England used their desperation to good use by handing India their first loss of their campaign. With this victory, England have entered the race for a semi-final spot with Pakistan tailing by.
Jason Roy’s return sparked England’s revival as things went their way right from the toss. Electing to bat first on a fresh pitch at Birmingham, Roy and Bairstow gave a trademark explosive start.
The English batsmen exploited the small boundary on one side which proved hefty for the Indian spinners. Jonny Bairstow got to his hundred while Roy and Stokes chipped in with fifties with the latter getting to his fourth of his tournament.
Despite Mohammad Shami’s five-wicket haul, England managed to set a mammoth total of 338 for the Men In Blue to chase.
Team India got off to a terrible start after KL Rahul was dismissed for a 9-ball duck. Chris Woakes bowled three maidens in a row as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma struggled to get going in the first powerplay which only yielded 28 runs.
Rohit Sharma got to his third hundred of his competition while the skipper got to his fifth consecutive fifty, but failed to convert it yet again. Despite flashy cameos from Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, it all fell down to MS Dhoni to scale the steep target.
The wicket got slowed down considerably which got the England bowlers to bowl more of the slower and cross-seam deliveries. The Indian batting line-up could only hit a solitary six while their opponents managed to hit 13 of them.
MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav had no reply to the variation in length and pace at the end of the innings to hand England a 31-run victory to bring their World Cup campaign back on track.
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