JADHAV STUN ENGLAND

Pune, India: Skipper Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav hit blistering centuries to help India chase down 350 and stun England by three wickets in the first oneday international in Pune on Sunday.

Kohli (122), who was leading the limited overs side for the first time, and Jadhav (120) put on 200 runs for the fifth wicket as India achieved the target with 11 balls to spare.

Allrounder Hardik Pandya kept his nerves to take India home with his unbeaten 40 off 37 deliveries. Ravichandran Ashwin (15 not out) hit a six to finish off the match in style.

Earlier put into bat, England posted their highest-ever ODI total against the hosts in India, 350-7, with Jason Roy (73), Joe Root (78) and Ben Stokes (62) scoring half-centuries. In their reply India were tottering at 63 for four when Kohli and man of the match Jadhav combined forces for a blazing counter attack that caught the Eoin Morgan-led side unawares.

“At 60 for 4, yes I was still thinking win. The moment I saw Kedar hitting the ball well, I told him let’s get to 150 for 4, and they are going to hit the panic button,” said Kohli.

“The only way we could have come out of this was to counter attack. We couldn’t win with those singles. We needed to tell the opposition that we believe we can win.”

Yuvraj Singh (15), who returned to the ODI team after a three-year gap, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6), playing his first match after relinquishing his limited overs captaincy, failed to fire.

But the 28-year-old skipper lived up to his epithet of ‘ King Kohli’ as he smashed 8 fours and 5 sixes during his 105-ball stay at the crease.

The star batsman, who brought up his 27th ODI hundred with a six off Chris Woakes, batted with purpose to bring alive a capacity crowd at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium.