Not losing hope even as his best men departed, Virat Kohli, in his first game as full-time captain, built up the belief along with the surprise man Kedar Jadhav, as India went on to defeat England by 3 wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
Chasing a mammoth target of 351 runs, the highest that England have ever set for India, the home team had a disastrous start. Both the openers, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, left the field in no time.
Then stepped in the comeback man Yuvraj Singh who was having his way with bat but gave away his wicket on a wide ball for 15 runs.
Former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked in with the loudest cheers and when he left at 6 off 6 balls, the entire stadium had gone mute.
Witnessing all this from the non-striker’s end was skipper Kohli. India were struggling at 63/4, chasing a huge total.
When almost every Indian supporter lost hope, Kohli still kept the belief and got going. The latest to join him was Kedar Jadhav, who probably didn’t carry any expectations, given the situation the home team were in at that time.
However, both of them proved everybody wrong as they went on to give India a miraculous revival.
Donning the captain’s cap, Kohli made sure he did his job right as he continued to instill required inspiration in to his partner.
As a result, first Kohli brought up his 27th ODI century, then Jadhav, Man of the Match, followed him and smashed his second ton in the 50-overs format of the game. They added 200 runs for the fifth wicket.
They knew this wasn’t enough as they still had the uphill task of sailing their team through. Jadhav was already struggling with cramps in his leg.
They fought hard but were unfortunately dismissed, the disappointment of which was clearly visible on Kohli’s face.
Kohli scored 122 off 105 balls whereas Jadhav made 120 off just 76 deliveries.
But, they had laid the foundation for an easy win from here on. It was run a ball for the batsmen to follow.
England were still trying to make a comeback in the game as they dismissed Ravindra Jadeja for 13.
But, Hardik Pandya took up the task of taking his team to the finish line with a short cameo by Ravichandran Ashwin, who scored the winning runs by hitting a six, taking India to 356/7, with 6 balls to spare.
The chase master Virat Kohli emerged victorious in his first match as the full-time captain of India.
Earlier in the day, Jason Roy (73) and Joe Root (78) helped England post a mammoth 350 for seven in 50 overs against India. Besides Roy and Root, all-rounder Ben strokes (61) and wicket-keeper Jos Buttler also produced fine knocks and contributed handsomely to the visitors' cause.
Put in to bat, England started the proceedings on a cautious note as both openers Roy and Alex Hales (9) were playing the ball to its merit.
For India, medium pacers Pandya and Bumrah took two wickets each while left-arm spinner Jadeja and pacer Umesh Yadav chipped in with one wicket each.
