Left-arm pacer Reece Topley starred as England defeated India by 100 runs in the second One-Day International at Lord’s on Thursday to draw level in the three-match series.
Topley put in a brilliant performance and picked key wickets to finish with figures of 6/24 from 9.5 overs – the best-ever bowling figures for England in men’s ODIs.
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss again and opted to bowl as former skipper Virat Kohli, who missed out on the first game due to a groin issue, returned to the playing XI in place of Shreyas Iyer.
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England openers Jason Roy (23) and Jonny Bairstow (38) gave the hosts a solid start but Hardik Pandya joined the bowling attack in the ninth over and got rid of Roy.
It was then Yuzvendra Chahal’s turn to run through the English top order as he dismissed Bairstow, Joe Root (11) and Ben Stokes (21). Mohammed Shami then cleaned up England captain Jos Buttler for four and the hosts found themselves in a precarious position at 102/5.
Watch: Chahal dismisses Bairstow, Root, Stokes, Moeen in a brilliant spell at Lord’s
But Liam Livingstone (33), Moeen Ali (47) and David Willey (41) provided crucial contributions thereafter to ensure England finished with a competitive total of 246 all out.
India got off to a poor start in their chase, getting their first run off the bat with the 27th delivery of the innings. Rohit was trapped in front by Topley for a duck and the wickets kept falling consistently.
Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for nine before Rishabh Pant also got out for zero. Kohli’s first three scoring shots were confident front-foot drives for four, but he was sent packing in familiar fashion for another low score of 16.
Suryakumar Yadav (27) and Hardik Pandya (29) got starts but perished trying to accelerate. Ravindra Jadeja (29) and Mohammed Shami (23) then added 39 runs for the seventh wicket but they fell off consecutive deliveries and that sealed the visitors’ fate.
India were eventually bowled out for 146 in 38.5 overs as the hosts earned a comprehensive victory to force a series decider.
The third and final ODI between India and England will be played at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday, July 17.
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