Gabbar comes back and debutants Krunal, Prasidh star as India beat England

Pune, Mar 24: Team India once again showed their diverse capabilities as Shikhar Dhawan who fell just two runs short of his century, and Krunal Pandya (fastest 50 by ODI debutant) and Prasidh Krishna (best ODI figures on debut for an Indian) stole the show as England was defeated by 66 runs here.

 

 

Put in to bat first, India looked very stable as the top order displayed a solid batting performance. Opener Shikhar Dhawan roared back to form with a 98-run effort, while skipper Virat Kohli (56), K L Rahul (62 not out) and debutant Krunal Pandya (58 not out) notched up half-centuries.

 

 

 

For England, opener Jonny Bairstow was scoring just 4s and 6s as he top-scored with a 66-ball 94. His 135-run opening stand with Jason Roy (46) put England in a winning position. However, England lost 10 wickets within 116 runs from there onwards as the seamers broke through the England middle order.

 

 

As Kohli said rightly "it was a sweet victory" because Krunal smashed the fastest fifty on ODI debut in history while Prasidh became the first ever Indian to take 4 wickets in an ODI.

 

 

 

It should be noted that Shardul Thakur and Bhuvneshwar also played a key role in taking significant wickets in crucial situations. Thakur dismissed big fish - Bairstow, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler. Meanwhile, Bhuvi did not conceded runs in his 9-over spell with an economy rate of 3.33 and took two wickets.