CWC2023: England horror show continues as Indian bowlers script spectacular win

 

India put on another relentless display with the ball to demolish England by 100 runs and retain top spot in the league stage after England appeared to have controlled the game in the first half with a stellar show with the ball by restricting a strong Indian batting lineup to 229 . Rohit Sharma rescued India with 87 and then the bowlers Shami and Bumrah were on the prowl as England  batting was ripped apart . 

 India made it six wins out of six in the World Cup.  More importantly, the Indian team is successful in almost all situations in this World Cup.  Winning by big runs by batting first, chasing the opponent's runs, all this has happened.  The real test was how to win with low run defence.  That too happened on Sunday.  Rohit's side now undoubtedly look like the unstoppable team of the World Cup, who will go home with two points at the end of the day, whatever the circumstances.

Mohammed Shami again explained why he is needed in this team.  Took a first ball wicket in the return match.  Took a wicket in the second over against England.  The pair broke in the second spell.  The English batters could not counter him .  

 From the start it was clear that the first innings would not be easy on this pitch.  As the match progressed, it became clearer .  The ball came slowly to the bat.  Uneven bounce was observed several times.  Spinners got the advantage.  In the IPL, Lucknow's pitch got a lot of flak due to its low turnover of runs.  India struggled on the red clay pitch on Sunday.

 The start was not good.  David Willey took maiden against Rohit Sharma in the first over.  Four came in the second over.  Rohit left the shell in the third over and hit two glorious sixes.  A hush fell as the Lucknow crowd cheered. However Shubman Gill's (9)  stumps were broken by Woakes.   Shubman's big run in the World Cup is yet to come.

 The Nawab's city was waiting for one.  He is Virat Kohli.  Didn't have to wait long.  As Shubman returned, there was a loud roar in the gallery.  But Kohli did not give a chance to the people of Lucknow for a big party.  He was playing a bit slow from the start but he could not score even after eight balls were bowled.  It is not known whether he was impatient inside.  Virat (0) came forward and tried to hit it through the mid-off region in the air  but succeeded in hitting Willey straight to Stokes at mid off . 

India must think about Shreyas Iyer this time.  Experts say that Shreyas should not be played in every match because there is no one else to play at number four.  This match was an ideal opportunity for him to become a hero but  Shreyas lost it.  He did not start badly.  Was trying to settle down at the crease.   Shreyas (4)  again took on Woakes bouncer and spooned it in the air . The ball fell into the hands of the mid-off and Shreyas departed after another flop show . 

 After 3 wickets fell for 40 runs, many people started getting worried .  India has never been in such a bad situation in the World Cup this time.  So someone had to come forward as a protector.  That is what KL Rahul did.  He has saved the team from danger many times in the past.  But Rohit Sharma is equally deserving of praise.  He was just bringing out his aggressive mentality.  When the team was in danger, he went into the shell again.  Rahul looked to keep the scoreboard ticking rather than playing too aggressive. 

 Both have opened T20 together before.  So Rohit-Rahul pair are not strangers to each other at all.  They brought that old friendship back to the crease.  They prevented the collapse of India.  Rahul focused on scoring runs in bits and pieces.  The pair broke after 91 runs.  Rahul (39) tried to hit Willey out of the ground but spooned a catch to Bairstow.  

Rohit needed someone to keep him company.  Suryakumar Yadav did that and at the moment of need, he got a valuable innings of 49 runs from his bat and played some pleasing shots .    Meanwhile, Lucknow's eyes were on Rohit.  Will another hundred come?  But it didn't happen.  He got out after scoring a superb  87 runs while playing a big shot on the wicket off Rashid .  In the end, courtesy of Bumrah (16*) , India put up a fairly decent score of 229 for this pitch.

 Shami's effectiveness as a new ball is not unknown to anyone.  But Rohit's reluctance to hand over the new ball to the Bengal pacer was seen early in this match as well.  That started with Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj.  Bumrah gave 4 runs in the first over but Siraj gave 12.  26 runs were scored in the first four overs.

 The game started to turn in the fifth over.  Just when it looked like the English openers are going to take the match out, Bumrah struck twice.  Picked up David Malan (14)  and Joe Root (0)in quick succession. Malan played on and Root was lbw shuffling across .  

After smelling success, Rohit brought Shami in the sixth over, not Siraj.    The English all-rounder Ben Stokes  played a poor shot .   Stokes played the first five balls.  He left the stumps on the sixth ball and went for a big hit .  The stump itself flew away.  Jonny Bairstow was also picked up after that as he was bowled for 14 by Shami .  England went from 30-0 to 39-4.  Lucknow woke up suddenly.

 It didn't take long for the fifth wicket to fall.  England have just crossed the 50 mark thanks to Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali.  Before that, Rohit brought Kuldeep Yadav.  That Kuldeep picked up Buttler in his second over.  The English captain went to make a late cut.  Kuldeep's whirling ball came and smashed his stumps for 10 .

 Moeen and Livingstone took over the game for a while.  Rohit took a few overs in the face of England under pressure with Kuldeep and Siraj.  Shami came back with  success in the 24th over.  Moeen (15) edged to Rahul ,  the first ball of Shami .  After that, when Livingstone (27)  returned lbw to Kuldeep , England was left with nothing as the rest of the batting quickly fell away.  Shami took 4/22 , Bumrah took 3/32 and Kuldeep took 2 wickets .as England lost by 100 runs.  Rohit Sharma for his classy 87 was the player of the match.