Topley snaps six in England’s series-levelling win over India at Lord’s
Reece Topley rewrote record books with his 6/24 that helped England stage a remarkable comeback with the ball and successfully defend 246 against India. The three-match ODI series reamins alive. Topley’s maiden ODI fifer – now the best bowling figures by an Englishman in the format – rattled the visitors in a modest chase, overshadowing their own disciplined effort with the ball earlier in the day.
Under helpful conditions, English pacers were right on the money from the word go with Topley picking two of India’s top-four that fell inside 12 overs for just 31 runs on the board. The left-armer trapped Rohit Sharma LBW for a 10-ball duck, the India captain burning the first review on his way back while Shikhar Dhawan’s struggles came to an end after a 26-ball 9 when he was caught down leg-side.
With a modest target in front of them, all India needed was a sensible stand to put their chase back on the right track. And for a very brief while, the in-form pair of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya seemed to be doing just that. The former survived an LBW scare on which England wasted a review before smoking Carse into the second tier stands, while the latter was nearly run out on 11. Together, however, the pair powered through and upped India’s scoring by adding 42 runs in the nine overs. That’s when Buttler threw the ball back to Topley, who gave England a much-needed breakthrough. Cramped for room attempting to cut a length ball outside off, Suryakumar ended up chopping it onto his stumps to fall for 29-ball 27.
India had only just passed the 100-run mark when Hardik top-edged a pull off Moeen Ali and holed out to deep midwicket, leaving Jadeja to fend with the tail. Buttler gambled by persisting with the offspinner for another over but with Mohammed Shami deciding to have a go at everything thrown at him, and even managing to loft one over the ropes straight down the ground, England rang in the bowling changes from both ends.
The hits and misses continued with Jadeja surviving a run-out scare and Shami getting a life on 18 off Carse. And yet again, it was Topley’s return that helped England curb the runs that had started to flow again for India. Shami miscued a slower full toss after an entertaining cameo of 23, and Jadeja was yorked by an offspinning delivery first up from Liam Livingstone.
The wicket-maiden had left India reeling at 140 for 8 – the result of the game a forgone conclusion. Topley wrapped up the formalities in no time as he bowled Yuzvendra Chahal for his first-ever five-wicket haul and had Prasidh Krishna caught behind two balls later to script a 100-run win for the hosts.
Put in to bat earlier, England too struggled against India’s tight bowling led by Chahal’s four-fer to get bundled out in the penultimate over. However, Moeen (47) dug in for two vital partnerships, adding 46 for the sixth wicket with Livingstone (33) and 62 for the seventh with Willey (41) that gave the hosts a total to defend.
English openers were just about beginning to catch up after their slow start when Jason Roy flicked a half-volley from Hardik Pandya straight to deep backward square leg. Chahal, who switched ends after just two overs, accounted for three of England’s finest by tempting them to target the short square boundaries.
In his run-a-ball 38, Bairstow gave England a bit of a push with fours in back to back overs but eventually fell in Chahal’s second over, having missed his slogsweep. A confident Joe Root tried to counter the LBW appeal after missing his sweep, but in turn ended up falling to it. Stokes showed a propensity to go for his strokes irrespective of the situation, and even managed to bag a couple of boundaries with his active reverse-sweeping. However, the same shot brought his downfall and even a desperate review was of no use. In between, Shami opened his account with a full and straight ball that Jos Buttler looked to flick and missed.
Livingstone, however, drove England forward with picture-perfect shots down the ground for a six and four off Chahal and Bumrah respectively. Along with Moeen Ali, he arrested England’s slide by putting on a 46-run stand that was brought to an abrupt end by Pandya once again. Livingstone used his muscle to pull a couple of short balls for a six and four. But the India allrounder had the last laugh when, for a third successive ball, the Englishman gave charge only to hole out straight to deep square leg this time.
In the six quiet overs that followed, Moeen and Willey got their eye in and then began to change gears as the next six yielded 40 runs. Prasidh Krishna came in the firing line as both batters fetched a six each in the 37th over. Willey brought up the fifty of the partnership and England’s 200 by the end of 40th while Moeen even swivel-pulled Bumrah into deep midwicket stands. However, Chahal returned to lend a crucial blow to England once again. Moeen, who was threatening to go big at death, had the longer boundary to clear with his slog-sweep but was beaten by the lack of pace on the delivery and ended up offering Jadeja a running catch near the deep square leg fence.
India’s discipline with the ball managed to slow England down at death, too. The five overs following the break of the partnership yielded only 27 despite Willey pulling Bumrah into the stands. However, the Indian spearhead came back with a slower ball to deceive the batter, who took the bait and sent another catch Iyer’s way. Bumrah capped things off with a trademark yorker, but even the 246 proved beyond India’s reach.
Brief scores:
Englan d 246 all out in 49 overs (Moeen Ali 47, David Willey 41; Yuzvendra Chahal 4-47, Jasprit Bumrah 2-49, Hardik Pandya 2-28) beat India 146 in 38.5 overs (Hardik Pandya 29, Ravindra Jadeja 29; Reece Topley 6-24) by 100 runs. (Cricbuzz)
