Anyone for a Curry England tour of India 2021

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Getting the phrase England batting collapse

ndia 317 for 5 (Dhawan 98, Rahul 62*, Krunal 58*, Kohli 56, Stokes 3-34) beat England 251 (Bairstow 94, Krishna 4-54, Thakur 3-37) by 66 runs

An ODI of fluctuating fortunes eventually went the way of India by a comfortable margin, giving them a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The home side were grateful to a pair of fine debuts from Krunal Pandya and Prasidh Krishna, alongside vital contributions from several senior hands, as England collapsed after a dominant start to their chase had seen them reached 135 without loss in the 15th over.

Like Shikhar Dhawan earlier in the day, Jonny Bairstow fell narrowly short of a century - though the openers enjoyed success via starkly different methods. Dhawan set himself to bat for much of the innings, and helped lay the platform in partnership with Virat Kohli, although India needed the spark provided by Krunal's 26-ball fifty and an unbroken sixth-wicket stand with KL Rahul that yielded 112 from 57 at the death.

Bairstow, meanwhile, epitomises England's ultra-aggressive approach. He and Jason Roy had seemingly broken the chase by the time the first wicket fell, as the openers hared off to post their 12th century opening stand in ODIs. But England imploded spectacularly in the face of a renewed India bowling effort, led by Krishna and Shardul Thakur, both of whom recovered from expensive initial spells to share seven wickets between them

Krishna's dismissal of Roy triggered a period in which England lost two wickets and scored just two runs from the next 17 balls, with Bairstow starved of the strike. It would have been worse had Kohli held on to an outside edge coaxed by Krishna from Eoin Morgan's first delivery; the India captain immediately acknowledged his mistake by unsuccessfully trying to run out his counterpart, who had seemingly already begun to make his way back to the dressing room.

It was not to prove costly, as England slumped further when Thakur had Bairstow caught splicing a hook towards the deep-midwicket boundary six runs short of a century. Two overs later, Morgan and Jos Buttler were dismissed in the space of four balls from Thakur to leave England 176 for 5 - still well ahead of the required rate, but short on batsmen available to knock them off.

Moeen Ali and Sam Billings patched things up with a stand of 41 before Krishna struck again. There had been doubts about Billings' continued participation after he left the field with a "sprained collar bone joint" during the India innings, and although passed fit to bat he was unable to reprise his finisher role from the 2020 summer as he chipped tamely to extra cover.

With night-time dew taking effect and Ali finally benefitting from some time in the middle - his only previous England outing all winter had come in the second Chennai Test - England were still in contention. But Bhuvneshwar Kumar extracted Ali with a sharply seaming lifter and Krunal collected a wicket to go with his batting cameo as the tail were rounded up cheaply.

India's chief concern come the end was a shoulder injury suffered in the field by one of their own, as Shreyas Iyer walked off in obvious pain after getting his hand to a powerful Bairstow drive. Rohit Sharma, too, played no part during England's innings, having sustained a blow on the elbow from Mark Wood while batting.

The differences in approach to ODI cricket between these two sides were typified by the opening pairs. Dhawan and Sharma have scored almost 5000 runs together at the top of the order for India, but their success has been based upon steady accumulation early on before cracking on once set. Here, after being inserted, they settled for a period of reconnaissance against the new ball, with 15 runs coming from the first six overs, and 39 without loss in the powerplay.

By contrast, after allowing a few sighters from Kumar, the England openers opted for their big spoons. Bairstow was particularly belligerent, accelerating from 6 off 18 as England plundered the powerplay for 89 runs; he greeted the arrival of Kuldeep Yadav in the 12th over by clubbing him for four and six, raising a 40-ball fifty and England's 100 from consecutive deliveries.

India had taken until the 24th over to reach three figures, and they pushed a see-sawing innings beyond 300 only thanks to the efforts of Krunal and Rahul, who came together with the team on 205 for 5. The elder Pandya struck five of his first 14 balls for fours and added a couple of towering sixes for good measure on the way to the joint-fastest fifty on ODI debut - a milestone he celebrated with a thump of the helmet and a look to the skies.

Krunal's cap had been presented before play by Hardik Pandya and the brothers, who lost their father and mentor in January, shared another emotional embrace at the mid-innings interval.


India had seemingly ground their way into the ascendancy at 169 for 1, with Dhawan and Kohli motoring along ominously during a century stand. But the return of Wood, who had bowled a sharp opening spell, saw Kohli taken on the deep-midwicket boundary - making it 42 innings (and 16 fifties) since his last hundred - as England re-established their early stranglehold.

Stokes, who was playing his first ODI since the 2019 World Cup final, claimed three wickets including that of Dhawan, who pulled low into the hands of midwicket with his hundred beckoning. Iyer also departed attempting to hit Wood over the top, and with Hardik Pandya steering Stokes to slip India were in danger of falling short on a good surface.

England were largely excellent in the field, bar Ali dropping a straightforward chance in the deep offered by Dhawan on 59, as India lost 4 for 36 just as they were looking to press on. But the death bowling went awry in the face of some savage hitting, Rahul clearing the ropes four times in 62 from 43 as India's explosive finish ultimately proved enough to thwart their fast-starting opponents.

Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick

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Good win with overs to spare but in truth you really would appreciate a good contest between bat and ball and this wasn't one, finally suspect Parky will have spent three months in Asia and not play once.


England 337 for 4 (Bairstow 124, Stokes 99, Roy 55, Krishna 2-58) beat India 336 for 6 (Rahul 108, Pant 77, Topley 2-50) by six wickets

Despite suffering a collapse of 10 for 116 to bungle a chase of 318 in the first ODI, England captain Eoin Morgan insisted that there was no reason for the world champions to veer away from the turbo-charged approach that has served them well. Three days later, Morgan wasn't available for the second match - he has been ruled out of the third too with a hand injury - but Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow epitomised that approach to help England mow down a bigger target of 337 with almost 40 balls to spare. Jason Roy also did his thing at the top, as England reduced KL Rahul's more sedate century in the first half to a footnote.

Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya had exploded in the end overs for India, but overall they couldn't match up to England's sustained aggression. While India hit 34 boundaries in their entire innings, England ticked past that mark in the 34th over of the chase. By then the asking rate had plummeted to less than five an over. India's left-arm spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya bore the brunt of the Stokes-Bairstow assault, conceding 0 for 156 runs between them in 16 overs.

Stokes, Bairstow and Jos Buttler all fell in a space of eight balls, but debutant Liam Livingstone and Dawid Malan, who was playing his second ODI, completed England's drubbing of India to set up a decider on Sunday.

It was Roy who made the early running for England, tucking into Prasidh Krishna's short balls and swatting him for a triptych of pulled fours in the sixth over. Roy followed it with back-to-back fours off Bhuvneshwar Kumar; by the end of the powerplay he claimed 39 of the 59 runs England had scored. He notched up his first half-century of the tour when he hauled a Yadav wrong'un over long-on for six.

Bairstow, becalmed in the early exchanges, sailed to his own fifty with a flurry of boundaries. He forged his 13th century partnership with Roy, which is now the most by any English pair. It needed a moment of brilliance from Rohit Sharma in the field to separate the duo. He swooped down to his right from midwicket to capitalise on a mix-up and run Roy out for 55 off 52 balls.

Enter Stokes. He was a bit of a non-starter in the first ODI (1 off 11 balls). He had started in skittish fashion in the second, too, padding up to a wrong'un from Yadav, although it wasn't threatening the stumps. Krunal then drew an outside edge from Stokes, but there wasn't anyone at slip to snaffle that. All of this was a red herring, with Stokes revving up to smash 84 off a combined 33 balls from Yadav and Krunal, including ten sixes. Only Morgan and stand-in captain Buttler have struck more sixes for England in an ODI innings.

After Stokes got to his fifty off 40 balls, he went 6,6,6,1,6,4,2,6,6,2,4, but fell just short of a hundred, with Kumar having him caught behind down the leg side. Bairstow, however, had brought up his hundred in the same manner as he had raised his fifty: with a towering six off Yadav.

After India were inserted again, Rahul had made a contrasting hundred, collecting 68 of his 108 runs through singles and doubles. He cautiously navigated the spinners and it was only after passing fifty that he hit over the top. Likewise, Virat Kohli accumulated in risk-free fashion after the hosts had dawdled to 41 for the loss of openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in the powerplay. On Tuesday, India had two fewer runs in that period for the loss of no wickets, but such a cagey start hadn't hurt them then. It did come back to bite them on Friday despite a 28-ball half-century from Pant and a 16-ball 35 from Hardik.

Reece Topley, who was playing only his second ODI since 2016, was particularly impressive with the new ball, often landing it on the seam and gleaning substantial movement and bounce off the pitch. After hitting an awkward in-between length against Dhawan, he pushed one across him from a fuller length to have him nicking off for 4 off 17 balls. Rohit, who had got out chasing what might have been an off-wide wide from Stokes in the first match, tickled a leg-stump half-volley from Sam Curran straight to short fine leg in the second.

Moeen Ali, who has had a rough winter, put in a decent shift, returning 0 for 47 in his 10 overs. He gave up only one boundary in his spell, but that was down to a fumble from Stokes at extra-cover. As for Adil Rashid, he cut short Kohli's innings at 66, besting him for the ninth time in international cricket. Rashid could have got him much earlier - when Kohli was on 35 - had Buttler not closed his gloves too early. The keeper's error allowed Kohli to add 31 to his tally before the subsequent correction brought Pant to the crease. The left-hander closed out Rashid's spell with a powerful slog-swept six over midwicket.

Pant went on a six-hitting spree, but the lack of urgency from the top four and England's own six-hitting spree meant it was in vain.

Deivarayan Muthu is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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Close but no cigar however think Livingstone has impressed

India 329 (Pant 78, Dhawan 67, Hardik 64) beat England 322 for 9 (Curran 95*, Malan 50, Thakur 4-67, Kumar 3-42) by seven runs

Sam Curran's gutsy innings took England to the verge of an unlikely win before T Natarajan held his nerve to ultimately deliver India victory in Pune, in a tense and fitting finale to the ODI series that went 2-1 to the hosts.

India were out of the blocks well with bat and ball, openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan laying the foundation before Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya provided middle-order muscle when captain Virat Kohli lost the toss for the third time in the series and was asked to bat first.

But it was the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur that allowed them to defend what looked like being a below-par total, especially in the face of some woeful Indian fielding, keeping England's run chase in check for the most part until Curran's fightback.

Curran, whose previous highest score from seven ODIs was 15, was reprieved on 22 when he was dropped by Hardik. He made India pay - and sweat - with a stunning 95 not out off 83 balls from No. 8 under huge pressure as England went into the final over needing 14 to win.

Natarajan, known for his ability to nail his yorkers and bowl at the death, came into the side in what Kohli described at the toss as a "tactical" move to replace spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Playing just his second ODI, Natarajan conceded just six runs when his captain threw him the ball for the final over as the hosts claimed victory by seven runs.

Half-centuries to Rishabh Pant, Dhawan and Hardik had India looking strong at times as the momentum swung more than once in their innings. Having managed 39 for 0 and 41 for 2 in their previous two batting powerplays, India's openers began with greater intent and aggression. They were 16 for nought after four overs but then Curran conceded 15 runs off the fifth and they took 17 off the eighth, bowled by Reece Topley, to accelerate their cause.

The hosts lost four wickets in the first 25 overs, and four in the last 20 balls as they were bowled out with 10 balls remaining. That left England needing seven runs fewer than they had managed to chase down with ease in levelling the series 1-1 on Friday.

But when Kumar struck in an extraordinary first over of England's reply in which Jason Roy crashed 14 runs but fell on the last ball, bowled through the gate by a gem, and then had Jonny Bairstow out lbw, India couldn't have hoped for better. Kumar should have had a third wicket from as many overs when Ben Stokes, on 15, attempted a straight drive and skied the ball to mid-off, where Hardik put down a sitter.

England steadied to reach 66 for 2 after 10 overs, compared to India's 65 for nought, but then Stokes advanced on a full toss from Natarajan that was, fortunately for the bowler, dipping from near waist-height by the time the batsman met it and swiped it straight to Dhawan at square leg.

With plenty of batting depth to come in acting captain Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone - the latter two having come into the side after Eoin Morgan and Sam Billings were injured in the first match - it was a three-wicket run by Thakur that put India within grasp of adding an ODI series victory to their Test and T20I triumphs from England's tour.

Thakur trapped Buttler lbw in his second over after India overturned the on-field umpire's not-out decision on review and while Malan and Livingstone resisted with a 60-run partnership, Thakur accounted for both as England fell to 168 for 6.

Livingstone, playing only his second ODI, was particularly impressive, skipping down the pitch to whip Thakur through midwicket for a confident single on the first ball he faced and then helping himself to consecutive fours off Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, before coming down the pitch to Krunal and depositing him over long-on.

After 23 overs, England were 152 for 4 compared to India's 151 for 3 but then Livingstone spooned a Thakur full toss tamely back for a return catch and Malan brought up his maiden ODI fifty pulling Thakur for four only to fall two balls later, pulling a Thakur short ball to Sharma at midwicket.


Half-centuries from Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya had India looking strong at times as the momentum swung more than once in the innings, but England must have gone into the break the happier of the two teams despite the steep chase. England's spinners made the early inroads after a century opening stand from Rohit Sharma and Dhawan, before Mark Wood's three wickets at the end restricted India to a total that the tourists would regard as attainable, given that they successfully chased down 337 with 39 balls up their sleeves to level the series on Friday.

India's openers began with more intent and aggression than in the previous two matches, Sharma and Dhawan guiding their side to 65 without loss after ten overs, compared to the 39 for no loss in the first match and 41 for 2 in the second.

They started sedately and were 16 for nought after four overs, but signalled a shift in gears in the fifth, which went for 15 runs as Sharma began with consecutive fours off Sam Curran before Dhawan joined in.

England held control over the next two overs, one of them a maiden from Wood, who appeared to be battling illness throughout the innings. The Indian pair responded well, as Dhawan helped himself to three boundaries off four Reece Topley deliveries and then Sharma punished a full toss to the fence through midwicket.

Sharma and Dhawan brought up India's 100 from 14 overs and their 103-run stand came off 91 balls before Adil Rashid made the breakthrough in his second over, the 15th of the innings, with a googly that beat Sharma's inside edge and hit the top of off stump.

It was a double-strike for Rashid, who dismissed Dhawan with a sharp caught and bowled in his next over and, when Moeen Ali got Virat Kohli out cheaply, shaping to smash him through extra cover only to miss and see the ball jag back to take out leg stump, India were 121 for 3.

Liam Livingstone, playing only his second ODI and bowling for the first time, claimed a wicket with his second ball, a hip-high full toss on leg stump that KL Rahul swiped behind square where Ali took the catch leaping to his left.

With Wood off the ground, England had three spinners in action and the fact they accounted for all four wickets to fall at that point may have given India some food for thought after they opted for the death-bowling option of left-arm seamer T Natarajan over left-arm wristspinner Kuldep Yadav, who had been expensive as England's batsmen went to town in the second ODI.

Pant responded in Livingstone's next over with a six and a four off consecutive balls but Livingstone managed to contain the damage with three dot balls. Hardik then went after Ali with three sixes in the next over as he and Pant wrested back control, illustrating the fluctuating nature of the contest.

Curran ended Pant's knock with a full delivery that found the outside edge and Jos Buttler's glove, thrust out to his left at tremendous speed behind the stumps. Pant had shared a 99-run stand with Hardik, who brought up his fifty off 36 balls and was joined at the crease by brother Krunal upon Pant's departure.

Ben Stokes bowled Hardik round his legs attempting to turn the ball to fine leg to end his innings on 64.

Shardul Thakur offered a neat cameo of 30 from 21 balls and Krunal, playing his third ODI after making a half-century on debut in the first match of this series, managed 25 before holing out to Jason Roy off Wood. But their wickets were among four to fall in the last 20 balls of the innings, which yielded just 11 runs as India fell away to Wood and Topley, Wood ending with 3 for 34 from seven overs.

Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo