PUNE, India, (Reuters) – India’s debutant, Prasidh Krishna, and his compatriot Shardul Thakur combined to expel the English hunt and bow the hosts to a 66-run victory in the one-day series opener in Pune yesterday.
Shikhar Dhawan made 98 but it was the century-plus seamless partnership between KL Rahul and the first Krunal Pandya that helped India to a strong 317-5.
Jonny Bairstow led England’s solid solution with incendiary 94 before the wheels got off track and the tourists folded for 251 in 42.1 overs.
India’s captain Virat Kohli described it as a “sweet victory”.
“The return from all our bowlers was an incredible effort. I’m a very proud man. The team showed great character and intensity, ”he said.
India played the Pandya brothers – Krunal and Hardik – while England had the Curran brothers – Sam and Tom – in their playing XI.
After batting, India got off to a steady start with Dhawan and Rohit Sharma picking up 64 runs.
Playing his first ODI since his Man-of-the-Match performance in the 2019 World Cup final, Ben Stokes dismissed Rohit to break the booming partnership.
Dhawan merged with Virat Kohli (56) in a century-plus stand before Mark Wood returned to sack India captain and Shreyas Iyer in his successor bouts.
Stokes dismissed Dhawan for 98 and the 300 mark looked beyond India when they fell to 205-5 in the 41st over.
Rahul, who made 62 not out, and Krunal launched a spectacular late attack as India plundered 112 runs off the last 10 overs.
Krunal raced to fifty 26 balls, the fastest by an ODI starter, with his sharp stroke and finished at 58 not out.
START Sailing
England took the lead with Bairstow combining with Jason Roy (46) in an opening 135-run freestyle stand.
Debutant Krishna (4-54) finally emerged from the stand, dismissing Roy and Stokes, who made one, in his successor bouts.
Eoin Morgan (22) came out batting with four stitches in his right hand after splitting his web earlier at field.
The England captain may have been dismissed for a first ball duck off Krishna but mate Kohli dropped him in the slip. Bairstow broke seven sixes in his 66-ball blitz but Thakur turned the contest on his head with three quick strikes that also included wickets Morgan and Jos Buttler.
Sailing at 135 with no loss, England dropped to 176-5 and could not improve from there.
“We’ve done a lot of things right today,” said Morgan. “I thought the bowlers were excellent, as were our two openers.
“We play an aggressive brand of cricket, we need to act better than we did today. This is the way we play and this is the way we keep playing. ”
The remaining two games are scheduled for Friday and Sunday, both in Pune.