Nagpur: After completing a clean sweep of 3-0 in the T20 series, India heads into the ODI series with a bang. India won the first match of the series by 4 wickets in Nagpur, having restricted England to just 248 runs, courtesy of Ravindra Jadeja and debutant Harshit Rana. Half-centuries from Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Axar Patel led to India chasing down the target in 40 overs.
It is an important series in terms of India’s preparation for the Champions Trophy. This will be India’s first ODI series after a long gap. They last played ODIs in July-August against Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the World Cup 2023 final. It was all about the transition of Indian players to this format, and most of them stood up to the Moyes test.
Mohammed Shami started in a miserly fashion for India, as they chose to bowl first. But England’s openers went after debutant Harshit Rana, racing to 75 in 9 overs until Phil Salt (45) was run out. India then fought back as Harshit claimed the key wickets of Ben Duckett (32) and Harry Brook (0), and Ravindra Jadeja accounted for Joe Root (19).
Captain Jos Buttler and young all-rounder Jacob Bethell settled the innings in the middle order. Half-centuries from Buttler (52) and a contribution from Bethell (51) carried England past the 200-run mark after Buttler’s dismissal. Jofra Archer’s late 21 not out helped guide England to 248. Although Harshit and Jadeja picked three wickets each, Shami, Axar, and Kuldeep Yadav got one wicket each.
The focus turned to a man who had opened his account with a bang, and then another Harshit Rana followed up with an impressive debut of his own, and attention switched to Yashasvi Jaiswal, making his one-day international debut in place of the injured Virat Kohli. But Jaiswal (15) could not cope with the testing spells from Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood and eventually fell to a good catch by James Vince off Archer. Similarly, captain Rohit Sharma (2) could not get going either, and his lack of form in the Test format persisted.
Shreyas Iyer (44) and Shubman Gill (87) then counter-attacked and made the platform for their victory. Iyer (59) attacked early, smashing two sixes and a four in Archer’s over and reached his half-century in just 30 balls before falling. Axar Patel (52) was promoted up the order and, along with Gill, added a match-winning 108-run partnership.
Adil Rashid dismissed Axar after his 50, while Gill missed out on 100 by 13 runs. Like I mentioned above, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja took India home.