Lucknow October 30 2023 : India stayed perfect and England remained awful as Mohammed Shami bowled a stunning opening spell to give the hosts a 100-run win at the Cricket World Cup.
Shami and Jasprit Bumrah shared an initial five wickets in a fiery exhibition of pace and seam movement in a six-over spell in the first powerplay and blew away the English top-order. That came after India had been put into bat and scored only 9-229 in 50 overs on a tough pitch with Rohit Sharma contributing 87 runs off 101 balls.
The total proved more than enough for India to defend. Shami finished with 4-22 in seven overs, while Bumrah returned 3-32 in 6.5 overs, as England suffered yet another batting collapse, crashing to a fifth defeat in six games.
Defending champion England was left languishing in 10th spot after a miserable outing in Lucknow against Indian pace and spin – all out for 129 runs in just 34.5 overs.
India continues to fly high as the only unbeaten team in the tournament. The hosts top the standings with 12 points from six games, two points ahead of second-place South Africa, with New Zealand and Australia a further two points back.
England, the 2019 champions, stayed last with two points and only one win in six games. Australia in 1992 is the only other defending champion to lose four or more matches at a World Cup.
Sharma was named player of the match for his innings which helped to rescue a difficult start for India.
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“It was important to create a partnership with (Lokesh) Rahul after our start in the first 10 overs. I still felt we were 20-30 runs short at the halfway stage … but I will take this win any day,” the India skipper said.
Chasing 230, England faltered after its openers put on 30 runs.
Bumrah bowled Dawid Malan in the fifth over for 16. The very next ball, Joe Root was out lbw for a golden duck – plumb in front, shuffling across the stumps. He appealed unsuccessfully.
While Bumrah’s hat trick was denied, Shami then was on one himself at the other end. His opening overs were near unplayable as Ben Stokes struggled to put bat to ball.
Stokes went for a slog and was bowled in the eighth over for a 10-ball duck. The very first ball of his next over, Bairstow played on off Shami as England was down to 4-39 in 9.1 overs.
The pacers’ opening salvo saw England lose four wickets for nine runs across 26 balls.
After a drinks break, it was spin’s turn. Despite heavy dew, Kuldeep Yadav sent down a beauty to bowl England captain Jos Buttler for 10. Buttler had no clue as the ball turned in sharply off length, leaving England at 5-52.
Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone added 29 runs for the sixth wicket – the second highest partnership of England’s innings. But the pressure never eased.
Shami returned to have Ali caught behind for 15 runs and Ravindra Jadeja had Chris Woakes stumped for 10 in the 29th over.
Yadav then trapped Livingstone lbw – out for 27 – as England crashed to 8-98.
England did manage to reach 100 but it was small consolation as Shami-Bumrah returned to finish off proceedings.
“At the halfway stage, chasing 230 and seeing how wet it got (dew), we fancied ourselves … (but) same old story,” Jos Buttler said after the loss.
“There wasn’t scoreboard pressure. We needed to overcome the initial phase (against the new ball) and needed to build partnerships. We are falling short whichever way we are doing it at the moment.”
England has only beaten Bangladesh and has also lost to New Zealand, Afghanistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was still unavailable for India and is nursing a left ankle injury. In his absence, the hosts went with a similar combination as it did against New Zealand a week ago in Dharamsala – six batters and five bowlers.
Both India and England fielded an unchanged side at the BRABVE Stadium.
