Kuldeep Yadav took six wickets as India overpowered England in the first one-day international at Trent Bridge on Thursday. The left-arm wrist-spinner returned career-best ODI figures of six for 25 as England were dismissed for a mere 268 after India captain Virat Kohli sent them in to bat. Rohit Sharma, to the delight of the many India fans in a sun-drenched capacity crowd of over 17,000, then made an unbeaten century as the tourists won by eight wickets with a mammoth 59 balls to spare.
Sharma was 137 not out, after putting on 167 for the second wicket with Kohli (75) as India went 1-0 up in a three-match series. It was all a far cry from the June 19 ODI at Trent Bridge where England compiled a men's ODI record total of 481 for six in a 242-run win over Australia during a 5-0 series rout of their arch-rivals. After Kuldeep had dismissed England's top three during a burst of three wickets for five runs in 10 balls, Ben Stokes (50) and Jos Buttler (53) shared a fifth-wicket stand of 93.
But neither could break the shackles and both fell to Kuldeep, who was just the third overseas spinner to take five wickets in an ODI in England after Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan (five for 34 at Lord's in 1998) and India's Suraj Randiv (five for 42 at Old Trafford in 2011). "It's a big day for me," Kuldeep, whose return was also the best by any spinner against England in ODI cricket, told Sky Sports. "I started pretty well in the first two overs and luckily I got a couple (of wickets), which really changed the momentum for us."
Meanwhile Kohli accepted there was a chance both Kuldeep and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal could force their way into India's squad for the five-Test campaign in England that follows this series. "He is making a strong start for himself, as his Chahal; both of them are pretty lethal for us and looking at the English batsmen struggling against them we might be tempted to do that," said Kohli. Having struggled against Kuldeep in a preceding 2-1 Twenty20 loss, England captain Eoin Morgan said his side had to improve their playing of spin ahead of Saturday's second ODI at Lord's.
Scoreboard
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England
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J. Roy c Umesh Yadav b K. Yadav 38
J. Bairstow lbw b K. Yadav 38
J. Root lbw b K. Yadav 3
E. Morgan c Raina b Chahal 19
B. Stokes c Kaul b K. Yadav 50
J. Buttler c Dhoni b K. Yadav 53
M. Ali c Kohli b U. Yadav 24
D. Willey c Rahul b K. Yadav 1
A. Rashid c Pandya b U. Yadav 22
L. Plunkett run out (Raina/Dhoni) 10
M. Wood not out 0
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Extras: (lb5, w5) 10
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Total: (all out, 49.5 overs) 268
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Fall of wickets: 1-73 (Roy), 2-81 (Root), 3-82 (Bairstow), 4-105 (Morgan), 5-198 (Buttler), 6-214 (Stokes), 7-216 (Willey), 8-245 (Ali), 9-261 (Rashid), 10-268 (Plunkett) Bowling: U Yadav 9.5-0-70-2 (2w); Kaul 10-0-62-0; Chahal 10-0-51-1; Pandya 7-0-47-0 (2w); K Yadav 10-0-25-6; Raina 3-1-8-0 (1w)
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India
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R. Sharma not out 137
S. Dhawan c Rashid b Ali 40
V. Kohli st Buttler b Rashid 75
KL Rahul not out 9
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Extras: (w8) 8
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Total: (2 wkts, 40.1 overs) 269
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