For a while, it seemed like a brilliant toss to win for England in the opening One-day International of the three-match series in Nagpur on Thursday. India captain Rohit Sharma said he would have liked to bowl first anyway but Jos Buttler’s decision to bat first had put the visitors on a great platform.
But it all changed in quick time within the space of one over as Phil Salt and Ben Duckett were dismissed and India’s fielding played a crucial part. Off the 5th ball of the 9th over, Salt played a late cut off Hardik Pandya to give Shreyas Iyer something to chase from backward point. While Shreyas did his due diligence to cut the ball back in before reaching the boundary and sent a solid throw over, the two openers had a massive mixup. Salt and Duckett were near each other at the non-striker’s end and the result was an easy run out.
Live blog of first India vs England ODI
While it wasn’t the most difficult run out Shreyas will effect, it was a reminder of how he has built back up to full fitness after his back surgery not so long ago. “When I underwent surgery, I thought this was completely going to change my body,” Shreyas had told The Indian Express during an interview recently. “It was kind of difficult to come back into the same zone and agility that I had before the surgery. After a year, now I feel very comfortable and I feel strong that I can do basically what I intended to before the surgery. Yes, there were self-doubts. I played Asia Cup and World Cup straight after that. It’s not easy to come out after a surgery. My body wasn’t reacting the same way on the field. And I could literally feel it, especially while fielding. Batting was okay. But while fielding, I wasn’t 100%.”
In the very next over, a short ball from Harshit Rana drew a false shot from Duckett, with the ball hitting the top part of the bat. While it was obviously mishit, Yashasvi Jaiswal still had a lot to do, dashing backward from midwicket and putting in a full length dive to complete a stunner of a catch. It was Rana’s first ODI wicket and Jaiswal’s first catch in the format too. In his Test career so far, Jaiswal had already built a reputation as a safe catcher behind the wickets in the gully region (despite an off day in Melbourne recently) and this would go down as a special effort on his debut.
Watch the two dismissals here.
Excellent Run-out 👍
Sensational Catch 👌Some fielding magic from #TeamIndia! 🪄 🙌
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India are without star batter Virat Kohli who missed out due to a “sore right knee” as young opener Jaiswal and seamer Rana earned their ODI caps. This is India’s first ODI since August 2024, when they lost a three-match series 0-2 to Sri Lanka. Teams:
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