Twitter Reactions: Buttler, Bethell's half-centuries not enough as Jadeja, Rana stifle England to 248
Virat Kohli missed the game owing to a right knee injury. Harshit Rana and Yashasvi Jaiswal were handed debuts.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, England got off to a dynamic start, with Phil Salt and Ben Duckett being quick to get off the blocks in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. Salt had scored eight off 15 deliveries before wreaking havoc in the sixth over of the game.
One of India's two debutants for the ODI setup on the day, Harshit Rana, was clobbered for 26 runs in his third over. To his credit, he came back extremely well by securing Duckett and Harry Brook in the same over; both getting dismissed after getting caught extremely well. The over preceding Harshit's comeback one saw Salt aghast after a terrible mix-up between the openers resulted in his dismissal.
Joe Root and Jos Buttler initiated the England rebuild after the flurry of wickets which fell before the batting powerplay neared its completion. The two were going along well before the former was beaten by a pace by a 100 kph slider by Ravindra Jadeja. After 17 games played, Buttler brought up his first half-century against the Men in Blue in the one-day format.
Despite Buttler and Liam Livingstone departing in quick succession, Jacob Bethell held his own and brought up his own fifty in the 42nd over of the innings. Shortly after, he was trapped in front by Jadeja. From there onwards, it was all about how much England could post on the board in the remainder of the overs. England ended up on 248, leaving India 249 to hunt down to record their fifth win in the ongoing white-ball series.
"It was my dream. I prepared myself for this and put in the hard yards. I didn't hit the right lengths initially but got the rewards once I corrected them. They were looking to make some room (the batters), that's the reason I kept bowling on the stumps. It's a slightly two-paced pitch. Some of them are coming on nicely, some are stopping a bit. We bounced back in style. It's a good total, and we can chase this down," debutant Rana, who picked three wickets, said between innings.
Also Check: WATCH: India's magical fielding undoes England openers
Check out how 'X' reacted to 1st innings of Nagpur ODI
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