The heist pulled off to perfection, the crowd entertained, the fact pushed further forward that he might not be human, and another win picked up under his captaincy, Virat Kohli will now look to lead India to a series-clinching victory over England when the two teams meet in the 2nd ODI in Cuttack on Thursday.
Live Score and blog of 2nd ODI | Yuvraj and Dhoni compared to Undertaker and Kane!
India were irrepressible in the first match, with Kohli leading the way with a fabulous century and Kedar Jadhav playing the best innings of his career. With England stunned after seemingly cruising to a victory in the first match in Pune, all their powers of bouncebackability will be tested in this second ODI.
That is something they should relish, considering they will be hosting a Champions Trophy in June, which invariably is made up of must-win matches right from the beginning.
England showed in the first ODI and over the past 18 months or so that they are a real one-day force now and while they might have fallen to India in the opening match they must take great heart from the fact that they managed to score 350 runs in their first innings.
Yes, any total seems small when Kohli is in his chasing mood, which is, pretty much, all the time, but England will feel they are just that one wicket away from a possible win.
However, as Jadhav showed, India are not just about Kohli, even if he is the inspiration and lead man that everyone follows. Considering four of the top five batsmen failed to impress in that 351 chase, it leaves room for one or more of them to make amends in this match.
That doesn't bode too well for England, because in Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni, there are four more match-winners, capable of scoring runs at will, chasing down any target or setting up a massive one.
England will know they need to improve their bowling, with the onus on the spinners to stop the run flow in the middle overs. Too many of them came in the last match, even when India had lost four wickets for little, leaving the death bowlers with too much to do.
India also failed to impress in the bowling department in the opening match, with Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav struggling for control, while R Ashwin was taken for quite a few by the England batsmen.
Ashwin has not quite been able to find his limited-overs mojo of late, and he needs to quickly understand the pace and lengths he needs to bowl to restrict the batsmen in this format. If he does that, India will immediately have a bowling match-winner in their hands to add to the numerous ones they have with the bat.
When to Watch Live
India vs England 2nd ODI is set to begin at 1.30pm IST (8am GMT, 3am ET). Coverage in India starts at 12.30pm IST.
Live Streaming and TV information
India: TV: Star Sports 1, Star Sports HD1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD3. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 2. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports.
Middle East: TV: OSN Sports Cricket. Live Streaming: OSN Cricket Live.
Canada and USA: TV: Willow TV. Live Streaming: Willow TV Online.
South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: TV: SuperSport 2. Live Streaming: SuperSport Online.
New Zealand: TV: Sky Sport 1. Live Streaming: Sky Go NZ.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports 2. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
