4 things you may have missed in the final England v India ODI

After the euphoria of the 2018 World Cup came to an end, all eyes were set on the third and deciding one day international between India and England at Leeds. Both the teams are amongst the best in the world in the 50 over format.

Hence, the fans were hoping for a tight contest. England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to field first. India got off to a bad start as Rohit Sharma departed early. The Delhi duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli tried to revive India’s innings but Dhawan was run out owing to some excellent fielding by Ben Stokes. From there on, wickets kept felling at regular intervals and India could only muster 256 runs from their 50 overs.

In reply, England got off to a smashing start as the English openers went hell for leather in the mandatory powerplay. Although India did manage to get rid of the English openers, but the senior duo of Joe Root and Eoin Morgan dug in and played out the wrist spin threat of India with ease. Their brilliant partnership ensured that England chased down the target easily.

Let us have a some of the things you may have missed from the final ODI.

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#1 Dhoni struggles again

After getting a lot of flak for his subdued innings in the second ODI, Indian fans expected former captain M.S Dhoni to bounce back in style. However, things did not change much for Dhoni, as he struggled to get the boundaries away.

His innings of 42 runs from 66 balls sucked all the momentum from India’s innings. Indian fans were expecting a high voltage finish from Dhoni, but he edged a regulation catch to Jos Buttler off the bowling of David Willey in the 46th over. Some might say that the lack of wickets to play with forced his hand, but Dhoni did not go for the big shots even in the last 10 overs. India need to sort out this middle order conundrum to get the best out of Dhoni.

#2 Bhuvneshwar disappoints

Defending a below-par score of 257, India needed all of their bowlers to come to the party. Dark clouds had gathered around the ground at the interval and conditions were ripe for India’s swing king Bhuvi to do the damage.

However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was found wanting with the ball. He began proceedings with a short, wide delivery that was duly dispatched to the boundary by James Vince. The England top order took him to the cleaners and smashed 36 runs from his four overs. Bhuvi has struggled on this tour and Indian fans will be hoping that he recovers in time for the test series.

#3 Shardul ends the sixes drought

Shardul Thakur

India has some of the world’s biggest hitters in the form of M.S Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma. These guys can clear the boundary ropes with ease. The trio struggled for runs in the previous game and struggled to get going today as well.

When Shardul Thakur slammed Ben Stokes for a six over square leg in the penultimate over of Indian innings, he had ended one of the longest droughts in Indian cricket. That six came after a whopping 637 deliveries, which is amongst the longest drought in terms of balls for India. This stat goes to show why India have struggled in the last two one-dayers.

#4 India’s winning streak of one day series end

The Indian cricket team has been in excellent form in the 50 over format over the past two years. India came into this series on the back of 9 consecutive victories in bilateral series, starting against Zimbabwe in 2016.

The streak also included wins against heavyweight teams like Australia and South Africa. However, that run was finally broken by a very professional performance from the English team. England was on the spot with the ball today and chased down the target with great ease.