India faced a crushing defeat in the second ODI of the three-match series against England on Friday. The knocks from Jonny Bairstow (124), Ben Stokes (99) and Jason Roy (55) aided England in chasing the 337-run target with 45 deliveries to spare.
At one point in the match, England were 285/1, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar's dismissal of Ben Stokes triggered a flurry of wickets as Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler (0) departed within the next nine deliveries. England, however, coped with the sudden setbacks as debutant Liam Livingstone (27*) steered the visitors to victory.
Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman believes that the decision to give overs to spinners Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav may have backfired for India after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Prasidh Krishna took the wickets.
"It was very difficult to get (when 3 quick England wickets fell), just 35 more runs were needed then, even though you got the wicket of Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler. The way Prasidh Krishna came in that over and took 2 wickets. I was a little surprised that again went to Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav because if at all India had to pull off the game it was through the fast bowler. Virat Kohli missed a trick there but overall an unbelievable onslaught of highest quality," said Laxman on Star Sports.
"The power-hitting was unbelievable, the carnage from both Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes will be remembered for a long time. It was just pure class."
Straight after Krishna took two wickets in his 37th over, Kohli gave the ball to Krunal Pandya, and the next over went to Kuldeep Yadav. While Krunal ended with figures of 0/72 in merely six overs, Kuldeep, too, proved expensive as he conceded 84 runs in 10 overs.
Earlier, India had scored 336/6 in 50 overs, with KL Rahul slamming his fifth ODI century. Rishabh Pant, who made a comeback to the ODI XI after more than a year, also impressed with a quickfire 77 off just 40 deliveries. Hardik Pandya also played an important cameo of 35 in 16 balls to steer India past the 300-run mark.
The final match of the series will be played on March 28 at the same venue (Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune).
