Following his match-winning spell against England in the first ODI, India pacer Jasprit Bumrah said that the wicket offered swing and seam movement and he and Mohammed Shami decided to exploit it by bowling Test match lengths.
A match-winning spell of 6/19 and Rohit Sharma's half-century helped India gain a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against England after a ten-wicket win in the first ODI.
Put to bat first, England could post only 110 runs on the board as pacers Jasprit Bumrah (6/19) and Mohammed Shami (3/31) destroyed their batting attack. Jos Buttler (30) and David Willey (21) were the only ones who could deliver notable contributions.
A Chase of 111 runs was a cakewalk for India as the opening duo of Rohit Sharma (76*) and Shikhar Dhawan (31*) never gave the English team a chance to uproot them from the crease and took India to the finishing line with more than 32 overs to spare by ten wickets.
"Today, the white ball swung and offered seam movement. I wanted to exploit it. So I had a conversation with Mohammed Shami and we both decided to bowl Test match lengths," said Bumrah in a press conference.
The pacer says that he enjoys bowling with a more experienced Shami across all formats.
"There is always communication when we both play. Even today when the wicket was offering swing and seam. I had a conversation with him that what we could do to bring our team to the best position. When you complement each other as a pair, it feels good," he added.
Bumrah said that he does not look at end results and judge his performance since he has had days when he bowled way better but could not get any wickets.
"I try to keep a balanced mind, not to go too far ahead. Yes it was a good day, but you have to start the next day from zero," he added.
About his success in England as a pacer, Bumrah said that he just tries to remember things that have worked or not worked for him in his mind.
The pacer pointed out that playing multiple formats across just a few days is hard because of mental adjustment, and physical care that is needed.
"It is important to stay fresh and take care of your body. Sometimes we sleep for nine to ten hours for recovery. Fast bowling is tough, the body faces a lot of strain. But we cannot complain. We dreamt of playing for India as kids. We try to stay as fresh as possible and give our best on the field," he added.
Chasing 111, Team India started off on a decent note with the opening pair of Rohit and Dhawan steadily taking the innings forward. The duo scored 21 runs in six overs, before bringing the momentum in the game and smashing 35 runs in the next four overs.
The Men in Blue crossed the 50-run mark in 10 overs with both the batters standing unbeaten at the crease. Continuing the proceedings at a steady rate, Rohit brought up his half-century in 49 balls and helped Team India reach the 100-run mark in 18 overs.
With only 11 runs left to win, the duo smashed 13 runs in the next four balls and brought Team India to a 10-wicket victory in just mere 18.4 overs and gained a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against England.
Earlier, opting to bowl first, Indian bowlers proved their captain Rohit Sharma's decision right as Bumrah wreaked havoc on England batters in the powerplay.
England's opening batter Jason Roy was sent back to the pavilion on a golden duck. Roy's wicket was quickly followed by Joe Root, who was fell prey to Bumrah without scoring a run. Ben Stokes then came to bat, but could not stand long as he was dismissed by Mohammed Shami without opening his account.
At that point opening batter, Jonny Bairstow tried to anchor innings. His inning was cut short by the fiery bowling of Bumrah, who departed Bairstow on seven runs.
Captain Jos Buttler stood on the crease like the only hope for the Three Lions. Liam Livingstone the hard-hitting batter of the team was dismissed for a duck by Bumrah.
England's top order tumbling on a grassy pitch at The Oval. Jason Roy, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Liam Livingstone were all out for ducks.
At the 8th over England's score read 26-5. Indian bowlers made English batters dance to their tunes and grabbed wickets at regular intervals to completely dismantle the hosts.
England captain and Moeen Ali managed to stem the flow of wickets for a while before the latter fell to Prasidh Krishna.
Buttler's wicket ended England's last hope to post a respectable total on board, finally fell to Shami for 30 off 32 balls. Buttler's wicket invited Craig Overton to the crease but the latter could not do much and was dismissed by Shami after scoring 8 runs.
At that point, Shami was on fire as he demolished England 68 for 8. David Willey and Brydon Carse came to the rescue to help their team to post a decent total in front of their home crowd.
The duo kept changing the sides to pile up runs in their favour. They stitched a brief partnership of 35 runs before Carse fell prey to Bumrah's spell and was bowled after scoring 15 runs off 26 balls. Reece Topley was the next man in, who joined hands with Willey at the crease.
It was Bumrah, who struck again and dismissed Topley to restrict England's batting run at 110, which is also their lowest total in an ODI match.
(ANI)
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