Morgan’s delighted as Root hits form
end. Morgan had turned to spin in the 14th over, bringing on Moeen Ali with some success. But it was Rashid who made the difference, bowling Karthik in his fourth over then the prize wicket of Kohli with the first ball of his seventh.
If the delivery to send the India captain packing was a peach, a classic leg-break pitching on middle and smashing into off stump, so was the look on Kohli’s face. This was the first time in his one-day international career that Kohli had been bowled by a leg-spinner. Rashid bookended and sent down seven successive overs at a lively pace for a cost of 16 runs and with no apparent ill-effects.
But it was Fisher who was rewarded for a testing initial six-over spell that brought him the wickets of Mayank Agarwal and India A skipper Karun Nair on a day of contrasting fortunes compared to Monday.
The Lions had resumed on 310-2 but, under cloudier skies, batting was a different and more challenging proposition yesterday and their last eight wickets went down for 113 in 40.5 overs. The Lions were all out for 423, England Test opener Alastair Cook having advanced from his overnight 154 to 180 when he was bowled via the inside edge by Ankit Rajpoot.
Dawid Malan, released from the senior one-day international squad to get in some red-ball practice before the first Test against India, added only 15 to his overnight 59 before playing on to Mohammed Siraj.
Paceman Siraj went wicketless on day one but ended with figures of 4-79.
Only Prithvi Shaw (62) then passed the half-century mark for the tourists, who closed on 144-4. a superb over with another beauty with his sixth delivery to have Suresh Raina caught at leg slip. It left India 158-5 off 31 overs and in trouble. If Dhoni’s 59-ball 37 at Lord’s had drawn jeers as he allowed the run rate to spiral, his effort here was only a fraction faster with his 37 taking 59 balls. His partners helped to produce a late flourish but India’s total of 256 never looked enough. well.” Root (100no) and Morgan (88no) anchored a comfortable chase as England charged to victory, overtaking India’s below-par 256-8 with over five overs to spare.
Victory delivered a 2-1 victory in the Royal London series.
And even though Morgan did not think much of Root’s century celebration, insisting with a smile he had “made a fool of himself” he believes his return to form after a difficult period bodes well.
“It’s extremely encouraging,” said Morgan. “The composure he has shown in the last two games is the Joe Root we know and trust.
“He has been outstanding around the guys and in the dressing rooms and that is great to see.
“The challenge from here on in is staying on top of our game. We’re going to be presented with different challenges and we need to make better starts rather than making mistakes and improving on it.
“We were well off the mark at Trent Bridge [in the first ODI of the series] and India punished us but the guys have been brilliant today.
“We’ve got two more tours to go in Sri Lanka and West Indies, then Pakistan and a match against Ireland before the warm-ups for the World Cup – that’s a lot of cricket, so if we lose momentum we have time.
“But we need to be at our best going into the World Cup, but we can only put ourselves in that position.”
India captain Virat Kohli conceded: “We need to move on and improve as a side. Every side is looking for the best balance possible, these losses will tell us what we need to work on.”
HOPEFULS FACING FINAL TEST