Thanks to debutant Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya, India defeated England by 66 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series. While Prasidh Krishna took 4 wickets in his fabulous spell, Krunal Pandya gave his brother, Indian-all-rounder Hardik Pandya a reason to shed an emotional tear as he smashed a spectacular half century. Read on to know just what happened in the first India VS England ODI Match.

Being put to bat first, team India started off the game with a Test match approach with both the openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma only scoring 64 runs in the first 15 overs. Sharma was batting on 28 off 42 deliveries and in an attempt to change gears he hit a wide bowl from Stokes and found himself caught by wicketkeeper Jos Butler.

After Sharma departed, the Kohli came to the middle and took his team out of its sedate state. The duo of skipper Kohli and opener Dhawan stitched together a brilliant 105-run partnership for the 2nd wicket in the next 17 overs. Since the first bowl Captain Kohli showed his intent and looked to be in great form. The captain along with Dhawan on the other end played a few dots, scored a few boundaries and scored most of his runs by running between the wickets like a young man. The Indian skipper scored a quickfire 56 runs but just when it felt like he was making his way through to the century, he was trapped by Mark Wood.

After Kohli’s wicket, team England took three more wickets in quick succession. Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan all lost their wickets within 8 overs and having added less than 40 runs to the score board. However, one would be hard-pressed not to appreciate Shikhar Dhawan’s 98-run-knock. The opener missed his 18th ODI century, but regained his form. Even luck seemed to be on Dhawan’s side as he was dropped once and given not out once on an LBW appeal.

However, after Dhawan’s departure, it looked like India would not be able to come close to a respectable score of 275 runs. The team was once again reprieved by Krunal Pandya and KL Rahul’s inning.

Krunal, who’s also the brother of all-rounder Hardik Pandya looked in absolute control as he scored an amazing 58 runs off 31 deliveries at the crucial time of his team needing an aggressive batting attack. While Pandya played the aggressor, KL Rahul also played some delicious shots during his 62-run knock. The moment of the game was an emotional Hardik Pandya applauding after his brother scored his fifty.

Thanks to the middle-order batsmen’s knocks, India put up 112 runs in its last 10 overs and put a challenging total of 317/5 in their share of 50 overs.

Chasing a somewhat challenging total of 318, the England openers looked poised as they batted in a sedate manner during the first powerplay. The openers’ strategic appeared simple enough, survive the opening spell of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and then open the arms. And that’s exactly what they did. After the powerplay, the openers started smashing Indian bowlers left and right. Bairstow welcomed debutant Prasidh Krishna by hitting a couple of fours and sixes in one over.

The openers continued their onslaught and added 65 runs in the next 5 overs and put up 89 runs in the first 10 overs of the game. Jonny Bairstow’s half century came in just 40 deliveries and the Yorkshire based opener showed no mercy to the Indian bowling attack. He slammed sixes after sixes on every single bowler that came against it, be it Krunal Pandya or Kuldeep Yadav.

Team India desperately needed to break the lethal partnership and stop the flood of runs. Captain Kohli decided to make another change to bowling and brought debutant Prasidh Krishna who was brutally smashed by the England openers during his first spell. However, the young man made a brilliant return and took the wickets of Jason Roy who was batting cautiously with Bairstow and then Ben Stokes.

Captain Kohli had smelled blood, and decided to bring back medium-pacer Shardul Thakur. Thakur struck gold and got the dangerous Bairstow out. Bairstow was only 6 runs short of his century and was the second player in the game today who got out in his nervous-90s.

After Bairstow’s wicket, there was no looking back for Indian bowling attack as it scalped the wicket of Eon Morgan, Jos Butler and reduced England team, who was looking formidable at 135/0 to 176/5.

However, Sam Billings and Moeen Ali showed the depth of England batting attack and made the India bowlers sweat a little more. The duo played cautiously and formed a 41-run-partnership for the 6th wicket. Just when it looked that the two players may be able to turn the game around, captain Kohli brought debutant Krishna back again. The debutant, in return to his captain’s faith on him took the wicket of Billings and broke the partnership, leaving Moeen Ali to fight the uphill battle.

With 6 wickets already gone and the target looking more and more approachable, Ali continued his inning and played some fine shots. But before he could reach his fifty and help his team achieve an impossible victory, he was sent to the dressing room by pacer Bhuvnesh Kumar.

The England team had 79 runs to get in their remaining 8 overs and the tailenders in an attempt to shift the gears attacked Indian bowlers. However, as it often happens with tailenders, the batsmen played some mistimed shots, and gave away their wickets in quick succession. The England team was sent packing at 251 runs. Debutant Prasidh Krishna was the find of the game as he became the first Indian debutant to take 4 wickets in his first match.

This is what the Twitteratis had to say after India defeated England by 66 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series: