In just under four hours, a usual T20 game-time, India thumped England in the first ODI of the series by 10 wickets. Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl in overcast conditions at The Oval. Jasprit Bumrah started wreaking havoc from his first over, snapping Jason Roy and Joe Root for nought. Indian pacers, Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in particular dominated the aggressive English batters and combined to pick 9/50 off 14.2 overs. Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan then motored their way to a clinical 10-wicket victory to hand India the lead in the three-match series. We look back at some of the stats from India’s domination over England.
BOOM-SHAM!
Bumrah and Shami are arguably India’s finest ever pacers across formats, and they combined for a masterclass of swing and seam bowling. In the first eight overs, the duo left England reeling at 26-5. It was only the second time that India picked up three wickets in the first three overs of an ODI.
In India’s ODI history, there haven’t been better bowlers than Bumrah and Shami. Bumrah’s average of 24.3 is the best for any Indian bowler with a minimum of 100 wickets. Shami is second, with an average of 25.32. In terms of bowling strike rate, Shami leads the chart with 27 balls per wicket. Bumrah is just behind him, taking 31.4 balls to pick up a wicket. Both of them ensured that England suffered the first instance where Roy, Root, Stokes and Livingstone, were all dismissed for ducks.
Bumrah’s lengths
Bumrah bowled 68% of his balls on a good length. The extravagant movement on offer made that length difficult for England bowlers to score runs off him. However, his most productive length was an unlikely one – the slot!
Four of his six wickets came off balls pitched on the full length. It was aided by him getting more swing than usual. For instance, his ball to dismiss Liam Livingstone swung 3.2°, more than any other ball bowled in his ODI career.
Sharma-Dhawan breeze through
The target of 111 was never going to challenge India’s strong batting line-up, but Sharma and Dhawan ensured that no one else was needed. On their way to an unbeaten 114-run partnership, the duo went past 5000 partnership runs for the first wicket. They became only the fourth opening pair to cross that landmark. India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are the leading opening pair, with 6609 runs in 136 innings.
The first ODI was a one-sided affair. Bumrah and Shami set up the match with their opening burst, and both came back to finish off the English tail. It was as comprehensive a victory as India would have hoped for. It sets up the series nicely, with the second ODI set to be played at Lord’s after just a day’s gap.