The hype around England versus India was scaling mountains even before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 kick-started. The two best teams in One Day cricket going head-to-head at the World Cup was anticipated to be a mouth-watering fixture. And, Edgbaston knows the wait to go through half of the tournament for this encounter was worth it.

Living up to their calibre the two teams put up a fine show of cricket. The tie saw two remarkable centuries – one from openers of each team – as Jonny Bairstow and Rohit Sharma came good.
While India’s unbeaten streak at CWC 19 came to an end, England rekindled their search for a semi-final berth by getting back to winning ways.

Rishabh Pant, who flew to England after Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out due to injury, made his World Cup debut as he replaced Vijay Shankar in the Playing XI. Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bat first. Jason Roy coming back from injury gave England the positivity at the top of their innings. Roy and Bairstow put up a solid 160-run partnership as they attacked the Indian bowlers with intent. Ben Stokes and Joe Root made valuable contributions in good time, as the English side was cruising to a 350+ run total.

While Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav did not have the best day bowling courtesy of a barrage of boundaries by Bairstow, Roy and Stokes, the Indian pacers held their own. Mohammed Shami got a fantastic five-fer, and Jasprit Bumrah was as good as ever with his tight bowling that helped the Men in Blue limit England to 337/7 in 50 overs.

Team India did not get the start they were looking for as KL Rahul was on his way back in just the third over, courtesy of Chris Woakes whose first three overs were maidens. However, to rebuild the innings, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli got together to put up a stellar show of batting. Their 138-run stand was stapled with classical cricketing shots that the Edgbaston crowd enjoyed.

Kohli brought up his fifth consecutive fifty-plus score as he continued his sublime touch, before falling to Liam Plunkett. The Hitman then took responsibility on his shoulders as he got the third CWC 19 hundred under his belt. While Hardik Pandya continued in the same vein, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav found it hard to get going. Plunkett’s return to the side was marked with three wickets that resulted in breakthroughs at crucial junctures of the game.

The final scorecard read that hosts England won the game by 31 runs, thus handing India their first defeat of this World Cup campaign. The loss means India still need one more win to confirm their semi-final spot. Kohli’s men will play their next match at Edgbaston again, against Bangladesh on 2^nd July.