Rohit scores breathtaking 100 as India beat England in 2nd ODI to win series

 

India Captain Rohit Sharma announced his return to form with a breathtaking century as India chased down 300 to beat England in the 2nd ODI and take an unassailable 2-0 lead. 

Batting first on winning the toss , England were off to a fluent start with Ben Duckett and Phil Salt cracking boundaries at will . The former was particularly severe on the Indian bowling as the runs flowed in the powerplay . Finally Salt (26) departed  at the score of 81/1 in over 10 overs dismissed by Varun Chakravarty who was making his ODI debut . Duckett reached a belligerent 65 in 56 balls before Jadeja dismissed him off a skier . Root who looked in fine nick had a stand with Harry Brook who was dismissed for 31 by Harshit Rana when looking well set . Skipper  Buttler joined Root in a productive 51 run stand and just when England looked to control the game, Buttler (34) threw his wicket to Hardik Pandya . Root finally departed for a polished 69 when he skied Jadeja to Kohli at long off . Towards the end overs Liam Livingstone (41) tried to enhance the scoring rate but could not get his flow going  . Adil Rashid hit a quickfire 14 in 5 balls to help England reach 300 mark . England were 304 all out in the final over . 

For India , Jadeja was the most successful bowler with 3/35 . Varun Chakravarty bowled weĺl in his debut to get 1/54 in 10 overs . Pandya , Rana & Shami took 1 wicket each .

In reply India started on a sparkling note with Rohit Sharma , much criticised lately for his continous poor form , started in blistering fashion going after the England fast bowlers . He drove , flicked & pulled with gay abandon as India raced to 80 plus in 10 overs powerplay . Shubman Gill who started steadily began shifting gears by playing wristy shots with sublime timing.  Both openers reached their 50s with effortless ease as India motored along to 136 in 17 overs before   Overton bowled a great yorker to rattle Gill's stumps after the Punjab batter scored an effortless 60 studded with several elegant strokes  . 

Kohli came out with great expectations in his favourite format after missing the first game but Adil Rashid had him caught behind cheaply for 5 which brought Rohit and Shreyas together .

Rohit carried on unperturbed, striking imperious 4s & 6s . He was severe on the fast bowlers , pulling off the front foot and stepping out to hit 145  plus kph deliveries for 6s !! Even Rashid could not have any impact on Rohit's breathtaking strokeplay as he too was carted for the boundaries with effortless sweeps & cuts . Rohit reached his brilliant 100 with a 6 off Rashid to the roaring cheers of the Cuttack crowd . 

Shreyas Iyer too started to explode with his brand of attacking shots , pulling Wood for a 6 too . He and Rohit added 70 runs before Rohit finally fell to Livingstone for 119 in 90 balls with 12 fours & 7 sixes . A chanceless innings of spectacular strokeplay . 

Shreyas Iyer and Axar were going along well before Iyer was run out for a fluent 44 after a misunderstanding with Axar . Rahul (10) & Hardik (10) fell cheaply in trying to finish the game quickly . Finally Axar (41no) & Jadeja (11 no) completed the win with more than 5 overs remaining . India finally winning by 4 wickets .

Overton took 2 wickets as the England bowlers generally struggled to control Rohit & the other successful Indian batters .  It was the brilliance of Rohit Sharma with the skill of Shubman Gill that completely dominated the England bowling on this day  .

Rohit was expetedly the player of the match .