India managed to pull off a total of 229/9 while batting first against England in the 29th match of the ICC World Cup 2023 on Sunday, October 29. Indian team struggled for a good start but captain Rohit Sharma led by example to produce a fighting total at Lucknow's Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Jos Buttler won the toss and forced India to bat first with both teams making no changes to their playing elevens. This was the first time in the tournament that India were forced to bat first after recording straight five wins while chasing. England entered the game with just one win in their first five games and seemed in good rhythm to turn their fortune in Lucknow.
Chris Woakes gave England a flying start with Shubman Gill's early wicket in the fourth over. Rohit produced another explosive start by smashing David Willey to 17 runs in the third over but had to take a step back as India witnessed a shocking collapse.
In-form Virat Kohli was dismissed on a duck for the first time in World Cup history after struggling to get off the mark in nine balls. Shreyas Iyer also departed cheaply while attempting a big shot over the mid-on and India were down to three wickets with just 40 runs on the scoreboard.
KL Rahul and Rohit then pulled off a comeback for India with a 91-run stand for the fourth wicket. Both Rohit and Rahul seemed to have settled for big knocks but Willey dismissed Rahul to deny England a breakthrough. Rahul scored 39 runs off 47 balls.
Rohit top-scored with 87 runs off 101 balls, his fourth fifty-plus score in the tournament and also completed 18,000 runs in international cricket. Suryakumar Yadav also played out a crucial knock in the closing stages by smashing 49 runs as India scored 229 runs for 9 in 50 overs.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England Playing XI: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
