In the first ODI against England on Tuesday in London, Jasprit Bumrah put on a devastating fast bowling performance en route to a six-wicket haul that set up an India victory by a margin of ten wickets.
Bumrah chose to bowl in the cloudy circumstances and finished with impressive six figures for 19 in 7.2 overs as India skittled out England for 110, their lowest total against the visitors.
India was guided home by skipper Rohit Sharma (76 not out off 58) and Shikhar Dhawan (31 not out off 54), who played in his first competitive match since the IPL.
While Rohit dazzled the audience with magnificent strokes, mainly the two front foot pulls off Craig Overton that went for a six and four, Dhawan naturally needed time to find his groove.
Dhawan got rolling with back-to-back boundaries off Reece Topley after struggling to 2 off 17 balls. India had plenty of time to win easily, leaving the southpaw to relax.
READ MORE: Sunil Gavaskar backed under-fire Virat Kohli for batting form
With his third six of the inning, an easy hook off Brydon Chase past fine leg, Rohit surpassed the 50-run milestone. Before Dhawan’s game-winning boundary, he pulled Chase for his sixth maximum towards the conclusion of the innings.
The pacers took full advantage of the situation when India sent the opposition in earlier because of the cloudy weather and grass on the field.
To become the first Indian pacer to capture five or more wickets in an ODI in England, Bumrah finished with incredible stats.
The ball was moving quickly, swinging, and seaming, which made Bumrah and Mohammed Shami (3/31) even more deadly.
As he played on while trying an extended drive from a full and comprehensive ball from Bumrah, Jason Roy’s (0) battle persisted. Roy was unaware of the thunderous inswingers Bumrah unleashed before learning his number.
The in-form Joe Root (0) was anticipating another quick inswinger two balls later. Still, Bumrah managed to rise beyond the off-stump and take an edge on its way to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for a double-wicket debut over.
From the other end, Shami too joined in the fun and caught Ben Stokes (0) off guard with a back-of-length ball that seemed to come back in quickly to grab the inside edge, and Pant made an incredible one-handed catch.
The India wicketkeeper had a busy day as he grabbed his second one-handed catch to dismiss the dangerous Jonny Bairstow (7) and give Bumrah his third wicket.
As Liam Livingstone (0) sprinted down the track to disrupt the bowler’s rhythm, Bumrah quickly increased the score to 26 for five. However, Livingstone (0) ended up playing around a quick, swinging yorker on the leg stump.
Jos Buttler, the captain of England, fielded one too many players for the nature of the game but still made an excellent effort to get his team out of a hole (30 off 32).
When Buttler was reintroduced into the attack, Shami attempted to go for a short ball, but he misjudged the pull and was caught at deep square leg, leaving England reeling at 59 for 7.
India fielded four pacers, including Prasidh Krishna and Hardik Pandya, to the visitors’ ability to apply pressure.
David Willey (21 off 26) and Bryson Carse (15 off 26) shared the ninth wicket and scored 35 runs together, helping England surpass their lowest total of 86 against Australia in 2001.
Bumrah re-entered the fray and picked up his second ODI five-wicket haul. He expected to reach the goal with a yorker that was superior to Carse.
Due to a groin issue, star batsman Virat Kohli missed the series’ first game.
On Thursday, The Lord’s will host the second of the three ODIs in the series.
