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Champions Trophy 2024/25, AUS vs IND 1st Semi-Final Match Report, March 04, 2025
India 267 for 6 (Kohli 84, Iyer 45, Rahul 42*, Ellis 2-49, Zampa 2-60) beat Australia 264 (Smith 73, Carey 61, Shami 3-48, Jadeja 2-40, Varun 2-49) by five wickets
Dubai will host the final of the Champions Trophy, and India will be in it, after proving their edge over a weakened Australia side in an absorbing first semi-final. Their win wasn’t achieved without a fight, however, and Australia may yet look back on several moments that could have moved the contest in other, tantalising directions.In the end, India’s quality and experience made the telling difference, and the member of their line-up who most embodies those words was a central figure. Virat Kohli had made one of his trademark chase-controlling hundreds earlier in the tournament, against Pakistan, and seemed set for another here, only for an uncharacteristic attempt at a big hit to cut his innings short at 84. By then, however, he had passed 8000 runs in ODI chases, and whittled this one down to a more-than-manageable 40 off 44 balls.They only needed 33 of those balls, as KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya all but sealed the deal before the latter departed with India one hit away. And as in a similar chase during the Chennai World Cup game between these sides in 2023, it was Rahul who finished things off, this time with a six over long-on off Glenn Maxwell.Rahul and Hardik hit five sixes and three fours between them, but even that late spurt didn’t take India’s boundary count (16 fours and seven sixes) past Australia’s (20 and eight). Their win, instead, was built on busy-ness: they only faced 124 dots to Australia’s 153, and ran 158 of their runs between the wickets to Australia’s 129.
As much as this was down to the way Kohli and his colleagues – five other India batters got past 25 – moved the ball into gaps and ran, it was also down to the difference in quality between the two bowling attacks, particularly the spinners. India’s spinners ended the game with a collective dot-ball percentage of exactly 50, and Australia’s just over 39.
India stuck with their four-spinner strategy on a bone-dry pitch that promised plenty of turn, but as it happened, the surface was merely slow and low. India’s spinners didn’t necessarily have the means to run through the opposition, but they exerted far better control than their Australian counterparts, keeping the stumps in play and restricting the batters’ scoring areas.
For all that, Australia threatened at various points to run away to a 300-ish total after choosing to bat, and three of their batters played innings that could have been match-winning on another day. All three, however, fell just when they seemed at their most dangerous, and all three had a hand in their own dismissals.
Travis Head, put down by Mohammed Shami off his own bowling in the first over of the match, took a while getting to grips with the slowness of the surface, but peppered the boundary once he did, rushing from 1 off 11 balls to 39 off 32 to give India flashbacks of Ahmedabad 2023. Then, facing his first ball from Varun Chakravarthy in any format, including the IPL, he aimed big down the ground and miscued a wrong’un to long-off.
Then Steven Smith, manipulating his bat face brilliantly to whisk the spinners over midwicket, drive them through the covers or launch them straight, made a smart, proactive 73, putting on half-century stands with Head, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey. He too enjoyed slices of luck; Shami put down a return catch off him as well, though with his left rather than right hand, and Axar Patel made him inside-edge a drive on to his stumps only for the bails to stay put.But with Australia 198 for 4 in the 37th over, Smith stepped out to try and drill Shami between cover and mid-off, only to lose his shape and miss a full-toss that crashed into the base of off stump.
Five balls later, Australia had lost another key wicket, with Glenn Maxwell following up a slog-swept six off Axar with a missed pull off a stump-bound skidder. The game had swung India’s way in the matter of minutes.
Carey was still there, though, and he was, perhaps, playing the innings of the match to that point. Coming in at a tricky juncture – Australia were 144 for 4, and Ravindra Jadeja had just sent back Labuschagne and Josh Inglis in quick succession – he counter-attacked, picking vacant spots in the outfield and attacking them with no half-measures. His first boundary, off the sixth ball he faced, set the tone, as he backed away to expose all three stumps and create room to loft Jadeja over mid-off – the length didn’t quite allow him to middle the shot, but he went through with it in the knowledge that there was no fielder patrolling that boundary.
In that vein, through sweeps, lofts over the covers and reverse-sweeps, Carey had motored to 60 off 56, but just when it seemed imperative for him to bat through the innings, with Australia seven down in the 47th over, he turned around for a risky second run and was caught well short by a brilliant direct hit from Shreyas Iyer two-thirds of the way back at backward square-leg.
All these moments added up to Australia being bowled out for 264, with three balls remaining.
It was the kind of total that allowed India to pace their pursuit and not go searching for boundaries, though the early exchanges suggested otherwise.
Shubman Gill danced down the track to put Ben Dwarshuis away with an eye-catching short-arm jab, before inside-edging on to his stumps later in the over while trying to steer him fine, perhaps an injudicious shot in these conditions.
Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, went after the bowling as he usually does in the first powerplay, and played an innings that somewhat echoed Head’s: there were a couple of breath-taking hits, including a pulled six off Nathan Ellis; there were two dropped chances, neither entirely straightforward, but both catchable, by Cooper Connolly and Labuschagne; and then a dismissal off a risky shot, a sweep off a too-straight, too-full ball from Connolly.
That left India 43 for 2 in the eighth over, and Connolly was finally able to breathe after a torrid match to that point. Earlier in the day, opening in place of the injured Matthew Short, whom he had replaced in Australia’s squad, he had fallen for a nine-ball duck that also included six successive plays-and-misses off Shami.
Connolly could have had even more joy in his sixth over, when Kohli, looking to work his left-arm spin into the on side, sent a leading edge looping towards Maxwell at a catching short cover. Maxwell dived right, but couldn’t hold on to the one-hander. With Kohli on 51 and India 134 for 2, Australia could have had a foot in the door had this moment gone their way.
That apart, though, Kohli was making things look deceptively easy, playing nothing but old-fashioned percentage shots but somehow scoring quicker than Iyer – who was moving around his crease constantly, often to scoop the ball over his shoulder – in a third-wicket stand of 91. Kohli only hit five fours in all – two pulls off the spinners and one off Ellis were particularly eye-catching for the speed of his footwork – but had no trouble in keeping the scorecard moving.
This was partly down to Australia being forced to concede singles to deep fielders thanks to the limitations of their spin attack, which included one proven frontliner in Adam Zampa, a legspinner playing just his fourth ODI in Tanveer Sangha, and three batting allrounders or part-timers in Connolly, Maxwell and Head. Given the total he was defending, too, Smith had to protect the boundaries, and allow the singles to drip away while waiting for an opening.
This came when Iyer, making room to cut, was bowled by Zampa’s quicker ball, leaving India needing 131 from 142 balls. They were still heavy favourites, though, given their batting depth. They settled into the seeming pattern of Kohli looking to bat through the chase with Axar – batting in his now-customary No. 5 slot – and then Rahul taking on the bowlers at the other end in partnerships of 44 and 47.
Just when things were going exactly to plan, and just when a century seemed to be Kohli’s for the taking, he fell in the most un-Kohli-like manner. Rahul had hit Zampa for a straight six earlier in the over, and India were well in control of their required rate. It isn’t usually the kind of moment Kohli picks to try and hit a six, but it was on this day. He picked the wrong’un, but the ball likely turned less than he expected, and forced him to hit straighter than intended, straight to the fielder at long-on. Kohli may be the world’s most exacting calibrator of chases, but even he’s given to the odd human impulse.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Champions Trophy 2024/25, NZ vs SA 2nd Semi-Final Match Report, March 05, 2025
New Zealand 362 for 6 (Ravindra 108, Williamson 102, Mitchell 49, Phillips 49*, Ngidi 3-72, Rabada 2-70) beat South Africa 312 for 9 (Miller 100*, van der Dussen 69, Bavuma 56, Santner 3-43, Phillips 2-27, Henry 2-43) by 50 runs
New Zealand are into their seventh ICC final and fourth in the ODI format after posting the highest score in Champions Trophy history and beating South Africa by 50 runs in their semi-final in Lahore. They will play India in Sunday’s final in Dubai on the back of a major confidence boost following their commanding win.
Rachin Ravindra scored his fifth ODI hundred – all of them have come in ICC events – Kane Williamson racked up a third successive century against South Africa, and Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips smashed 49 each, off 37 and 27 balls respectively, as New Zealand posted 326 for 6. Then their captain Mitchell Santner took 3 for 43, his wickets including those of South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma, their consistent No.3 Rassie van der Dussen and their most destructive hitter Heinrich Klaasen, as New Zealand defended their score with aplomb and progressed to the final.The match was long over as a contest by the 47th over of South Africa’s chase, when David Miller was batting on 52 with only No. 11 Lungi Ngidi for company. But just enough time remained for Miller to farm the strike, face all 18 balls that remained, and reach a 67-ball century off the last ball of the match.This is the fifth semi-final that New Zealand have won at an ICC ODI event while South Africa have lost nine out of 11 (and only won one), and their search for a second major title after the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998 goes on.
Much of the focus may be on South Africa’s batting given that they have not won any of the five semi-finals they have chased in, but this time they lost the game in the field. Their bowling effort was unusually off-colour as they failed to take advantage of early swing, bowled too many pace-on deliveries despite seeing the efficacy of pace-off, and they put down two catches. Lungi Ngidi was their best bowler with his steady selection of slower balls and picked up the early wicket of Will Young with the new ball and the important one of Mitchell with the older one, but both Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj went wicketless.
Put simply, South Africa were no match for the combination of Ravindra and Williamson, the courageous and the calm, who shared in New Zealand’s highest Champions Trophy stand of 164 for the second wicket and complemented each other perfectly. Both may say they didn’t play their most fluent innings but they approached a flat pitch differently, especially in terms of the pace of their scoring, and kept South Africa guessing. Ravindra maintained a strike rate of more than 100 throughout his innings to keep pressure on the bowlers while Williamson took his time to get to his half-century (61 balls) before taking just 30 more deliveries to bring up his century.After winning the toss, Santner decided to bat first, in the hope that the breeze would negate the possibility of dew in the evening, and he could put scoreboard pressure on South Africa. He was right on both counts.
New Zealand started streakily when Young edged Ngidi over Jansen at slip, but soon found their touch. Ravindra led the way with a takedown of Jansen’s short balls. He pulled a bumper through square leg and then hit him for three fours in his fourth over, through cover, midwicket and extra cover, leaving Jansen wondering which of the cutter, the full ball or the bouncer was his best option. Ngidi stemmed the tide when he had Young caught at mid-off and New Zealand ended the first powerplay on 56 for 1.
Williamson scored 11 off his first 14 balls before Rabada bowled a stunning maiden over to him that coonstantly kept him on his toes with changes of pace and length, and Williamson was happy to bide time. Ravindra brought up his half-century off 47 balls in the 18th over, in which he hit Wiaan Mulder for three fours. South Africa had brought on Maharaj in the 17th and his first four overs were tight – he conceded just 14 runs – before Ravindra decided to take him on. He was not fully in control when he fetched Maharaj from outside off to hit through long-on but then charged and smashed a straight six next ball. That over cost 13 runs, and Maharaj’s next 12, and he was replaced by Ngidi, who almost made an important breakthrough.
Williamson, on 56, slashed at the last ball of that over, Ngidi’s sixth, and got a healthy edge but Klaasen, diving one-handed to his right, could not hold on. Ngidi caused problems for Ravindra too and beat him outside off in his next over. He was on 97 and South Africa asked for a caught-behind review in vain. Ravindra went on to bring up his century off Rabada in the next over, off the 93rd ball he faced. New Zealand also brought up their 200 in that over, the 32nd, as Rabada went for 17 with Williamson changing gears.
He was on 80 off 77 balls when Ravindra was caught behind off Rabada, and took another 14 deliveries to get to his hundred with a ramp off Mulder. The same shot didn’t work later in the over, and Williamson was caught at short fine, but New Zealand had the platform to go big. They were 252 for 3 after 40 overs before Jansen and Rabada squeezed, bowling four overs for 27 runs and the wicket of Tom Latham.
But then… carnage. Mitchell tonked Ngidi for a six and two fours, Phillips took four successive fours off Jansen’s penultimate over, and New Zealand were on their way. They scored 83 runs in the last six overs to cross 360 and leave South Africa with a mountain to climb.
And at least one of them started the ascent slowly. When Ryan Rickelton was out for 17 off 11, Bavuma was batting on 3 off 17. He continued to labour, and moved to 10 off 24 before cutting loose. In the ninth over, he walked down the pitch to Matt Henry and hit over mid-off, and in the 10th, hooked Kyle Jamieson behind square for six. South Africa rescued the first powerplay and finished it on 56 for 1, exactly the same as New Zealand. With the in-form van der Dussen with him, Bavuma demonstrated an ability to kick on and the pair formed a dangerous combination.
They took on the spinners, with both batters bringing up their fifties in successive Michael Bracewell overs, and their stand grew to 105 before Bavuma became Santner’s first victim. He tried to hit his counterpart over cover, but was undone by flight and miscued the ball to Kane Williamson at backward point. Still, South Africa were on track. New Zealand had been 143 for 1 at the halfway stage; South Africa were 143 for 2.
But Santner was to have the decisive say. He bowled van der Dussen with a quicker one that straightened past his edge as he looked to work into the leg side, and then had Klaasen caught by Henry diving forward at long-on. Henry tumbled onto his right shoulder and left the field in some discomfort, which forced New Zealand to turn to Ravindra as a sixth bowler. It worked a charm when Aiden Markram popped a catch back to him that he took in front of his face.
South Africa needed 170 runs from the last 15 overs with five wickets in hand, and ESPNcricnfo’s win predictor gave them less than 0.5% chance of winning. Even with Miller still at the crease, that seemed accurate. Miller batted to the end and brought up his seventh ODI century off the last ball of the match. His cradle celebration appeared to dedicate the knock to his one-month-old son Benji, but much like his century in the ODI World Cup semi-final in 2023, it might have left him feeling “a bit hollow.” South Africa may share that sentiment with another opportunity at a trophy gone, but for New Zealand, who last lifted an ICC ODI trophy in the year 2000, the dream is alive.Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket
Champions Trophy 2024/25, AUS vs ENG 4th Match, Group B Match Report, February 22, 2025
Australia 356 for 5 (Inglis 120*, Carey 69, Short 63, Rashid 1-47) beat England 351 for 8 (Duckett 165, Root 68, Dwarshuis 3-66, Labuschagne 2-41, Zampa 2-64) by five wickets
Ben Duckett provided the ruthlessness England so desperately craved for with a record knock of 165. But his heroics went in vain as Josh Inglis countered by pummelling a lacklustre England pace attack and powering Australia to the highest successful chase in men’s ICC tournament history.The first match at an ICC event in Lahore since March 1996 saw batting completely dominate this Champions Trophy blockbuster with little margin for error for the bowlers on such a benign surface.
With a mixture of inventive strokes and meaty backfoot blows, England-born Inglis hit his maiden ODI century to finish unbeaten on 120 from 86 balls as Australia reached the target of 352 with relative ease in the 48th over. England’s bowlers struggled to handle the dew under lights, with Australia achieving their second-highest successful ODI chase after their 359 for 6 against India in Mohali in 2019.
It was a bitter disappointment for England, who now face must-win games against Afghanistan and South Africa. They ultimately will rue falling a little bit short with the bat, but Duckett’s magnificent 165 off 143 was the highest individual score in Champions Trophy history. He received strong support from Joe Root, who made a crisp 68 in a third-wicket partnership of 158.
Even though no other batter scored more than 25 runs, England still compiled the highest-ever total in the tournament and took full toll on the least experienced Australian attack at an ICC ODI event since 1983. They were without frontline quicks Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, while seam-bowling allrounders Cameron Green, Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis are also missing.
However, the result was not a fait accompli on this flat surface, with Australia boasting a deep batting line-up. Australia’s innings mirrored England’s with two early wickets after Travis Head and stand-in captain Steven Smith fell in the powerplay.
Having blazed an unforgettable century the last time he was sighted at a 50-over ICC event, Head loomed as the key but on 6 his swipe hit the toe-end of the bat and Jofra Archer held a sharp return catch.
Smith could only edge to slip a hard-length delivery from speedster Mark Wood, who was in great rhythm and consistently hitting speeds of 150 kph. But Matthew Short and Marnus Labuschagne rallied with a 95-run stand as they took a particular liking to wayward quick Brydon Carse.Short overcame a lean run of form by superbly using the pace of England’s quicks but legspinner Adil Rashid bowled a brilliant spell in combination with Liam Livingstone that squeezed the batters.
A frustrated Labuschagne hit a slow 70 kph legbreak from Rashid straight to cover before Short on 63 offered a return catch to Livingstone as Australia slumped to 136 for 4.
But Rashid was taken out of the attack after his six-over spell, allowing Inglis and Alex Carey to settle. The pair showcased their strong form having each scored counterattacking Test centuries against Sri Lanka as they got on top of a struggling England pace attack.Carey sheepishly celebrated his half-century after hitting Rashid straight to deep midwicket only for Archer to drop a sitter. Inglis then whacked Archer for consecutive boundaries as the wheels started to come off for England.
Just as Australia started to gain control, Carey hit Carse straight to mid-off with 70 still needed off 50 balls. But Inglis was unperturbed and mowed a six off Archer to reach his century in style.
Glenn Maxwell was unstoppable before Inglis fittingly sealed victory with a six in a terrific victory for World Cup champions Australia, whose title hopes ahead of the tournament had largely been written off.Smith elected to bowl after being swayed that dew would play a factor under lights as Australia stepped onto the field at an ICC event without their big three quicks for the first time in nine years.
Australia’s considerably weakened attack was under immediate pressure on a road of a pitch. There was no Starc, but Australia were not short on aggressive left-arm quicks with Spencer Johnson, whose trademark golden locks had been shorn off, and Ben Dwarshuis handed the new ball.
Dwarshuis was selected ahead of Sean Abbott, who had played in both of Australia’s ODI games in Sri Lanka, for match-up reasons although his two early wickets were mostly due to rash strokes.
England’s reshuffled batting line-up didn’t go to plan initially. In a common bane for them, they went a bit hard early with Phil Salt falling in the second over after falling to clear the on-side as a high-flying Carey plucked a one-handed blinder of a catch to his right.
It was a spectacular first-ever ODI catch for Carey as an outfielder and helped justify the decision for Inglis, the incumbent white-ball wicketkeeper, to retain the gloves.
All eyes were on Jamie Smith, who batted at No. 3 for the first time in international cricket – and only the second time in his List A career – in a decision that forced Root, Harry Brook and Jos Buttler to shift down from their usual positions.
Smith stroked a couple of gorgeous cover drives, before falling tamely to the on-side where Carey took a far easier catch on this occasion.
England did not envision being 43 for 2, but they recovered quickly as Duckett and Root cashed in on errant bowling from Johnson and Dwarshuis. Duckett had started relatively slowly, but blasted a boundary off the last delivery of the powerplay as England moved to 73 for 2.
Smith reverted to spin after the restrictions were eased but there was little turn on offer as Duckett and Root easily rotated the strike. Smith was fairly conservative with his tactics and deployed four sweepers.
Duckett showcased his improved prowess of hitting down the ground by targeting Maxwell straight and he reached his half-century in style with a horizontal bat shot off Johnson.
Root was making it look easy, not fussed about hitting boundaries but smartly working the gaps to reach his half-century off 56 balls. He had a perfect opportunity to end a long ODI century drought stretching to the 2019 World Cup as England eyed a total in the high 300s.
But Root got tied down by legspinner Adam Zampa, was was in the midst of a good spell, and missed a rare attempted sweep to fall in a tight lbw after an unsuccessful review. Australia fought back through Zampa, whose subtle variations proved effective and accounted for Brook with Carey taking another terrific catch after a diving effort running backward at point.
Seamer Nathan Ellis also utilised his noted defensive skills and conceded just 51 runs off his 10 overs – the only bowler with an economy of under six.
England feared letting slip a great platform just like they did against Australia at Trent Bridge last September. But Duckett held things together and blasted consecutive boundaries off Johnson to reach his third ODI century.
He punched the air in celebration, but did not waver in his concentration despite being clearly fatigued. Duckett’s brilliant innings finally ended in the 48th over when he was trapped lbw by the legspin of Labuschagne, who was preferred over Johnson at the death and finished with 2 for 41 off five overs.
Archer hit a flurry at the death, but his mood soured later in the night.
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth
IND vs ENG 2024/25, IND vs ENG 2nd ODI Match Report, February 09, 2025
India 308 for 6 (Rohit 119, Gill 60, Iyer 44, Axar 41*) beat England 304 (Root 69, Duckett 65, Jadeja 3-35) by four wickets
Rohit Sharma silenced the doubters and showed his readiness to lead India into the Champions Trophy, as he powered through to his 32nd ODI century to set his side up for an unassailable 2-0 series lead in the second ODI against England at Cuttack.With India set a stiff but far from daunting 305 to win, after a piecemeal England performance featuring seven double-figure scores but nothing more imposing than Joe Root’s 69 from 72 balls, Rohit demonstrated the blend of power and endurance that the black-soil conditions required, as he broke the back of the chase with 119 from 90 balls, including 12 fours and seven sixes.He reached his landmark from 76 balls with the last of those sixes, a glorious lofted drive over wide long-off off Adil Rashid, and had he not scuffed a Liam Livingstone full-toss to midwicket with 85 runs still needed, the margin of victory could have been crushing. Instead, India injected a few late jitters into their chase, losing three wickets in five overs after Shreyas Iyer was needlessly run out for 44, and it required Axar Patel’s calm 41 not out from 43 balls to guard against embarrassment.
Realistically though, England had been chasing shadows long before Ravindra Jadeja, their chief tormenter with the ball, had driven the winning boundary with 33 balls to spare. Those shadows had been literal ones at one stage, when a floodlight failure in the seventh over caused a tedious 40-minute delay.Despite his well-documented struggles in Australia this winter, and notwithstanding his unconvincing 2 from seven balls in Nagpur on Thursday, Rohit has played too few ODIs of late to be considered out of form in the format. This was only his fifth 50-over innings since the World Cup final in November 2023, where his haul of 597 runs at 54.27 had been instrumental in his team’s march to the final. Since then, he had added two more fifties in three innings in Sri Lanka in August. Even with his 38th birthday looming in April, and with 11,000 career ODI runs beckoning in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, he’s looking good for a few more yet.
As in Nagpur, Rohit’s first seven balls were the least convincing of his innings, although this time they weren’t also his last seven. His first boundary was a streaky four through deep third off Gus Atkinson, but when he found his range one ball later, it was as if a switch had been flicked in his game-brain. Out came a sublime pick-up off the pads which flew over deep midwicket for six – arguably the best shot he had played all winter – and suddenly his timing was attuned to the surface. Saqib Mahmood, who had troubled him in a tight first over, was blazed for two more sixes in overs three and five, over extra cover and long-off, and the chase was on.
Rohit had eased along to 29 off 18 when the floodlight failure kicked in, and the frustration could have been all the more acute when Mark Wood entered the attack after the resumption and struck him on the knee-roll with his third ball. However, England’s review was deemed by ball-tracking to have only been clipping leg, and Rohit’s response was to slam his front foot to the pitch of his next ball, and lift Wood clean over long-off for his fourth six in eight overs – as many as England managed in their entire innings.
Rashid, so often England’s trump card, was unable to stem the tide. Rohit clubbed him for two more fours in his first over, to march through to a 30-ball fifty, before Shubman Gill – hitherto the silent partner – showed he wasn’t about to waste his solid start with a wondrous slog-sweep for his solitary six.Another pull for four from Gill brought up the hundred partnership in the 14th over, and one over later, he had his own fifty – from 45 balls – and the 21st time in 49 ODI innings that he had got there, at an average that briefly nudged above 60. England’s lack of variety was exposed when Atkinson – still smarting from his brutal treatment in the opening T20I – returned to the attack to be hoisted for two more pulled boundaries by Rohit, including a rank half-tracker that was dumped behind square for his fifth six.
The breakthrough, when it arrived, came somewhat out of the blue. Jamie Overton had been pumped for two fours in four balls by Gill when he hit back with a superb yorker that plucked out the off stump at 141kph. The momentary silence around Cuttack, however, was almost immediately replaced by a roar of acclaim, as Virat Kohli – back in the team after his knee niggle in Nagpur – walked out with the stage set at 136 for 1.
It would not prove to be a lengthy stay. One smartly driven four off Atkinson got the crowd purring, but Kohli had faced just eight deliveries when Rashid turned a legbreak past another forceful drive, and Phil Salt’s excellent take was rewarded when England’s review showed a feathered edge. Having been recalled to the XI in place of India’s rising star, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kohli’s failure was as acute as Rohit’s success, although he might argue – rather like his captain – that it wasn’t that many ODIs ago that he was Player of the Tournament for his 765 runs at the 2023 World Cup.
As for England, their problems are rather more significant. Not unlike their low-wattage batting displays at the World Cup, this was another performance that promised far more than it delivered. After winning the toss, they were given another flying start by Ben Duckett and Phil Salt, whose opening stand of 81 in 65 balls was their third fifty-plus partnership in consecutive matches on this tour. And while Root and Jos Buttler were easing through the gears in a fourth-wicket stand of 51, England had had designs on a 330-plus total.Instead, both set batters fell in the space of four overs to trigger another dramatic collapse: England lost their last seven wickets for 85, including three run-outs, as they were dismissed for 304 with one ball left unused. India’s spinners, inevitably, were the catalysts, in particular Jadeja, who proved too wily for some one-dimensional shot selection as he returned the outstanding figures of 3 for 35.
Foremost among these was Overton, whom England seem convinced can be their death-overs answer to Andre Russell. His inclusion at No. 7 was confirmed after Jacob Bethell had been ruled out with a worrying hamstring injury, but his innings of 6 from 10 balls was further evidence that, in spin-friendly conditions, his long-levered approach is doomed to failure.Livingstone at least got the memo with a powerful late knock of 41 from 32 balls, including two big sixes off Harshit Rana, as did Rashid, who struck three fours in a row off Mohammed Shami in reaching 14 from 5 balls, only to run himself out just when his eye was in.
Worryingly for England, though, India had plenty of chances to close the innings out for even fewer runs. They missed two clear chances in the deep, including the most casually awful drop from Axar at deep third when Salt had made just 6 from 12 balls, while Rohit was left wincing at the big screen when Root was shown to have been plumb lbw to Axar for 16, with India having chosen not to review.
Harry Brook, whose technique against spin has been under particular scrutiny on this trip, made 31, but might have been removed for a five-ball duck had umpire Chris Brown upheld an lbw appeal from his nemesis, Varun Chakravarthy, that ball-tracking suggested would clip leg. At the age of 33, Varun earned his ODI debut on the strength of 14 wickets at 9.85 in the T20Is. He needed just 11 deliveries to make his mark, ending Salt’s stay to trigger a familiar middle-overs squeeze that India would not ultimately relinquish.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
