England may have a plenty of problems in limited overs cricket. But Joe Root isn’t one of the them. Indeed, Root is the solution to many of England’s ODI troubles and quite possibly the anchor to build their side on. It is amazing that a batsman who is only 23-years old is seen as so vital to England’s hopes in one day cricket, but that can only be attributed to the failure of England’s senior players such as Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan to make an impact.
Just as badly as Cook has played, Morgan’s form has been even worse. Morgan has completely struggled against the Indian spinners, especially against Ravichandran Ashwin, and he did poorly in this match as well, making just 2 runs off 19 balls before giving his wicket away. Morgan has been England’s premier ODI batsman for a long time, and to seen him perform so poorly is a massive blow to their hopes in the World Cup to be held in Australia in just a few months time.
The match began in familiar fashion, Enlgand starting slowly , with Alastair Cook getting a decent score, but struggling to make an impact. Alex Hales was out cheaply to the new fast bowler used by India in this match, Umesh Yadav and Moeen Ali, who batted at no.3 didn’t last long either. Soon the Indian spinners were introduced into the attack and they maintained the grip on the English batsman, reducing them to just 120 from 30 overs with 4 wickets lost.
But that brought Joe Root and Jos Buttler together, and the two young men are not known to give up as easily as the seniors in the England team. Both Root and Buttler were severe on the Indian spinners, and when Mahendra Singh Dhoni was forced to bring on his fast bowlers, they were severe on them too. Runs came quickly as Root and Buttler added 108 runs off just 12 overs. After Buttler was comically run-out, Root took it on from there, in the company of Ben Stokes, who batted well for a change.
Root’s hundred came quickly enough, and had 10 fours and 3 sixes. After Root got out, Stokes took on the Indian bowling and made sure that the England score fell just 6 runs short of 300, giving the Indians their most daunting challenge of the ODI series so far.
India started poorly in their run chase with Ajinkya Rahane failing for a change, getting out for a duck. Virat Kohli once again got out for a low score, 13 this time, getting out to familiar tormentor, James Anderson, once again caught in the slips. This ended what has been a nightmare tour for him.
Ambati Rayudu and Shikhar Dhawan did well to take the score along, but both lost their wickets without going on. MS Dhoni couldn’t rescue the Indians either. It was left to some last minute heroics by Ravindra Jadeja to lend the Indian total as an element of respectability. India were finally all out for 253, beaten comprehensively, 41 runs behind England’s score.
England have a plenty to cheer about as Steve Finn looked good and back to being the effective fast bowler he used to be in the past, taking 3 wickets and giving nothing away. Moeen Ali also bowled well, taking wickets at crucial intervals. James Anderson will hopefully be given a rest. He has simply bowled too much.
So that ends the India-England ODI series, with India winning easily, 3-1. Next, a Twenty20 match will be played on Sunday, which will be the last bit of action that India would be involved in on what has been a disappointing tour of England, in spite of the victory in the ODI series.
