Reinvigorated by the return of their explosive and prolific opener Jason Roy, England produced the sort of batting display that has been expected of them to put 337/7 on the board in their 50 overs. India now need to create a new record in order to win this game as the Men in Blue have never chased down a score of 300+ in World Cup cricket.
The platform was set by Roy and Jonny Bairstow. The former was off and running in the very first over itself by scoring two boundaries. Bairstow struggled early on and also had lucky escapes with outside and inside edges not producing wickets. But eventually he found his groove and started scoring freely.
The turning point of the match came when Hardik Pandya bowled a delivery down the leg side which Roy tried to pull but failed to do so. There was an appeal for a catch down the leg side from Dhoni which the umpire turned down and after a long consultation, India decided not to appeal against the decision. The replays showed that there was indeed a bit of glove on that. This narrow escape freed up Roy who charged down the wicket on the next ball and smashed it for six over long-on.
Suddenly, England went full blast ahead and both the openers brutalised the celebrated Indian spin-bowling combination of Kuldeep and Chahal. The six-hitting was awe-inspiring and the Indians seemed helpless. Eventually, Roy holed out in the deep after getting to his half-century but England were near 150 by then and the damage had been done. Joe Root came out and played his role of sheet anchor while Bairstow continued his aggressive game to get to his hundred.
But then, Shami was brought back into the attack around the 30-over mark when England were past 200 and he got the wickets of Bairstow and Eoin Morgan in quick succession to put England in a spot of bother. But then Root which his calmness and Stokes with his measured aggression prevented further damage.
When 11 overs remained in the innings, Stokes launched his assault and pummelled the Indian bowling to ensure his side was on course for 325+ score. Root also attempted some big hits but usually just kept feeding strike to Stokes. Bumrah, the late overs specialist, delivered another masterclass in ODI bowling and prevented Stokes and other batsmen from scoring boundaries against him. Shami returned at the end of the innings to get the wickets of Buttler and Woakes and get a five-for but he proved very expensive as both Stokes and Buttler, who came to the crease in the 45th over after the loss of Root's wicket also started hitting big.
The penultimate over of the innings went for plenty even though Shami got Woakes out on the first ball of the over. But the last over from Bumrah was again excellent as only three runs and the wicket of Stokes came off it. India now have a mountain to climb and judging by the way Shami got wickets with short deliveries and Indian pacers had some balls keeping low, would be a very tough ask.
