Mixing
England’s tag as World Cup favourites is mocked as Kuldeep Yadav’s spin magic leads India to huge victory
12th July 2018,
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ENGLAND were thrashed so heavily that serious questions must be asked about their status as favourites for next year’s World Cup.
Their defeat by eight wickets to India in the first one-day international at Trent Bridge was humbling and humiliating in the extreme.
First, it was the magical Kuldeep Yadav who bamboozled England’s batsman as the left-arm wrist-spinner produced astonishing figures of 6-25.
Don’t forget, England scored 481-5 on the same ground just three weeks ago!
Then India’s array of sublime batsmen put on another exhibition. Rohit Sharma scored his second century in four days and captain Virat Kohli made 75. They made it look effortless.
England have already lost the Twenty20 series 2-1 and now trail 1-0 in the three-match 50-over series.
What a contrast from the 6-0 clean sweep last month against Australia or, to be more accurate, Australia A. This is a mightily impressive Indian outfit.
For the world’s No.1 ranked ODI team to be crushed so brutally in their home conditions will send a wave of shock through the England camp.
Once more, they were almost clueless against Kuldeep who ten days ago returned figures of 5-24 in the first T20 match at Old Trafford. Surely, he will be named in India’s Test squad next week.
Then England’s bowling looked short of potency as India’s batsmen swept towards their victory target with 59 balls to spare.
If the conditions are dry again next summer, you’d fancy India rather than England to lift the global trophy.
Captain Eoin Morgan admitted: “You can be exposed when you don’t put a score on the board on a small ground.
“We didn’t score enough runs. Kuldeep has played on pitches that have offered turn but that doesn’t paper over the fact we need to get better against him.
“When he does bowl well, he’s very good. We’ve played great cricket for months and not come up against someone like him.
"He is the only top bowler of his type in the world and he’s difficult to pick.”
Ben Stokes played his first one-day international of the summer at the expense of Alex Hales, who helped propel England to world record totals in the two previous completed ODIs in Nottingham.
Hales would have been dropped anyway but he strained his side in the nets on Wednesday and Middlesex’s Dawid Malan has been summoned into the squad.
Stokes took watchfulness to the limit and his fifty took 102 deliveries – England’s slowest half-century in this format for 13 years.
When England, after being put into bat, reached 71-0 in the first ten-over power play, they looked destined for another monster total at Trent Bridge.
But Kuldeep came on and took three wickets in his first two overs. Jason Roy reverse swept straight to cover and Joe Root was lbw on the back foot. Root is worryingly out of form and struggling to pick Kuldeep with the Test series less than three weeks away.
Jonny Bairstow was then leg before to Kuldeep’s wrong ‘un following a review. If India had reviewed in the first over, Bairstow would have been lbw to Umesh Yadav for nought.
Morgan chipped Yuzvendra Chahal, another spinner, to mid-wicket and England had lost four wickets between the 10th and 20th overs.
Even though Jos Buttler, aggressively, and Stokes, painstakingly, made contrasting half-centuries, England never recovered.
ENGLAND were thrashed so heavily that serious questions must be asked about their status as favourites for next year’s World Cup.
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