BENGALURU: Riding on medium-pacer Reece Topley’s six-wicket haul, England thumped India by 100 runs in the second ODI at Lord’s to level the series 1-1. Chasing 247, the visitors were bowled out for 146 in 38.5 overs and slumped to a crushing defeat.
The left-arm bowler trapped India’s captain Rohit Sharma in front of stumps in the 3rd over to set the tone. The other opener Shikhar Dhawan was caught behind for 9 off his bowling. Virat Kohli reeled off a few gorgeous drives before he was nipped out at 16 by David Willey.
Topley returned in his second spell and castled Suryakumar Yadav as India were reduced to 73-5 in 21 overs. The flamboyant batter tried to force the ball through the off-side but chopped it onto his stumps. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja scored 29 each but these small contributions were not enough. Topley polished off tailenders in a jiffy and ended with figures of 6-24.
Earlier, India opted to bowl after winning the toss. England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow lent a brisk start as they both whipped out some scoring pull shots. Pandya snapped the 41-run stand as Roy was held out at long-leg as he tried to whip the medium-pacer for a six.
Bairstow looked in superb touch as he clubbed the pacer Prasidh Krishna for a couple of pulls but his innings was curtailed by the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. The right-hander tried to roll out a slog-sweep but was beaten in the flight as the ball shattered the stumps.
Joe Root was adjudged lbw for 11 as he also attempted in vain a slog-sweep against Chahal. The England captain Jos Buttler was cleaned up by an in-ducker by Mohammed Shami as he stayed rooted at the crease. Soon after, Chahal snared Ben Stokes as England were left stuttering at 102-5 in 21.3 overs.
Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali and David Willey played breezy cameos – though none of them scored a fifty – and gave momentum to England’s innings. All three of them smashed two sixes each and pushed the hosts to a respectable total of 246. In the end, the score proved too steep for India.
The final match of the series will be played on July 17.