Cardiff: Joe Root dug deep into his reservoir of experience for an unbeaten 99 off 133 balls, anchoring England’s series levelling four-wicket win over India in the second ODI here Thursday.
The series decider will be played at Lord’s on Sunday and could well be Rohit Sharma’s final game in India colours.
Rohit looked horribly out of touch in his 26 off 47 balls as India managed a below-par 233 in 44 overs largely. Virat Kohli (65) and Shreyas Iyer (66) were the main contributors while the other batters disappointed.
In reply, Root’s was a model innings on how to control a chase on a track that offered sharp and spongy bounce, making Indian pace troika look menacing during the early part of the run-chase.
His 72-run stand for sixth wicket with Will Jacks (30) sealed the game after they were reduced to 125 for five. The chase was completed in 44.1 overs.
Root used the big square dimensions of the field to keep the scoreboard ticking. Since the target was a small one, England were never under scoreboard pressure, which allowed Root to score runs at a slow pace.
He came tantalizingly close to a hundred, but Gus Atkinson hit the winning boundary to deny him.
Earlier, with intense scrutiny on Rohit, every dot ball added to the pressure, and now the opposing captains have found out that left-arm seamers who create awkward angles pose problems for the former India skipper.
Save a six off Atkinson, not one stroke from Rohit inspired any confidence.
After six deliveries from Sam Curran went without a single, he was also unable to negotiate Adil Rashid. His misery was ended by Will Jacks when his nothing short of a lap sweep turned into a top edge dolly for Jos Buttler.
While Kohli’s confident innings reminded all and sundry of his salad days, Rohit’s form only indicated that he is nearer to the end than ever before.
Kohli’s 66-ball-knock had eight delectable hits to the fence, but none more aesthetically pleasing than the bowler’s back-drive off Jofra Archer but it was painful to see one of India’s greatest ODI stalwarts struggle to a painstaking 26 off 47 balls, which included nine dots in a row before he surrendered in a meek fashion.
They added 60 in 10 overs, but everyone present in stands at the Sophia Gardens on the day would agree there was nothing called a partnership. Only ‘Ko’ scored as ‘Ro’ gasped for breathing space.
The middle-order caved in inexplicably with four wickets lost for 15 runs in a space of 26 deliveries as Jofra Archer (3/47 in 10 overs) breathed fire in each spell that he bowled.
Saqib Mahmood (2/52 in 9 overs) and Gus Atkinson (3/50 in 9 overs) were also among wickets.
Vice-captain Iyer turned out to be the batting hero for India as he countered the short ball well but didn’t get much support from the other end.
India couldn’t have asked for a better start to their 233-run defense as Bumrah got one to move a shade from length forcing Ben Duckett to nick one to Ishan Kishan behind stumps.
Prasidh bowled an even better delivery to Jacob Bethell which reared up from length while Harry Brook’s short but sweet 16 ended with a poor shot selection off Gurnoor Brar giving Kishan his third catch.
However, Root was unperturbed the by help that Indian pacers extracted off the surface. He took least risk off Bumrah and attacked Prasidh.
In company of Sam Curran (26), he added 41 runs before Kishan stood up to stumps to prevent the all-rounder from giving Shivam Dube’s military medium the required charge. The result was a smart catch off Dube’s delivery to dismiss Curran.
With Washington Sundar ruled out of the series due to hamstring niggle, onus was on Axar Patel, who cleaned up Jos Buttler.
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