India Exhibit Collective Bowling Might in Lucknow to Thrash England by 100 Runs

“My bowling under lights is very good. I always want that we bat first and I get to bowl in the second innings. Mujhe maza aata hai second innings mai bowling karke… meri baat sunte nahi Rohit bhai to mai kya karu (laughs) (I enjoy bowling in second innings but Rohit doesn’t listen to me)”

Kuldeep Yadav had said during the ICC mixed-zone interaction after India’s win over Pakistan in Ahmedabad on October 14.

India bowled first in that game, they did the same in next three games and Kuldeep finally got his moment to bowl under lights when Jos Buttler invited the Men in Blue to bat in Lucknow. The crafty chinaman made an instant impact as it took him just seven deliveries to hear the sound of ball crashing into timber.

First ball of his second over, Kuldeep got one to turn back sharply into Jos Buttler and not only beat him with turn but also the away drift. Apart from turn and drift, the extra yards which Kuldeep has put into his bowling allowed little reaction time and rushed Buttler. Much like he rushed Glenn Maxwell in the game vs Australia in Chennai.

Buttler’s was the fifth England wicket to fall with the scoreboard reading just 52 in the 230-run chase and put the defending champions on the mat in the 16th over. Kuldeep would later add one more wicket to his tally but before his exploits, it was the Mohammed Shami-Jasprit Bumrah show which brought the capacity crowd, 46,000 to be precise, back to life.

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At the half-way mark, there was a feeling that even on this sluggish and tricky surface, India are at least 30-40 runs short. The runs they could have easily added had one of Rohit Sharma or Suryakumar Yadav stayed till the end.

That wasn’t the case and a long tail meant there wasn’t a substantial push towards the business end of the innings.

To make matters worse, England got off to a positive start and were looking fluent at 30/0 in 4.4 overs. That was well and truly the last time they looked that good with the bat in the contest because what followed next was a period of high-quality fast bowling, led by Bumrah.

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4.5: Malan chops one back on to his stumps.

4.6: Joe Root shuffles and is trapped right in front.

In the space of two deliveries, the atmosphere in Lucknow became absolutely electric and India bowlers certainly had their tails up.

The Shami Show!

Next over, Rohit Sharma replaced Mohammed Siraj, who wasn’t able to find his lengths in the first two overs, with Mohammed Shami. Siraj’s ordinary start turned out to be a blessing in disguise for India as Shami was in Dharamsala, where he picked a fifer, rhythm and made Ben Stokes’ life miserable before sending him back to the hut for a duck. Jonny Bairstow was next and England collapsed to 39/4 in lightning-quick time.

The conditions were difficult to bat but this Indian bowling unit once again showed why they are one of, if not the, best white-ball attack in world cricket. If Bumrah doesn’t get you, Siraj will, if you survive both there is a Shami waiting to hunt you down. In case, just in case, you get through the three, the guile, spin and accuracy of Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja is waiting with the perfect trap.

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These are the kind of references one would often make with the mighty Indian batting of the past and present but they aren’t restricted to the batters any more. The current group has together picked 56 out of the 60 maximum wickets on offer in the World Cup and have time and again shown why they are an all-season attack and one of the finest this country, in fact, world cricket, has seen.

Brief scores: India (229/9, Rohit Sharma 87, Suryakumar Yadav 49, David Willey 3/45) beat England (Liam Livingstone 27, Mohammed Shami 4/22, Jasprit Bumrah 3/32) by 100 runs.