India vs England: Rohit Sharma Scores His 18th Century In First ODI

Rohit Sharma notched up his 18th One-Day International (ODI) century against England as he remained unbeaten on 137 runs off 114 balls in the first match at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Friday. The Mumbai batsman struck 15 boundaries and 4 hits over the fence in his innings to bring up his ton in 82 balls. Chasing a decent target of 269 runs, India lost Shikar Dhawan for 40. Rohit was also involved in two crucial partnerships, as he forged an initial 59-run opening stand with Dhawan -- who smashed eight boundaries in his innings before he was sent back by Moeen Ali. Unperturbed by the dismissal, Rohit continued to add woes for the English bowling as he formed a 167-run second wicket stand with skipper Virat Kohli -- who scored brilliant 75 runs off 82 balls before falling prey to Adil Rashid. Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav grabbed a superb six-wicket haul as India dismissed England for just 268.

Only a few weeks earlier, on June 19,  on the same ground, England compiled a men's ODI record total of 481 for six against Australia.

It was a different story on Thursday as 23-year-old left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep finished with career ODI-best figures of six for 25.

After Kuldeep had run through England's top order with a burst of three wickets for five runs in 10 balls,  Ben Stokes (50) and Jos Buttler (53) tried to repair the damage with a fifth-wicket stand of 93.

But neither batsman could break the shackles and both eventually fell to Kuldeep.

His return represented just the third time an overseas spinner had taken a five-wicket haul in an ODI in England following Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan's five for 34 at Lord's in 1998 and Suraj Randiv's five for 42 for India at Old Trafford in 2011. 

England, in the absence of the injured Alex Hales, saw openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow put on a brisk 73 after India captain Kohli sent them into bat.

But the introduction of Kuldeep, in his 21st match at this level, changed the course of the innings.

It took Kuldeep, a thorn in England's side during India's 2-1 win in the preceding Twenty20 series, just two balls to strike at Trent Bridge.

Roy attempting an ambitious reverse sweep, mistimed the shot and gave a dolly catch to Umesh Yadav as he fell for 38.

Test captain Joe Root, back in the team after being left out of the team that lost the third T20, then played back to Kuldeep and was plumb lbw for three.

Bairstow had looked in excellent touch but, like Roy, he too fell for 38 when lbw to Yadav on review.

Spin also proved the undoing of England captain Eoin Morgan (19) when he carelessly chipped leg-break bowler Yuzvendra Chahal to Suresh Raina at midwicket.

Morgan's exit left England 105 for four in the 20th over.

Stokes and Buttler staunched the flow of wickets without breaking the shackles.

Buttler was still able to complete a 45-ball fifty, albeit with just five fours, including a stylish cover-drive off Umesh.

But with England hoping he would cut loose late on, Buttler was instead dismissed when a glance off Kuldeep was well caught down the legside by veteran wicket-keeper MS Dhoni.

The normally hard-hitting Stokes then completed a fifty off a sedate 102 balls, including just two fours.

Stokes was also unable to press on. One ball after reaching his fifty, the left-hander tried to reverse sweep Kuldeep only for debutant Siddarth Kaul, who had been at short third man, to hold an excellent catch.

Kuldeep, who did not concede a boundary in his maximum 10 overs, struck again with his final delivery when David Willey holed out in the deep to KL Rahul.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team England Cricket Team Rohit Sharma England vs India, 2018 England vs India, 1st ODI Cricket