India vs England, 2nd ODI: 5 Talking Points

After a tremendous run chase in the first ODI in Pune, the Indian team moved to Cuttack for the second game against England. The hosts looked to get the second win on the trot and seal the series before the final game in Kolkata whereas it was a must-win game for England to stay alive in the 3 match series.

India were put into bat after Eoin Morgan won the toss and the decision looked like paying dividends when India lost three quick wickets including that of Virat Kohli. Then Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni turned back the clock when they added 256 runs for the 4^th wicket. Both scored wonderful centuries and powered India’s score to 381 runs at the end of 50 overs.

The English innings had contributions from most of the batsmen with as many as 3 of them getting fifties. Eoin Morgan played a lone hand till the end but they fell short by just 15 runs. It was a contest heavily dominated by the batsmen in which India narrowly edged ahead of the visitors. India were made to stretch defending a big total but ultimately they won and gained an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Here are the 5 major talking points from the game:

Early blows from Woakes pushed India back

India once again had a collapse at the top of the order and their woes with the opening partnership continued. Chris Woakes was the major destructor with the ball as he sent the top 3 batsmen back in the hut inside 5 overs. First, he got KL Rahul caught in the slips off a peach of a delivery as Ben Stokes took a diving catch to his left.

Then Kohli struck him twice down the ground but soon gave the second catch to Stokes in the slip off a full delivery and Woakes had 2 big wickets in the same over. The next to fall to him was Shikhar Dhawan as he slashed at an away going delivery but only managed an inside edge that shattered his stumps. India were reeling at 25/3 at that stage and were in danger of being bowled out cheaply. He came back to pick Yuvraj’s wicket in the 43rd over to take his tally to 4 wickets

Yuvi’s blast from the past

There were a lot of eyebrows raised when Yuvraj Singh was picked in the squad and more fuel was added to the fire after his low score in the first game. He answered every critic of his with the magnificent innings just like he used to play a few years ago. He scored a massive 150 runs off 127 balls that included 21 fours and 3 sixes. The drives and the pulls were flowing beautifully that brought back the memories of the vintage Yuvi.

The best part about his innings was his fluency, he was positive right from the outset and put pressure on the English bowlers who were threatening to take the game away from India. The 35-year-old showed glimpses of his best time and at one stage looked like getting to a double hundred. There were still 7 overs remaining in the innings when he departed and a stage was set for a huge score.

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Dhoni is not done yet

Having left the limited overs captaincy, there were speculations that we would now witness the Dhoni’s power hitting like before. In just the second game of being worry free, he smashed a superb century scoring 134 runs off 122 balls. He was not in a hurry like in Pune and looked to build on the innings after the early losses. He played the perfect foil for Yuvraj who was on the attack from the other end.

He consumed 68 balls to reach the half-century and waited for the slog overs to up the ante. In the final 10 overs, he went absolutely berserk and hit some humongous sixes. The bottom hand was working very well and he made full use of the batting friendly conditions. He hit 3 sixes in the 48^th over off Liam Plunkett but lost his wicket in the same over in the pursuit of the 4^th one. He proved that despite leaving the captaincy, he is there to stay.

Watch: MS Dhoni becomes the first non-striker to take a review for the striker

Decision Review System or Dhoni Review System #confused #MSDForever @msdhoni #IndvsEng #INDvENG watch till end pic.twitter.com/T4raymHtBD

— Sushant Agarwal ? (@sushant_ind) January 19, 2017

Ashwin returned to the wickets column

Despite being the number one bowler in the Test arena, the off-spinner has been off the radar in the ODIs. He hasn’t played too many ODIs off late and has found it difficult picking up wickets in the format. His 3 wickets in the game came as happy news for the Indian camp considering Ashwin’s stature in the side. Even though he didn’t extract too much turn off the surface yet his witty changes of the release of the ball did the trick for him.

His first victim was Joe Root who had scored a half-century and his departure was a timely one for India. Next, Ben Stokes was picked up off a slider that took the inside edge and thrashed into the middle stump. The last wicket came courtesy a clever piece of work by the bowler. He saw Jos Buttler charging down the ground and fired the ball down the leg side and Dhoni inflicted a lovely stumping. His figures ended up as 3 wickets for 65 runs.

Morgan’s lone battle till the end

Jason Roy, Joe Root, and Moeen Ali, all scored half-centuries but none of them went on to play the defining innings. The England skipper Eoin Morgan played one of the best ODI innings one would ever see and almost pulled off the match for his side. He stayed till the 49^th over and had put his side within touching distance from victory. The dew had its toll on the ground and Morgan made full use of it.

The left-hander came in the 20^th over at the team’s score of 128/2 and when he went back, the score read 354/8. He hit 5 sixes and 6 fours and took calculated risks throughout the innings. He was hitting sixes at will and gave Kohli a huge scare till the end of his innings. When 28 runs were required off 10 balls, he got run out in an unfortunate manner. His 102 runs off 81 balls might have gone in vain yet the century would be remembered as a great fighting knock.

Also Read: IND v ENG, 2nd ODI Review: Yuvraj and Dhoni guide India to series win