@Paul_NewmanDM KOHLI THE DESTROYER KILLS ENGLAND...AGAIN!
NOT EVEN England’s biggest score against India in one- day international history was enough to get them off to a winning start in this 50- over series yesterday as they failed to halt the unstoppable force that is Virat Kohli.
By any rational thinking a side who have scored 350 for seven in 50 overs and then taken four quick wickets should be in with a decent chance of winning, even in Indian conditions made for batting.
Yet not only was it not enough in this first of three one-day internationals but at one stage it was made to look almost inadequate by a new India one-day captain who is on his way to becoming one of the greatest of all batsmen.
Kohli barely moved out of second gear to record his 27th one- day century and his 10th score of 50 or more in his last 14 one-day internationals as England, in common with attacks all round the world, simply could not contain him.
And when Kohli was eventually dismissed for 122 an unheralded son of Pune in Kedar Jadhav, his partner in a match-winning stand of 200, almost eclipsed his captain before cramping up and holing out for 120.
There was to be no wobble as Hardik Pandya hit an unbeaten 40 to bring India victory with 11 balls to spare, and, with worrying echoes of the Test series, England must somehow find a way of competing with the ball in the two remaining 50- over matches and three Twenty20 internationals.
It had all started so well after Kohli had inserted a different looking England side from the one who lost 4-0 in the Test series.
Jason Roy came out with all guns blazing and once he had overturned an lbw decision given against him by Indian umpire CK Nandan when he had made 18, the tone had been set for another expansive England one-day innings.
Roy hit 10 fours in his 50 and motored to 73 off 61 balls before England did what Kohli said they could not on the eve of the game when they changed gears and accumulated through Joe Root and, for a while, captain Eoin Morgan.
How Morgan could have done with a big score but instead he was undone on review himself after Nandan had failed to detect his slight nick on a ball from Pandya. Root came into this series with no one- day match practice after his short paternity leave forced him to miss the two warm-ups but he again proved his huge importance to England across all three formats.
Alas, there was to be no ‘daddy’ hundred for the new parent as he fell for 78 and it seemed as though England would fall short of the seemingly formidable total that looked assured when they reached 150 for two at the halfway stage.
That, though, was to discount the ability of Stokes to produce an eye-catching display of his talents, smashing five sixes including a remarkable upper-cut to bring up England’s 300 off a beamer from Umesh Yadav.
That was nothing compared to the 12 full tosses delivered by Jasprit Bumrah, with at least three of them being delivered over waist height, and he was fortunate not to be removed from the attack by lenient umpires.
Not that England were concerned as Stokes and Moeen Ali took to Bumrah in particular as they hit 108 runs off the last eight overs and brought up their seventh score of 300 plus since the turning point of the last World Cup.
It looked as though it would comfortably be enough when David Willey made two early breakthroughs, Stokes cut short Yuvraj Singh’s international comeback and Jake Ball claimed the huge scalp of former captain MS Dhoni.
That left the 37,500 capacity crowd stunned, and with India on 63 for four, England looked set to take a huge step towards their first one- day series win in India since 1984 with an opening victory here.
We should have known better. Kohli, already one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time, eased himself into the fray with a clipped six off Willey and then proceeded to give a master- class, going to his hundred with a remarkable shortarm jab for six off Chris Woakes.
Not that Kohli was the quickest Indian scorer as local boy Jadhav raced along to a superlative 65-ball century of his own.
Ball emerged with credit and three wickets but England will be disappointed that their spinners Moeen and Adil Rashid could make such little impression, with the legspinner lacking any sort of control.
England now head to Cuttack for the second match on Thursday knowing their best chance of stopping India might only come if they are able to bat second or somehow come up with an answer to world cricket’s most difficult question.
How do you solve a problem like Virat Kohli?