Match Report
Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes Guide England To Series-levelling Win
By CricShots - Mar 27, 2021 10:32 am
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England completely outplayed the Indian bowlers and registered a huge six-wicket win in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium, Pune. The visitors have leveled the series by chasing down 337 runs in the 44th over owing to the dominating batting of Ben Stokes, and Jonny Bairstow. After sharing a 135-run stand in the first ODI, Bairstow and Jason Roy gave England another solid start by adding 110 runs in just 87 deliveries before the dismissal of the latter.

 Jonny Bairstow
Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow

Roya’s dismissal didn’t have any effect on the batting momentum of England Bairstow and Stokes kept on tonking the Indian bowlers.  Bairstow, who missed a century in the previous ODI by just 6 runs, reached his century in just 95 balls with a six against Kuldeep Yadav. On the othe rhand, Ben Stokes came out all guns blazing as he had amassed 99 off just 52 balls with the help of 4 fours and 10 sixes. During his knock, Stokes also collected 28 runs off one Krunal Pandya over.

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the wicket of and two runs later, Prasidh Krishna managed to dismiss Bairstow for 124. In the same over, he dismissed Jos Buttler for a three-ball duck to reduce England to 287 for 3 from 285 for 1 and revive India’s slim hopes. But before India could even sense of making a comeback, Liam Livingstone and Dawid Malan steadied the ship. The duo shared an unbeaten stand of 50 runs to take England home.

rahul celebration
KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant

Earlier in the game, KL Rahul’s fifth ODI ton helped the hosts to reach a defendable total of 336 for 6 in the stipulated 50 overs. Apart from Rahul, Rishabh Pant and skipper Virat Kohli scored crucial half-centuries as well. England won the toss and asked India to bat first. The hosts were off to a poor start as both their openers – Shikhar Dhawan (4) and Rohit Sharma (25) – failed to get going.

At the end of the 9th over, Team India was reeling at 37 for 2 when Kohli and Rahul joined hands in the middle. The duo quickly put India’s innings on track by sharing 121 runs for the third wicket. Adil Rashid got the prized wicket of Kohli for 66 as the latter’s century drought further extended. After that, Rahul made another century-plus stand with Rishabh Pant.

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Rahul and Pant’s partnership led the foundation for India’s big total as they added  133 in just 77 balls for the fourth wicket before Rahul’s departure for a well-made 108. Pant, on the other hand, continued his assault and raced away to 28-ball fifty. He took India’s score over the 300-run mark before Tom Curran ended his 77-run knock. Pant’s knock came off just 40 balls and was laced with 3 fours and 7 sixes. Towards the end, Hardik Pandya played a fine cameo off 35 off just 16 balls to guide India close to the 340-run mark.

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