Nottingham: England batsmen’s efforts to work out a gameplan against the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav came to nought as the ace chinaman bowler once again exposed their spin frailties in the first One-day International at Trent Bridge on July 12.
In a repeat of his opening act in the T20 series at Old Trafford, Kuldeep again terrorized the batsmen with his bag of tricks to claim a six-wicket haul (10-0-25-6), enhancing his reputation as one of the best exponents of wrist spin.
It was an embarrassment for Eoin Morgan’s men with only Jos Buttler shining against India’s bowling test. Once he was out for 53, the rest of the innings caved in and after being put into bat, England were all out for 268 in 49.5 overs.
Perhaps the best example of England’s struggles was Ben Stokes’ innings. The dashing all-rounder had the dubious distinction of scoring his slowest half-century, 50 in 102 balls.
SCINTILLATING SHOW
The Nottingham crowd had come in droves in the hope of witnessing a batting feast after England’s world record feat in their last game here, against Australia, a few weeks ago. Instead, they were treated to a scintillating show of sub-continental spin.
Leg-spin, sliders and googlies at different speeds and trajectories were all on display as Kuldeep mesmerized the batsmen. He was well supported by leggie Yuzvendra Chahal (10-0-51-1). Part-timer Suresh Raina also played his part in maintaining pressure in the early phase when India were getting back into the game after the power-hitting of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy.
BATTING CONDITIONS
The track was a batting beauty as seen when Bairstow and Roy raced to 71 for no loss in 10 overs. But that was till the fun lasted.
When Virat Kohli rested Kuldeep at Bristol for the final T20, it was obvious the captain wanted to shield their main weapon against the smaller, straight boundaries. India wanted to retain the psychological advantage their spinner held over the England batsmen.
On Thursday, however, there was no holding back as Kohli unleashed Kuldeep immediately after the first powerplay. With India desperate to break the opening partnership, Yadav struck in his first over, Roy mistiming a reverse-sweep to be caught at point.
In his next over, Kuldeep revived memories of the Old Trafford game when he had got Joe Root and Bairstow off successive balls for golden ducks. There the two had perished playing on the front foot. Here, they chose to hang back with the same disastrous consequences. Root was leg before to a leg-spinner and Bairstow was trapped in front by a googly.
It was a dramatic collapse from 73/0 to 82/3 inside three overs.
The boundaries dried up with Kuldeep’s introduction. After the 10th over, England’s first hit to the ropes came only on the first ball of the 18th over, when Eoin Morgan smashed Suresh Raina.
IMPRESSIVE CAPTAINCY
Kuldeep also owed to his captain. Kohli used him effectively at various stages of the game. The left-arm spinner completed his 10 overs in four bursts, with his first spell reading 4-0-9-3. He didn’t give anything away in any of his spells, and at the end of his second stint, from the 27thover to 31st, his figures read 7-0-17-3. Brought back in the 39th over, he again delivered a telling blow by removing the set Jos Buttler for his fourth scalp.
To add to England’s misery, Kuldeep struck a double blow in his final over, 45th of the England innings, getting Ben Stokes and David Willey to snuff out the home team’s chances of capitalizing in the slog overs.
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