were no hiccups in the chase. It was one of those clinical chases from the home side as they literally gave no chance to the opposition to make a comeback into the game.

Root also managed to reach his 13th ODI ton while hitting the winning runs fittingly. He was rightfully awarded the Player of the Series for scoring two tons in the three-match series even as Eoin Morgan played one of his best ODI knocks to strengthen their number 1 position in the ODIs.

Man of the Match, Adil Rashid said:

All the seamers bowled really well. Me and Moeen kept it tight and got rewards. It’s important to stick to our strengths. The seamers, Mo and I did exactly that. It’s important to play well in the nets and that’s where you need to get your confidence.

It gives you confidence to dismiss someone like Kohli because he’s one of the best players in the world. It’s nice to play at my home ground at Headingley and incredible crowd support here today as well, so it was fantastic.

Man of the Series, Joe Root said:

It feels fantastic to come in to a big series and perform well as a side. It’s a testament to the hard work the guys did. We set the tone with the ball, and kept taking wickets in the middle overs. In the death, we were good too, and we were calm and collected.

It was on the slower side, but it was a good wicket. We could hit through the line. There was no scoreboard pressure, because of the hard work the bowlers did in the beginning of the game. it’s about putting faith in your game and backing your ability, so I’m happy I have done well in the last two games and I’ll take the confidence into the Tests.

The pressure of this being a must-win game was important and I am happy I contributed. The Test series will be exciting. India has done well over the last few games, and we did well against Pakistan recently too.

England captain, Eoin Morgan said:

Outstanding performance. The tone was set by the bowlers. Wood and Willey were on the money, had their lines and lengths down. The ball swung a little for 4-5 overs. We took our opportunities well whenever we got the chance.

We know the conditions here well, and we are happy we took advantage of that. I didn’t think it would be a belter, probably a 300-320 ground, but our spinners today were brilliant. The chase was started by the two openers, and then Joe and I carried on.

It’s the guys on my right, my team, that make my decision look good. You’re only as good as your team. Our guys were brilliant. In Trent Bridge we were off, and India punished us, and since then we have done well, and grown as much as we could.

It’s satisfying that we learnt over the series, made plans, and executed what we said we’d do. So that builds confidence in the team. We need to be at our best before the World Cup, and remove any glitches from our game.

India captain, Virat Kohli said:

We were never up to the mark as far as runs were concerned. We had 25-30 runs too little. England were clinical in all departments and throughly deserved to win. We need to be at our best against a team like England.

The pitch was slow throughout the day which was surprising, not damp, just slow. Against the new ball it was two-paced but slow with the spinners. Haven’t seen pitches like that here before. The bowlers did well, especially their spinners who didn’t get greedy and contained the runs before getting wickets eventually.

We thought Dinesh did well, but he couldn’t convert his start, so I don’t regret the batting order changes. Shardul was meant to get some exposure, and Bhuvi needed to make a comeback. When the changes don’t come off, they look unnecessary so it must be taken in our stride. These kind of games will tell us what we need to improve upon for the World Cup.

We need to have a good balance in the side, and we need to get our act right before the World Cup. We can’t rely on one skill, and we need to do well in all departments.

The Test squad is pretty settled, and it’s going to be a lengthy series. We want to play tough cricket and we know the English side will provide us with that.

(About the ball that got him out) I’ve been playing against Rashid since U-19 and it was a terrific ball, so it’s just one of those balls that you have to take in your stride and say “Wow”. I’m surprised that his turn has reduced over the years, but this one was an amazing ball.

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