The total eventually proved more than enough as the Men in Blue cruised home by 100 runs on a tricky track. Having managed five chases, the batsmen may have been itching for a different kind of challenge.
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They got it in spades – the brilliance of Chris Woakes, David Willey and Adil Rashid on a helpful wicket. Rohit, who was batting at 134.01 in the Powerplay coming into this game, bowled a maiden to Willey, at that point only the second maiden bowled by a team against India in this World Cup.
The skipper realized early on that the pitch could suit England’s attack, that their fielding was correct on the day, that this was not a surface to move on the up. He switched to “Plan B” and adapted accordingly, playing a measured, patient stroke interspersed with moments of sublime artistry and a few martial successes.
One shot from Adil Rashid was particularly memorable, a slight opening of the batting face as the ball pierced the offside cordon. Rohit fell short of writing an epic, but the best batting around him will worry the team.
Woakes got Shubman Gill with a wobbly beauty that bit 1.28 degrees back and zipped through the gap between bat and pad, the opener playing the straight line.
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Did England target an existing technical weakness?
This was followed by a bizarre dismissal of Kohli, the star batsman unable to absorb point-blank pressure from David Willey. After a brilliant piece of fielding at cover by Dawid Malan denied him a chance to open his account, Kohli fell for a nine-ball duck, his first such occasion this year.
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Then came the already predictable pattern of Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal, set up by a short ball. Again, there was dot-ball pressure, forcing the batsman to charge at Chris Woakes, who expectedly hit it and simply waited for the miscut pull to follow. How long before the team management’s patience runs out if Iyer keeps making the same mistakes at this level?
At the halfway stage of the innings, 57 of the 89 runs scored by India came from Rohit’s bat. KL Rahul played a fine second fiddle with a crucial 91-run stand with his skipper, but then threw away his wicket in the 31st over, charging inexplicably at Willey.
Finally, the ease with which Suryakumar Yadav played on this ground (49 off 47b; 4×4, 1×6) begs the question: shouldn’t he be a regular in the XI and not just a replacement option?
India are on the list, but any cracks that remain in their plans may need to be ironed out before the knockout stage of the World Cup, a stage they will now almost certainly make. And with Pakistan’s halfway point highly unlikely, India are set to play their last-four clash in Mumbai.