India Face First Defeat as England Stay Alive
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England got back to their formulaic best in their ODI blueprint. Jonny's 8th ODI hundred, Stoke's power-packed 79 plus Butler's 8-ball 20 were too hot to handle for the Indian bowlers in spite of a five for by Shami and yet another good show by Bumrah. Chahal had the worst day at the office as he went on to record the worst tally by an Indian spinner in ODI cricket (0-88).
In a chase of 338, the first 10 overs never took off as India scored just 28/1 in that phase. Kohli's fifth consecutive fifty, Rohit's 3rd ton in the tournament, Pant's brisk knock and Pandya's valiant were all overpowered by England's great bowling and fielding. From 267/5 in the 45th over, India reached to 306 in the remaining 5 overs, which meant India scored 39 off the last 30 balls, a strong reality check indeed.
With little time before India face Bangladesh at the same venue, lots and lots of issues need to be scrutinized. Meanwhile, by virtue of India's first loss, Pakistan and Bangladesh are in danger, while Sri Lanka is out of the race.
Here are the qualification scenarios.
Pakistan: Currently on nine points, they need to beat Bangladesh and hope England lose to New Zealand.
Bangladesh: They have seven points with two games in hand. They not only need to beat both India and Pakistan, but their negative NRR means they will also have to rely on New Zealand beating England.
-Kumaran Kumanan
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