Team India produced an all-round effort with bat and ball to beat England by 66 runs in the series-opening first ODI at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune on Tuesday.
Chasing 318 for victory, England were cruising till the time Jonny Bairstow was at the crease but a brilliant comeback spell from debutant Prasidh Krishna saw India bounce back within a space of a few overs.
Krishna conceded 37 runs from his first 3 overs but came back with 3 wickets for 17 runs from his next 5 to tilt the game in India’s favour. He finished with 4 for 54 from 8.1 overs to record the best bowling figures for an Indian on ODI debut.
He is the only Indian to bag 4 wickets in his first ODI game. Bairstow and Jason Roy got England off to a flying start, smashing 135 in 14 overs but then came the turnaround as England lost 5 wickets for just 41 runs in 10.2 overs with Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur causing the damage.
Krishna got rid of Roy (46) and Ben Stokes (1) while Thakur sent back the dangerous Bairstow (94), Eoin Morgan (22) and Jos Buttler (2) as England collapsed from 135 for no loss to 176 for 5. Krishna came back for his final spell to bag the wicket of Sam Billings to put India in the driver’s seat.
The finishing job was done by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Krunal, who sent back Moeen Ali (30) and Sam Curran (12) respectively. England eventually folded for 251 in 42.1 overs as India beat England for the first time in an ODI since July 2018 to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.
Earlier, India rode on brilliant knocks from Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Krunal Pandya and Virat Kohli to post a challenging 317 for 5 in 50 overs after being asked to bat first by England captain Eoin Morgan.
Dhawan top-scored with 98 while Rahul and Krunal both remained not out on 62 and 58 respectively. Kohli also contributed with 58 runs for his team. Krunal brought up his fifty off just 26 balls to set a new record for the fastest half-century by a debutant in ODI cricket.
Krunal is the 15th Indian to post a fifty-plus score on ODI debut.Dhawan and Kohli added 105 runs for the second wicket before Rahul and Krunal teamed up to add another 112 for the sixth-wicket to help India post a challenging total.
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