India have maintained their unbeaten streak at the 2023 World Cup with a 100-run victory in a low-scoring contest against holders England, who are rock-bottom in the table following their fifth defeat in six group matches.
Rohit Sharma saved India’s blushes with a captain’s knock of 87 in what initially appeared a below-par total of 9-229 on a tricky surface at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday.
Put in to bat, the hosts slumped to 3-40 in the 12th over before Rohit forged a 91-run partnership with KL Rahul (39) to arrest their slide.
Suryakumar Yadav contributed a breezy 49 down the order and India’s tailenders scored some useful runs towards the end to take them past the 225-mark.
England were reduced to 5-52 inside 16 overs in a remarkable batting capitulation and were eventually bundled out for 129 in inside 35 overs with a bristling Mohammed Shami claiming 4-22 for India.
Liam Livingstone’s 27 was the top score in England’s sorry-looking scorecard.
“This was a game where we showed a lot of character,” Rohit said after India’s sixth successive win in the tournament.
“All the experienced players stood up at the right time and won us the game.”
Holders England went into the match as the bottom-placed team with only mathematical chances of making the semi-finals after just one win in their previous five group matches.
In India, they faced the tournament’s only unbeaten side, who are looking unstoppable in their home conditions.
Jos Buttler elected to field after winning the toss and had reasons to feel vindicated as India slumped to 3-40 in the 12th over.
David Willey (3-45) began with a maiden and sent groans across the stadium in the seventh over when he dismissed Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck.
Rohit shelved his natural strokeplay to combined with Rahul to arrest their slide.
Jos Buttler is bowled by Kuldeep Yadav. (Photo by Matt Roberts-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
India crawled to the 100-mark at the halfway stage of their innings but still had plenty of overs as well as considerable batting firepower left to make up for the loss.
Willey dismissed Rahul and Adil Rashid sent back Rohit to snuff out those hopes but Suryakumar’s cheeky knock took India past 200.
England began briskly but were soon jolted out of any complacency after Jasprit Bumrah (3-32) dismissed Dawid Malan and Joe Root with successive deliveries in the fifth over of the innings.
Like Root, Ben Stokes could not open his account either and had his stumps wrecked by Shami as England’s start proved worse than that of their opponents.
Kohli dropped Jonny Bairstow in the slips but the batter dragged a delivery from Shami on to his stumps to depart with England reeling at 4-39 in the 10th over.
Buttler’s dismissal was emblematic of England’s shambolic batting in the match.
The England captain was utterly deceived by a Kuldeep Yadav (2-24) delivery that pitched outside off-stump, turned sharply and sneaked through the yawning bat-pad gap to hit the middle stump.
“Very disappointing,” Buttler said. “At the halfway stage chasing 230 we fancied ourselves. But it’s the same old story.”
Coach Matthew Mott has rejected the suggestion from England’s former captain Eoin Morgan that the continuing World Cup woes of the team are down to them being “unsettled” behind the scenes.
Australian Mott worked with Morgan when he took over the white-ball side 18 months ago, but the Irishman headed into retirement soon after, passing the baton to Buttler.
As the man who led England’s World Cup triumph in 2019, Morgan’s word still carries plenty of weight and he has made some eye-catching observations about his old teammates.
Speaking to Sky Sports prior to England’s 100-run loss to India in Lucknow on Sunday – their fifth loss in six games of an abject title defence – Morgan said the side were “definitely unsettled”.
Responding to the idea they were simply off form, he added: “There’s something else going on – there has to be”.
Told of those comments, Mott said: “Eoin’s entitled to his opinion. He’s obviously been away (from India) for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child and he hasn’t been in and around the rooms.
“But I’ll certainly take that up with him and have a chat to him. We’ve got a really good relationship with him so if he’s seeing something I’m not I’ll definitely have that conversation.
“I don’t think that (is the case) at all. Anyone inside our tent at the moment would say, despite our results, we’re an incredibly tight-knit unit.
“I can only say, from my opinion, that the group has been incredibly strong.
Chris Woakes also stood up for the unity of the squad, telling Sky: “I can firmly say there is nothing wrong with the dressing room.”
Still, things look so bad for England that they aren’t even guaranteed a place at the next major 50-over global competition.
Places at the 2025 Champions Trophy, it’s been revealed, will be allocated based on performances in this competition, with hosts Pakistan joined by the seven highest finishers.
With three matches to go England are still 10th and rock-bottom, behind both the Netherlands and Bangladesh.
Mott admitted he was not aware the qualification process had moved away from its previous link to world rankings until media reports which landed midway through the India defeat.
The decision was ratified by the ICC board in November 2021, when the England and Wales Cricket Board was being led by previous chief executive Tom Harrison, but the information appears to have been waylaid in transition.
Asked in his post-match press conference when he learned about the potential Champions Trophy issue, Mott said: “About an hour-and-a-half ago.
“The ICC do change the rules quite a bit with qualification but to be honest I don’t think it would affect in any way the way we’ve played in this tournament, so it’s not a big deal.”
© AAP
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