There was a sense of creeping crisis enveloping England as this game began, and a perfectly pitched chase by the elegant, experienced Indian batting line-up did little to douse that. England have now lost six of the seven matches on this tour, and both series with a game to spare. The gulf in class is yawning.
By comparison with others on the tour, there was less shame in this four-wicket defeat, secured with 34 balls to spare. The worrying aspect is that it was so routine, despite an improved batting performance. That progress brought a score of only 305, which was no more than par on a good pitch at a ground where the biggest boundary was only 63 metres long.
India’s chase looked in most doubt when a dodgy floodlight forced the players from the field, putting a new twist on Bad Light Stopped Play. At this charming, ramshackle ground, one of the eight pylons packed in six overs into India’s reply, leading to just one ball being bowled in 40 farcical minutes before Cuttack’s faulty tower sparked back into life.
There’s a problem with a floodlight in India 💡
The home crowd have taken upon themselves to light the ground 😅
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India were scoring at eight runs an over before the delay, and Rohit Sharma continued on his merry way when the players returned. We can add that to England’s list of head-scratching issues early in a big year of cross-format competition between these teams: an ominous return to form for India’s embattled captain. His was a gorgeous hundred, his 32rd in ODIs, putting to bed a poor run in which he dropped himself before the end of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Rohit did what England’s batsmen could not: he cashed in on a good start. The tourists’ batting efforts were hurt before the game even began, with news emerging that the hamstrung Jacob Bethell is likely out for four to six weeks with a torn hamstring. That meant Jamie Overton was loftily carded at No 7, adding to the responsibility on the top six.
That top six largely functioned as it is designed to, with Ben Duckett getting them off to a flyer, Joe Root holding things together through the middle, and Liam Livingstone hitting some bombs at the end. None of them could go on to make a game-defining score. Everyone in the top six reached 26, none of them reached 70. As a result, they were bowled out again, this time with only one ball to spare. Their No 11 has been required to bat on every game on this tour, as he was in every game at the ODI World Cup here in 2023.
Perhaps it is progress – baby steps – that they all got starts. But not once on this tour has a batsman truly taken responsibility for the direction of an innings. Livingstone was blameless, run out trying to push it in the final over, but the other five were caught trying to hit a six. England managed four sixes, Rohit stroked seven from his own bat. By the time he was dismissed, skying a Livingstone pie in the 30th over of the chase for 119 from 90 balls, India needed just 85 at four an over. He had dished out another lesson to England’s batsmen.
Duckett, who batted beautifully, was arguably most culpable. He had left Salt trailing in his wake in the powerplay, blazing boundaries off seam and spin. He was dropped on 54 by the diving deep-point but did not learn. In the superb Ravindra Jadeja’s first over, he tried to launch six over long-on, and was easily caught. Duckett had a chance to shape this match, but was out in its 16th over. Scores of 65 (58) do not win many ODIs.
“That’s a poor shot”
Duckett goes for 6️⃣5️⃣ 😬
📺 Watch #INDvENG on @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/WnoyHlc1J5
That brought Harry Brook to the crease. He showed a welcome desire to stick it out, but struggled to rotate the strike against spin. So when the seamer Harshit Rana came on, his eyes lit up, but he was caught brilliantly by Shubman Gill running back from mid-off when he miscued a slower ball. There ended a curious innings of 31 from 52 balls on a curious tour for Brook, who does not look himself. Jos Buttler, meanwhile, looks in prime touch, but also fell in the thirties when taking his first risk, trying to plop Hardik Pandya over mid-off.
Overton came to the crease in the 43rd over, when Root tried to hit Jadeja over long-off. Even that felt too early for the Surrey all-rounder, a specialist hitter of seam, as the spinners were still bowling. He did not last long, and England’s innings slid away. The last 10 overs saw some acceleration from a strong position but not enough, as they lost six for 74.
Overton’s press gave Buttler an extra genuine bowler, but with their best new ball operator, Jofra Archer, and their best middle overs basher, Brydon Carse, both rested, this was a tame attack. Rohit tucked into Gus Atkinson in his 100-ball opening stand of 136 with the equally stylish Shubman Gill, and by the time Adil Rashid was brought on to salvage things after the pylon palaver, it already felt too late.
Gill was bowled by an excellent Overton yorker, with the wicket greeted by cheers from the crowd as it brought Virat Kohli to the crease. He did not last long, falling caught behind to Rashid, the 11th time he has dismissed him in international cricket. Snaring Kohli is all very well, but England could not prise out Rohit until it was much too late, condemning them to defeat.
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