In the second ODI against England at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, India took an unbeatable 2-0 lead, securing a series victory. Although the second ODI’s trajectory was somewhat similar to the first, it was still sufficiently distinct.
After winning the toss, England decided to bat and started off quickly. primarily due to Ben Duckett (65 off 56). However, in the middle overs, England’s middle order collapsed against spin, as has been the narrative of this tour. In the middle overs, Ravindra Jadeja (3/35) ran a very tight ship, helping India defeat Joe Root’s best efforts (69 off 72). With some well-timed knocks in the closing stages, England rallied and passed the 300-run threshold. An hour and a half later, none of it mattered.
Rohit Sharma (119 off 90) kept up the strategy that has helped him reimagine himself as an ODI opener.
Rohit rediscovered his rhythm and attacked every bowler who dared to approach him, despite the poor start. Shubman Gill (60 off 52), who was more than ready to let Rohit do his business, put up a stand of 136 after Sharma once again scored an individual fifty inside the powerplay itself. Virat Kohli and Gill were both removed quickly after each other, but Rohit persisted in his unrelenting attack till his exit rendered the outcome moot. Even though Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer contributed forties, India was still able to win the series despite a late order collapse.
Here are the best stats highlights from the game:
50 – This match marked Rohit Sharma’s 50th ODI as captain. He has now won 36 of them.
2 – At 33 years and 164 days old, Varun Chakravarthy became India’s second oldest ODI debutant.
1 – Joe Root made his 56th score of 50 or more in ODIs and broke the England record previously held by Eoin Morgan.
2 – Rohit Sharma ended his 6-month old tie with Chris Gayle and became the player with the second most sixes in ODIs with 338. Shahid Afridi leads the pack with 351 while Gayle has 331 ODI sixes.
3 – Rohit Sharma’s 49th century in international cricket moved him past Rahul Dravid’s 48 and into third position on the list of Indian players with the most centuries in international cricket. Only Virat Kohli (81) and Sachin Tendulkar (100) have more.
10 – Rohit Sharma moved past Rahul Dravid’s career tally of 10,889 ODI runs and entered into the top 10 ODI run-getters of all time. Among Indians, Rohit is the fourth highest run-getter in ODIs.
2 – Rohit Sharma became only the second player to amass 30 centuries as an opener in ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar with 45 has the most.
2 – Rohit Sharma now has the second most runs by an Indian player as an opener in international cricket. Rohit took his tally to 15,404 runs going past Sachin Tendulkar’s 15,335. Virender Sehwag (16,119) is in the top spot.
2 – This century, reached in 75 balls, was Rohit Sharma’s second fastest in that respect. His fastest century is the one he reached in 63 balls against Afghanistan in the 2023 World Cup.
19 – This match was India’s 19th successful chase of a target of 300 or more in ODIs, the most by any team. England are a distant second with 14 such chases.
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