One-down Joe Root and opener Jason Roy struck form early before Ben Stokes too blitzed his way to a half century en route a record score for the rejuvenated visiting team.
England bowlers feasted on a listless Indian bowling piling up their highest score of 350 for 7 against the hosts in the first one day international in Pune on Sunday. One-down Joe Root and opener Jason Roy struck form early before Ben Stokes too blitzed his way to a half century en route a record score for the rejuvenated visiting team.
Put in to bat by Virat Kohli, starting a new chapter as the one-day skipper, England paced their innings well with Roy being the early aggressor with a 61-ball 73, inclusive of 12 fours, that was built upon by Root, who stroked his way to 78 in 95 balls.
Captain Eoin Morgan (28) and Jos Buttler (31) got the starts without converting them into a bigger score at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Gahunje. Later, the left-handed Stokes used his bat like a sledgehammer to smack five sixes and two fours on his way to 62 off just 40 balls after reaching 50 in 33 balls, as England set up a new high total against the hosts in India. The score bettered the 338 for eight made by England in the tied encounter of the 2011 World Cup against India at Bengaluru.
The last 10 overs of the innings brought England 115 runs, including 65 in the final five to leave India to score at an asking rate of 7.02 to win the game and go 1-0 up in the three-match rubber. For India, Hardik Pandya (2 for 46) and Jasprit Bumrah who was taken for 79 runs - finished with two wickets each.
The most impressive bowler was left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who not only applied the skids on England early on but also emerged with economic figures of 1 for 50. Jadeja's Test spin twin Ravichandran Ashwin was unimpressive and gave away 63 runs in eight overs without a wicket to his name. Speedster Umesh Yadav was slammed for 63 runs runs in seven overs for a lone wicket late in the innings.
England began on a brisk note against the Indian medium pace attack with openers Roy and Alex Hales looking comfortable. Decision Review System (DRS), being used in a 50-over bilateral series in India, was called upon as early as the third over of the game when Roy was given out caught behind off Yadav and got a reprieve through technology.
The in-form aggressive opener thrived on the early escape as he drove the medium pacers when they over-pitched. Just when it seemed that he and Hales would complete yet another half century stand a direct hit from Bumrah in the deep to the non-striker's end caught the latter out of the crease while responding to Roy's call for a couple of runs to arrest the stand at 39 in over No 7.
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