Kohli bags ton to destroy England
NOT EVEN England’s biggest score against India in ODI history was enough to get a winning start in this 50-over series as they failed to halt Virat Kohli.
By any rational thinking any 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.
Yet not only was it not enough in this first of three ODIs but at one stage it was made to look inadequate by an Indian ODI captain who is on his way to becoming one of the greatest of all batsmen.
Kohli barely left second gear to record his 27th ODI century and his 10th score of 50 or more in his last 14 ODIs as England simply could not contain him.
And when Kohli was 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 and bowing 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 to the one who failed to record a single victory during the tour’s 4-0 Test leg defeat. Jason Roy came out all guns blazing and once he had overturned an lbw decision when on 18 he set the tone for another expansive England ODI innings.
Roy hit 10 fours in his 50 and motored to 73 off 61 balls before England changed gears and accumulated through Joe Root and captain Eoin Morgan.
How Morgan could have done with a big score, but instead he was undone on review from a nick on a Pandya delivery.
Root came into this series with no ODI practice but he again proved his importance across all three formats as he fell for 78.
It looked as though England would fall short of the total that looked assured when they reached 150 for two at the halfway stage.
That, though, was to discount the ability of Ben Stokes to produce an eye-catching display of his talents, smashing five sixes to bring up England’s 300 from a Umesh Yadav beamer.
That was nothing compared to the 12 full tosses delivered by Jasprit Bumrah, with at least three of them over waist height, and he was fortunate not to be removed from the attack. Not that England were concerned as Stokes and Moeen Ali smashed 108 runs off the last eight overs and brought up their seventh score of 300 plus since 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 comeback and Jake Ball claimed the scalp of MS Dhoni. That left the capacity 37,500 crowd stunned and, with India on 63 for four, England looked set to take a huge step towards their first ODI series win in India since 1984.
We should have known better. Kohli, already one of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time, eased himself in with a six and then proceeded to give a master-class.
Not that Kohli was the quickest Indian scorer for he found a willing accomplice in Jadhav who raced along to a superlative 65-ball century of his own.
Ball emerged with three wickets but England will be disappointed that Moeen and Adil Rashid failed to make an impression.
Morgan talked of his ‘hurt’ after Kohli’s destructive display, a performance he is sure to mull over ahead of Thursday’s match in Cuttack, along with the answer to cricket’s most difficult question. How do you solve a problem like Virat Kohli?
‘It hurts more because we had India 60 for four and we were right into the middle order even though Virat was still in,’ said Morgan,
‘We certainly didn’t expect Jadhav to play like that but to hit the ball from ball one and give us no chances? You just have to take your hat off to him.
‘When you score 350 you expect to have played really well but we still weren’t at our best which I guess sums up the conditions here. The pitch was really good and the boundaries were small.’