In the first ODI of the three-match series, India defeated England by four wickets at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
England won the toss and asked India to bowl first. The visitors were having a good time with the bat at the start of the innings, but later on, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Mohammad Shami had an incredible spell after which they took wickets at regular intervals. Apart from the first partnership, England had less to no positives, while India managed to keep the opponents under pressure and restricted them to just 248 runs.
In the chase, debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (15) looked promising and hit a couple of fours, however, he couldn’t bat long. Skipper Rohit Sharma also lost his wicket early. It was the third wicket partnership between Shubman Gill (87) and Shreyas Iyer (59), which led the side towards the target. Both batters added 94 runs together. While Iyer didn’t get too many runs, but, he did play an excellent knock and provided valuable runs in the powerplay. Gill, with 14 fours, played an anchor’s knock, while Axar (52) also hit a remarkable fifty. Not the highlight of the innings, but both batters stitched 108 runs for the fourth wicket partnership. Towards the end, Hardik Pandya and Jadeja helped the side reach the target in just 38.4 overs.
For England with the bat, Phil Salt (43) looked good but unfortunately got run out. From the other end as well, Ben Duckett (32) added quality runs. Jos Buttler (52) and Jacob Bethell (51) also scored well deservedly fifties, which helped the side reach a decent score.
In the first innings with the ball, Jadeja and Harshit Rana scalped three wickets each. Along with them, one wicket each was also picked up by Shami, Axar, and Kuldeep Yadav.
While defending, Saqib Mahmood and Adil Rashid managed to claim two wickets each. One wicket each was also taken by Jofra Archer and Jacob Bethell.
With this win, India are 1-0 up in the series.
Scorecard:
England: 248/10, Overs 47.4, Jos Buttler 52, Ravindra Jadeja 3/26
India: 251/6, Overs 38.4, Shubman Gill 87, Saqib Mahmood 2/47