The format changed, and so did most of the Indian team. But the outcome was the same, with India thumping England in the first One-day international.
Do not be fooled by the margin of victory, four wickets. Look instead at the 68 balls India had to spare chasing 249. This was a worrying performance and result because this series is important Champions Trophy preparation, and their batting remains rudderless. Late wickets flattered England and only delayed the inevitable.
They look miles off India, who were without the injured Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, and possess such riches that they overlooked Rishabh Pant and Arshdeep Singh, as well as the T20 stars, Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy. Only four members of this XI played in last week’s T20s. It barely seems to matter who plays right now.
Having chosen to bat first, England were bowled out again, for 248. In all six matches on this tour, their No 11 has found himself batting – the surest sign of a misfiring batting unit. They have been bowled out four times, and finished nine down twice. This continued a trend set at the 2023 World Cup in India, when they played nine matches, and were bowled out four times and finished nine down on five occasions in arguably the limpest defence in cricket tournament history.
With England’s bowlers doing so much batting, they barely stand a chance with the ball. So it was here, as they reduced India to 19 for two, but just did not have enough to work with on a flat pitch. Jofra Archer started brilliantly, then faded as Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill settled. With him went England’s hopes.
The batting problems were not exactly the same as in the 4-1 T20 defeat. There, they could just not pick or play leg-spin but, with Chakravarthy benched, they lost just one wicket, last man Saqib Mahmood, to Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist-spin. Instead they allowed finger-spinners to wheel away unabated, gifted wickets to innocuous short balls from quicks, and suffered a ruinous run out. Most frustrating was that in the blink of an eye, they threw away a super start.
Openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett batted beautifully, and with maturity, for the first eight overs. Salt was prepared to pat back two maidens, then piled into the debutant Harshit, taking 26 from his third over to double England’s score. In the space of eight balls, Salt and Duckett hit three sixes and four fours. They were cruising, and doing a passable impression of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow, the opening pair that underpinned the 2019 team.
One skill that set Roy and Bairstow apart, though, was their symbiotic running, and that is where Salt and Duckett let themselves down. Salt pierced the offside off Hardik Pandya, and ran mighty hard, in search of three. Duckett, probably rightly, was happy with two. Watching the ball not his partner, Salt hared back and was run out by half a pitch. It was brainless cricket that sparked a collapse of two for three in eight balls from which England never recovered.
In Harshit’s next over, Duckett tried to accelerate when recalibration was required, and his plinked pull was brilliantly taken running back from midwicket by Yashasvi Jaiswal. Then Harry Brook had a flirt down the legside at a bouncer he could have left, continuing a disappointing tour. The jury remains out on Brook in India.
After Joe Root, who will provide solidity when he finds form, was dismissed lbw by the outstanding Ravindra Jadeja, England’s most- and least-experienced batsmen rebuilt. The captain, Jos Buttler, reined himself in, while Jacob Bethell played himself in. Buttler miscued a pull off a filthy short ball from Axar Patel, but Bethell showed his more experienced colleagues the way. He had eight from his first 28 balls, but reached 50 from 62. At 21, Bethell took Root’s record as England’s youngest half-centurion in India.
Bethell was ploughing a lone furrow by then, because Liam Livingstone, the designated finisher, had fallen to a dismissal every bit as tame and frustrating as Brook’s. The bowler, Harshit, was the same, with Livingstone taking a witless swipe outside off stump. Livingstone was not yet in, and there were still 14 overs to go. Third gear would have been fine, but he went straight to sixth.
It was left to Archer to agriculturally carry England to 248, and to put a dent in India’s hopes of chasing it, by having the debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal caught behind. In the following over Rohit Sharma miscued Mahmood to mid-on.
India’s depth was perfectly illustrated by Iyer’s 30-ball half-century in his first international for six months. He exposed England’s unbalanced attack, which looks a bowler light. Despite the flurry of wickets with the finishing line in sight, India eased home.
03:29 PM GMT
And finally, here’s Jos Buttler
Disappointed not to win the game. I thought we got off to a fantastic start in the powerplay. The openers got off to a great start but to lose four wickets was frustrating. An extra 40-50 runs would have been crucial. That is not how we want to play. We want to put the opposition under pressure and keep the momentum.
[Are your fast bowling tactics one-dimensional?] The guys started well, they were 20 for two. We should have found a way to take a wicket there but Gill and Iyer put on a good partnership. We want to play better really for longer, we have shown in stages that we are doing the right thing.
When we have the momentum, we want to try and extend that longer.
03:06 PM GMT
OVER 39.4: IND 251/6 (Hardik 9 Jadeja 12) chasing 249
Buttler goes funky and puts three catching covers in a line to Jadeja who beats all three with an off drive for two and bypasses then entirely with a swat through mid-on for four off Saqib.
Saqib’s hooping outswinger to the left-hander is fiddled through the keeper’s dive for four to win the game by four wickets with 68 balls to spare.
India win by four wickets.
03:03 PM GMT
OVER 38: IND 241/6 (Hardik 9 Jadeja 2) chasing 249
Maybe the beans are jumping in the India dressing room. Buttler brings back Livingstone who tempts Pandya with flight into aiming for cow corner but, alarmed by the dip, he changes his mind at the last and doesn’t close the face quickly enough. The ball pops off a leading edge and loops three metres behind the non-striker’s stumps. Livingstone turned and tried to get there to catch it but it just kept going.
03:00 PM GMT
OVER 37: IND 237/6 (Hardik 7 Jadeja 1) chasing 249
Hardik’s six encourages Gill to get a wiggle on to get to a hundred and he charges Mahmood and crunches a cover drive for four. He tries to hit the gas again and pays the price because Saqib sees him backing away to leg and follows him at full pace.
02:54 PM GMT
Wicket!
Gill c Buttler b Saqib 87 He backed away to leg so Mahmood followed him with his bouncer and he short-arm pulled it off the front foot to mid-on who took a good, diving catch. It cramped him so much that he hit the ball twice, the ball smearing off the slice on to the toe. FOW 235/5
02:54 PM GMT
OVER 36: IND 231/5 (Gill 83 Hardik 6) chasing 249
Rashid bowls out, starting with a fast, flat leg break that beats Rahul’s bat. Salt whips off the bails having waited six or seven seconds for Rahul to lift his foot but he never did, his toe staying dug in. Two balls later Rashid does winkle him out, though. In comes Hardik who ain’t going to poke and prod so Gill can make a hundred and he carts a shorter ball over midwicket for six!
Rashid ends with 10-1-49-2.
02:50 PM GMT
Wicket!
Rahul c&b Rashid 2 He has been becalmed since he came in because, Gavaskar thinks, he wants to give Gill the chance to make a hundred. So he pats one back up the pitch once too often but chips this one and Rashid dips forward to grab it. the ball hits both his thumbs and sits up nicely for him to snaffle it at the second attempt. FOW 225/5
02:47 PM GMT
OVER 35: IND 224/4 (Gill 82 Rahul 2) chasing 249
Mahmood comes on for a second spell and does a Mark Wood, the man he replaced from the last T20, by falling heavily in his followthrough and banging his knee. He recovers well from it after a good rub, conceding merely two singles, Gill’s patted round the corner off his thigh pad and Rahul’s dabbed to third man.
02:42 PM GMT
OVER 34: IND 222/4 (Gill 81 Rahul 1) chasing 249
Rahul gets off the mark with a whisk through the onside for a single and reducing the chase to 27 off 96 balls.
02:38 PM GMT
Wicket!
Axar b Rashid 52 Gorgeous delivery but he doesn’t celebrate, ruing that it has come way too late. He tosses a slow leg-break up above the left-hander’s eye-line and rags it through the gate from the edge of a bowler’s foothold. FOW 221/4
02:35 PM GMT
OVER 33: IND 220/3 (Gill 80 Axar 52) chasing 249
After an over of short stuff, Gill has lined Carse up and smashes a pull through midwicket for four. After pulling another rib-tickler for a single, the no-ball siren sounds. Axar is on strike for the free hit, a slow bouncer but he hits it straight to the midwicket fielder. No run.
When Carse pitches the last ball up Axar drives it through mid-off, who dives over it and is beaten when it bounces under him and scuttles away for four. That brings up his third ODI fifty and earns him a drink.
This has turned into a pretty desperate night for England. There’s a bloke near me in the press box (weirdly he doesn’t have a laptop with him) laughing at that Buttler misfield, but I reckon it was worth the dive to try to take the catch, even if the likeliest outcome was conceding four.
02:28 PM GMT
OVER 32: IND 208/3 (Gill 75 Axar 47) chasing 249
Maiden for Rashid who has bowled well but when he has beaten the bat, it has been by turning it too much.
02:25 PM GMT
OVER 31: IND 208/3 (Gill 75 Axar 47) chasing 249
Carse tries a different tack, bombarding them. First he beats Axar with a ripper that angles in and nips away from the edge. Then he clocks him on the helmet via a top edge and they run a single. Gill twice jabs at defensives off the back foot and ends up with a single of his own, pulled behind square.
02:21 PM GMT
OVER 30: IND 206/3 (Gill 74 Axar 46) chasing 249
When Root darts one down the legside, Gill flips it up and over square leg for four. England seem to have given up.
02:19 PM GMT
OVER 29: IND 201/3 (Gill 70 Axar 45) chasing 249
Carse returns and India floor it, panning him for a quartet of fours, Axar smearing a cover drive then ramping one over the keeper. Hanging back he swats a bouncer away for a single to give Gill the strike and the right-hander chisels the yorker out of the blockhole up and over point then waits for the off-cutter and carts it past the square leg umpire.
02:11 PM GMT
OVER 28: IND 184/3 (Gill 62 Axar 36) chasing 249
A chance for Joe Root to see if that arm is still gilded. He comes round the wicket to left and right-hander alike and they milk him for three singles and a two, flicked past the square leg umpire. Palpable sense of drift from Buttler now. Clockwork bowling changes, no intervention to address Archer’s length.
02:09 PM GMT
OVER 27: IND 179/3 (Gill 59 Axar 34) chasing 249
Archer is intent on maintaining his short length and it’s too much for KP. It’s so one-dimensional. As Murali Karthik says, ‘Yes he’s bowling rockets but it’s all the same, som predictable and when you’ve faced hours of bowling machines you can deal with it.’
Gill simply flays two of the short and wide ones with a horizontal bat, he first collared through midwicket, the next sliced behind point.
02:05 PM GMT
OVER 26: IND 170/3 (Gill 51Axar 33) chasing 249
Buzzers! When Archer tries to throw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end to stop Axar burgling a single to midwicket, it flies past and they run another. Livingstone is bowling OK but not beating the bat.
02:03 PM GMT
OVER 25: IND 165/3 (Gill 50 Axar 29) chasing 249
The leg stands up fine when Archer tries to make Gill hop even more, pulling him for a single and chopping another to bring up a 60-ball fifty, his 14th in one-day internationals. Axar brings up the fifty partnership in quicker time, off 51 balls, with a pull off a short one to fine leg for a single.
01:57 PM GMT
OVER 24: IND 160/3 (Gill 48 Axar 26) chasing 249
He may be suffering from a thigh spasm but Gill still manages to get a big stride in to smash Livingstone over extra-cover for four. Given that he had to stretch out his hamstring again and was hopping about before he did that, England will bring back Archer to give his mobility the fiercest test.
01:54 PM GMT
OVER 23: IND 154/3 (Gill 43 Axar 25) chasing 249
Rashid pins Gill with his googly and appeals but does not press ahead with the review as it was sliding down. Gill defies his screaming hamstrings to sweep hard for four and then hops about like the Tin Man when regaining his feet.
01:50 PM GMT
OVER 22: IND 149/3 (Gill 38 Axar 25) chasing 249
Much more turn with the older balls for all three spinners used so far. Axar flicks a single through midwicket, Gill after his review runs a leg-bye and then Axar Patel chips a drive uppishly through mid-off for four. There were cries of catch it but it was too far away from the fielder.
India need 100.
01:47 PM GMT
Not out
Indeed he did. Hit the cover off with a thick inside edge.
01:47 PM GMT
India review
Gill lbw b Livingstone Gill is smiling broadly as if he hit it.
01:45 PM GMT
OVER 21: IND 143/3 (Gill 38 Axar 20) chasing 249
Gill goes down with what looks like cramp after Rashid’s sixth over in which he beats the right-hander hook line and sinker with a leg-break that floats above the eyeline, dips abruptly and then rags past the edge. There’s no justice and they take him for three singles and a two either side of that beauty.
01:42 PM GMT
OVER 20: IND 138/3 (Gill 35 Axar 18) chasing 249
Buttler turns to Livingstone to attack Axar with off-breaks but he starts with a drag down that the left-hander carves for four behind point. Switching to leg breaks for Gill he almost flukes him out with a long hop that he carts over mid-on. Saqib comes in off the rope but misjudges the flight and not only doesn’t make the last metre to catch it, he ius nutmegged by it when it bounces and goes for four.
01:38 PM GMT
OVER 19: IND 129/3 (Gill 31 Axar 13) chasing 249
Rashid attempts to lure Axar on to the rocks with flight but he abandions his stick or twist approach and knocks him a round for a couple of singles as does Gill to cover and long-off.
01:35 PM GMT
OVER 18: IND 125/3 (Gill 29 Axar 11) chasing 249
An over of extremes from Bethell to Axar who can’t knock five deliveries off the square and then launches another slog sweep over cow corner for six!
01:33 PM GMT
OVER 17: IND 119/3 (Gill 29 Axar 5) chasing 249
India promote the left-handed Axar Patel above Rahul and Hardik with two spinners on who turn the ball away from the right-handers. Rashid rags a couple of leg breaks past Gill’s edge who gets off strike with a square drive for a single. The left-handed Axar slog sweeps him for four, taking on the leg break and belting it with the turn.
Harry Brook appears to have hurt himself fielding at midwicket in that Bethell over. He’s staying on the field but signalled to the bench and looks a bit ginger.
01:30 PM GMT
OVER 16: IND 113/3 (Gill 28 Axar 0) chasing 249
Huge wicket from Jacob Bethell. If England could turn him into a passable white-ball left-arm spinner, he could be a magnificent player.
Won’t lie, I didn’t have Shreyas Iyer down as my danger man today, but what a knock that was. Brilliant, coming in at 19 for two and strumming 59 from 36.
01:26 PM GMT
Wicket!
Iyer lbw b Bethell 59 Plumb. The left arm spinner from round the wicket looped it on to middle and it straightened to hit the top of middle stump had it not hit the pad. ‘Nothing shot,’ says Sunil Gavasakar about the sweep. FOW 113/3
01:25 PM GMT
India review
Iyer lbw b Bethell Looked good to me. Pinned at the top of the shin while sweeping. No bat.
01:20 PM GMT
OVER 15: IND 111/2 (Gill 27 Iyer 58) chasing 249
Rashid cannot hit the brakes either. Gill is confident enough to pick the googly and play it on the back foot, drilling two through extra-cover and, after exchanging singles, he dabs the leg break wide of slip for four before giving us a replica of that cover drive for another two runs.
Nelson brought India a wicket but if it’s England’s curse it should not do the same for them after drinks.
01:17 PM GMT
OVER 14: IND 101/2 (Gill 17 Iyer 57) chasing 249
It’s Bethell first not Livingstone and Iyer brings up his fifty, a 19th in ODIs to go with his five centuries, with a lap sweep for four and doubles up with the most elegant of late cuts for another.
Apologies for some glitches with the score at the top of these posts. Some stickiness with the publishing tool. Should be OK now if you refresh.
01:12 PM GMT
OVER 13: IND 90/2 (Gill 17 Iyer 48) chasing 249
Tidy work from Rashid and both bowlers play him with respect and due caution until Iyer reads the leg-break and leans back to slap it through cover for two.
Jofra Archer’s first three overs were brilliant, but the next two were a little loose. He’s got a cut on his right hand and he’s left the field to have it inspected. There have been some running repairs while he’s fielded on the boundary, too. Carse is into his work now, but England will have to get one of their spinners on at the other end. I’d be very wary of leaving the part-time overs too late, so maybe it’s time for some Livingstone.
01:10 PM GMT
OVER 12: IND 86/2 (Gill 16 Iyer 45) chasing 249
All wrists from Iyer has he breaks them so slickly to flay another Carse full ball behind point for four. After a tip and run single to cover. Carse has a chance to bowl at Gill but sticks the short one on his hip and he just turns it round the corner for four.
01:07 PM GMT
OVER 11: IND 77/2 (Gill 12 Iyer 40) chasing 249
Rashid beats Iyer all ends up with a slow leg break that dips and rips past his edge but it does not blunt Shreyas’ confidence. He responds with an outrageous switch hit for four behind point.
Iyer made two centuries at the 2023 World Cup and 500+ runs. This is his first ODI at home since the final 14 months ago.
01:02 PM GMT
OVER 10: IND 71/2 (Gill 11 Iyer 35) chasing 249
Shreyas Iyer devours three half-volleys or half-volley adjacent deliveries from Carse, smoking them for a trio of fours as the Durham wuick errs too wide.
Double change: Rashid will come on at the end of the first powerplay as usual.
England need to get over their belief that Iyer doesn’t like it up him. He may not. Who does? But he can use the width to wreak havoc.
12:58 PM GMT
OVER 9: IND 59/2 (Gill 11 Iyer 23) chasing 249
Archer, who was brilliant outside off stump to Jaiswal and Rohit, has a leg trap and is keen to use it so bangs it in short again to Gill who smacks it off his hip for four. KP says he doesn’t understand why he is being so one-dimensional now having started on a different tack. But he does tighten his line and it brings the reward of four dot balls but then goes for a half-tracker again and it gets the same punishment, panned off leg stump past long leg.
If you target the stumps you can bowl a batsman, have him nick off or pin him leg-before. You can only have him caught off the short one unless he drags on, I suppose. Too few balls would hit the stumps.
Brydon Carse will be first change.
12:52 PM GMT
OVER 8: IND 50/2 (Gill 3 Iyer 23) chasing 249
After an eminently respectable first five deliveries from Mahmood that cost him merely three runs, Iyer tucks into the short one just as he did to Archer, tucking it off his hip wide of the diving Rashid for four.
12:48 PM GMT
OVER 7: IND 43/2 (Gill 1 Iyer 18) chasing 249
Archer’s booming inswinger clips the outer ribs of Gill’s pad and rattles away for four leg-byes. Gill gets off the mark with a cut to cover then Gill, after being hurried into back foot defensives, one off the splice, collars two offside short balls, pulling the first over midwicket for six and uppercutting the last over third man for another.
12:41 PM GMT
OVER 6: IND 25/2 (Gill 0 Iyer 6) chasing 249
Iyer gets off the mark with an uppish drive through cover for two and allows the crowd to find its voice again when he tickles Saqib’s big inswinger off his ankles for four between keeper and fine leg.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit 10 different Indian cricket grounds in two tours over the last 13 months (will be 12 venues by the end of this trip), and Nagpur is one of my favourites. Neither new nor old, very atmospheric, big without being enormous, and used rarely enough that there’s a real hunger among the fans to lap up the cricket. Quiet at the moment, but very loud every time India took a wicket earlier.
12:36 PM GMT
Wicket!
Rohit c Livingstone b Saqib 2 Looking to flick the inswinger over midwicket it was slower than he thought and made him go through with the shot too soon, spooning it off the leading edge to Livingstone, expertly placed on the circle. FOW 19/2
12:35 PM GMT
OVER 5: IND 19/1 (Rohit 2 Gill 0) chasing 249
As Graeme Swann says, one of the perils of opening the batting in ODIs is you are facing a new ball from both ends. The white Kookaburra is as notoriously rubbish for English seamers as its red counterpart but having two means the hardness and seam lasts a a little longer. And both Archer and Saqib have made it dart around.
Quite quiet in here now. Jofra Archer has been magnificent in his first three overs, and deserves the wicket of the debutant Jaiswal. Classy bowling.
12:30 PM GMT
Wicket!
Jaiswal c Salt b Archer 15 Magnificent bowling and just reward for a fine opening spell. Having beaten him with one angling in and jagging away he does so again but this time with a tighter line to off stump and the prodigious young opener feathers an edge through to the keeper. A hush descends abruptly. FOW 19/1
12:30 PM GMT
OVER 4: IND 19/0 (Jaiswal 15 Rohit 2) chasing 249
Significant swing for Saqib but no reward save a couple of dot balls because Jaiswal flashes hard and edges it high and wide of second slip for four and then plays an elegant straight drive that harpoons to the boundary even if the late wobble threatened to diddle him.
After Jaiswal tucks a single fine off his hip, Rohit clubs the ball over mid-off while aiming for mid-on and gets off the mark to the tune of two runs.
12:26 PM GMT
OVER 3: IND 7/0 (Jaiswal 6 Rohit 0) chasing 249
Archer’s 88mph bumper climbs so high that it defies Jaiswal’s attempt to uppercut/ramp it and Salt has to jump to catch it above his head. He’s bowling with lovely rhythm, angling one in to the left-hander and snaking it away off the seam, unplayably. A bunt to mid-off gets him off strike and Rohit camps on the back foot to defend another back-of-a-length delivery, this one not swinging or seaming.
12:20 PM GMT
OVER 2: IND 6/0 (Jaiswal 5 Rohit 0) chasing 249
Saqib does try to use his slips but errs too wide and Jaiswal carves a cut behind point for four, the ball racing away. The Lancashire quick tightens his line from sixth to fourth stump and Jaiswal gets his nose over two leaves. The opener has a hack at a slower wider one that keeps going over the blade of his cut. Mahmood appeals but Salt tells him there was no noise. Next up he beats him on the inside edge but then strays on to his pads with his inswinger and he kicks it down to fine leg for a leg-bye.
Saqib stayed resolutely round the wicket to the left-hander.
The scary thing about India is who is not in this side. How about this for an XI?
Abhishek, Tilak, Kohli, Suryakumar, Pant (wk), Dube, Washington, Bumrah, Arshdeep, Bishnoi, Varun
I reckon that gives this team a run for its money.
12:15 PM GMT
OVER 1: IND 1/0 (Jaiswal 1 Rohit 0) chasing 249
Archer starts round the wicket to the left-handed Jaiswal, skidding through at 145kph (90mph). He defends the first on the back foot and lets the next one go before getting off the mark with a whip off his pads for a single.
Archer comes over the wicket to Rohit and it’s full and swings in. Rohit closes the face and claws a drive to mid-on. Two slips but Archer doesn’t bring them into play, opting for another full inswinger that the right-hander defends into the onside.
Saqib will take the other new ball.
12:10 PM GMT
The India openers are out
I suppose one thing we can cling to is that Jaiswal has not faced Jofra before in an international and Rohit was in such bad nick in India he had to drop himself. Then again, this is his game.
11:49 AM GMT
Telling statistic
Want a stat to capture the essence of England’s batting on this tour? Well, every batsman, from No1 to 11, has batted in every match so far on this tour. The fewest wickets they have lost in an innings is nine.
11:28 AM GMT
Midway verdict
Given England’s superb start, 248 is a disappointing total. In the ninth over, they were 73 without loss, only to lose three for two, derailing the entire innings.
Those three dismissals were ugly, each in their own way. Phil Salt’s run out was so needless, as he and Ben Duckett looked on totally different wavelengths seeking a third. Then Duckett tried to keep his foot to the floor, when perhaps a moment of recalibration was required, and Harry Brook’s bizarre tour continued by being bounced out. At least he didn’t fall to a spinner, I suppose.
Jos Buttler led the rebuild, and was followed by Jacob Bethell. Both, though, fell just after notching well-paced half-centuries, guaranteeing England would post a below-par score.
Ravi Jadeja was the chief architect of England’s downfall. This was vintage Jaddu: shuffling through his overs in a minute or two, and taking figures of three for 26 from nine.
Expect India to chase this down with ease. The pitch is flat, and the crowd right behind them. Sunset is a little while away, so dew should not be too much of a factor. You never know, though…
11:25 AM GMT
Wicket!
Saqib st Rahul b Kuldeep 2 Bit daft to charge down against a left-arm wrist spinner given Archer had just collared him for four and there were enough balls left to land further blows. But Saqib decided to try to go over the top, didn’t pick the Bosie and was stranded by a metre. FOW 248 all out
11:25 AM GMT
OVER 47: ENG 242/9 (Archer 16 Saqib 1)
Jadeja is the best all-rounder in world cricket and has been for lengthy spells of the past 10 years, at times both before and after Ben Stokes hurt his knee.
11:20 AM GMT
Wicket!
Rashid b Jadeja 8 They haven’t been able to prise Jadeja’s hands away from their throats by playing straight so Rashid tries to sweep instead but the ball skids under the bat and cleans him up. FOW 241/9
11:20 AM GMT
OVER 46: ENG 239/8 (Rashid 7 Archer 15)
Axar Patel returns to try to replicate Jadeja’s smothering from the other end as well. After Rashid twice cuts, backing away to the legside but picking out the fielder, he goes over the top to loft a drive for two then smears another wristily through cover for a single. Archer can’t break the ring with his two drives.
11:17 AM GMT
OVER 45: ENG 236/8 (Rashid 4 Archer 15)
The pitch map shows that Jadeja has pitched 72 per cent of his deliveries in line, giving the batsmen almost nothing to work with. It earms him his first maiden and current figures of 8-1-23-2.
Jofra Archer has always threatened to be a half-decent bat, but never quite delivered. Handy time for him to land a few lusty blows.
11:15 AM GMT
OVER 44: ENG 236/8 (Rashid 4 Archer 15)
Well, Jofra’s not going to hang about trying to give himself and Rash something to bowl at. First he pulls Hardik for four through midwicket, then hooks him for six over fine leg and then lamps the slower drive back down the ground for four more, almost amputating the umpire’s left foot as he scrambled out of the firing line. Fun at last.
11:11 AM GMT
OVER 43: ENG 220/8 (Rashid 3 Archer 0)
Nice for the lad to make his second ODI fifty and he’s hardly the main figure to blame but he had to go on from there after taking so long to play himself in. Unless nine, 10 and jack can scavenge another 40, England’s hopes look forlorn. And with Jaiswal feasting on England’s bowlers so greedily, I very much doubt that would be enough.
An alternative view:
Hard to knock Jacob Bethell there. He’s accelerated well after a very watchful start, and played a helpful hand. Having reached fifty, he tried to lead a charge towards 260-270, but has to go. It felt a little high, that, but DRS disagreed!
11:07 AM GMT
Wicket!
Bethell lbw b Jadeja 51 Not only pitching in line but pitching on middle and it struck him on the left hip as the left-hander knelt to sweep. FOW 220/8
11:06 AM GMT
India review
Bethell lbw b Jadeja Where did it pitch? They will look at a run out, too.
11:04 AM GMT
OVER 42: ENG 218/7 (Bethell 50 Rashid 2)
Fabulous shot from Bethell to walk down to Shami to smack a drive on the up through cover for four. He chisels out the yorker for a single to mid-off to bring up his fifty and Rashid chips in by rolling his wrists on a pull for a single through square leg having failed to beat midwicket with his first attempt the ball before.
11:00 AM GMT
OVER 41: ENG 211/7 (Bethell 44 Rashid 1)
Bethell punches two through cover off Kuldeep and then fences one down to the pint sweeper. After Rashid’s full pardon following that grave miscarriage of justice, he drives handsomely for a single down to long-off.
10:58 AM GMT
NOT OUT
He was right, he didn’t hit it. But he took his time to consult Bethell before reviewing.
10:57 AM GMT
England review
Rashid c Rahul b Kuldeep Cutting. Everyone went up. But he thinks he didn’t hit it.
10:55 AM GMT
OVER 40: ENG 206/7 (Bethell 40 Rashid 0)
Bethell pans a single off the back foot through cover off Shami to bring up England’s 200. Carse top edges a pull for four but is castled a couple of balls later, going for the big shot. Good move to send Rashid in ahead of Archer with so many balls left but England need Bethell both to stay and accelerate in the final 10.
Brydon Carse bowled all ends up by Shami, and the bail flies outside the 30-yard circle! Shami is one of a number of India bowlers with outstanding economy rates in this innings. They have not been able to get any of the experienced guys away.
10:52 AM GMT
Wicket!
Carse b Shami 10 Rohit brings up long-off and long-on to tempt Carse to hit over the top and he accepts the invitation to one that nipped back through the get as he swung for the bleachers. FOW 206/7
10:51 AM GMT
OVER 39: ENG 199/6 (Bethell 38 Carse 5)
Kuldeep, who has one Ranji Trophy match under his belt since being injured during India’s defeat by New Zealand at Bengaluru last October, stays on for an eighth over and puts four dot balls into the scorebook as England fail to pierce the offside ring untl Carse strokes a single down the ground and Bethell drills one to the cover sweeper.
10:47 AM GMT
OVER 38: ENG 192/6 (Bethell 37 Carse 4)
Back to a currency of singles off Axar as they milk the left-arm finger spinner for five, Carse’s three into the offside, Bethell with a pair of sweeps, orthodox and reversed.
10:44 AM GMT
OVER 37: ENG 192/6 (Bethell 35 Carse 1)
Bethell grasps the nettle after the first five deliveries of Kuldeep’s seventh over yield only two leg-byes and two singles by sweeping hard for four.
10:41 AM GMT
OVER 36: ENG 184/6 (Bethell 30 Carse 0)
Bethell has chewed up a lot of balls – 48 for his 30 – which will be OK if he is there at the end. Livingstone was unnerved by Harshit’s vicious bouncer that whooshed past his eyebrows and never recovered his equilibrium.
Liam Livingstone is a deeply, deeply frustrating cricketer. Much was riding on him there, as the senior partner alongside Bethell.
10:36 AM GMT
Wicket!
Livingstone c Rahul b Harshit 5 Surprised by a sharp bouncer two balls before, Livingstone charges Harshit Rana who drags his length down and the right-hander nicks off as he tried to pull. England in a deep hole now. Looks like a 325-350 pitch. FOW 183/6
10:34 AM GMT
OVER 35: ENG 182/5 (Bethell 29 Livingstone 5)
Double change as Rohit also brings back Kuldeep who is usually Kryptonite for England’s lower order. Livingstone hustles a two behind square leg and gleans another single with a flick fine of the square leg umpire. Bethell clumps a drive through cover that seemed destined for four until Gill ran and dived to his left to half-stop it and spring to his feet to grab the rebund and keep them down to a single.
10:30 AM GMT
OVER 34: ENG 178/5 (Bethell 28 Livingstone 2)
Harshit comes back for his third spell on debut and Livingstone gets off the mark by opening the face to steer a single down to third man. He doubles his score with a square drive while Bethell ends the over with a fine late cut for four. Lovely shot.
10:25 AM GMT
OVER 33: ENG 170/5 (Bethell 22 Livingstone 0)
The problem with building a platform diligently without fireworks after losing too many early wickets is that if your best batsman falls before having the opportunity to go berserk, you are likely to be left short. Incumbent on Bethell, who was given time by his captain to bed in, to kick on now.
Drinks.
10:21 AM GMT
Wicket!
Buttler c Hardik b Axar 52 Don’t think that was dot-ball pressure. The ball was a pie and deserved to disappear into the stands at long leg but it didn’t bounce much and stuck in the pitch so he top-edged the pull to shortish fine leg instead. FOW 170/5
10:20 AM GMT
OVER 32: ENG 167/4 (Buttler 51 Bethell 20)
This time it’s Buttler who is bogged down after they start the over with two singles. Four dot balls follow as Hardik targets the top of off, giving Buttler no room and frustrating him.
10:19 AM GMT
OVER 31: ENG 165/4 (Buttler 50 Bethell 19)
Buttler raises his bat after bringing up his half-century with a steer through backward point for a single. Bethell is pined when reverse sweeping and India bellow an appeal. The umpire shakes his head and Rahul persuades them not to review, shrewdly as it turns out as it pitched outside the line, was missing the stumps and hit him on the glove not pad. Details, details...
10:11 AM GMT
OVER 30: ENG 162/4 (Buttler 48 Bethell 18)
Bethell gets stuck again for a couple of dot balls from Hardik then plays tip and run to cover to raise the 50 partnership off 67 balls. Buttler opens the face to take his second tight single of the over to cover but Bethell fails to beat the infield and India get out of another over for a very acceptable price of only three runs. Plenty of time left but they can’t leave Livingstone with the onus of kicking on because we know it comes off maybe twice in 10 knocks.
10:07 AM GMT
OVER 29: ENG 159/4 (Buttler 46 Bethell 17)
That boundary brought a smile to the faces of both Bethell and Buttler and they are busier in this Axar over, pushing and reverse-sweeping four singles and a two for Buttler down to Harshit at long-off, noting it was a quick bowler chasing it and coming back for the second comfortably.
10:02 AM GMT
OVER 28: ENG 153/4 (Buttler 42 Bethell 15)
Hardik comes on for Shami and gives Bethell a treat, a bouncer that is 10mph slower than Shami’s, and he is in like Flynn, hooking it high over fine leg for six! Short boundary there.
10:00 AM GMT
OVER 27: ENG 145/4 (Buttler 41 Bethell 8)
One of the gripes about TNT Sports’ coverage apart from taking the BCCI feed is the monotony of four adverts on constant rotation throughout the day. Axar replaces Jadeja who has one for 21 off six so far and the other orthodox, if beanpole, left-arm spinner also keeps them down to three singles. Bethell tries to break the stranglehold with a big swipe across the line but it erans him only a single off the bottom edge.
09:56 AM GMT
OVER 26: ENG 142/4 (Buttler 39 Bethell 7)
Terrific from Shami to the left-handed Bethell, angling it in to off-stump from round the wicket and nibbling it away as the batsman’s hands flirt with it. He middles a couple of drives for singles but three an over from England will leave their parsnips distinctly unbuttered.
09:54 AM GMT
OVER 25: ENG 138/4 (Buttler 37 Bethell 5)
Jadeja wheels away, spinning his web, trying to entangle Bethell so he looks up and sees the over counter racing round and takes a risk. The spinner is more of a skidder today but Bethell manages to cope with the pace and the sliders to work a pair of singles down to long on while Buttler uses his bottom hand to flick a single through midwicket.
09:48 AM GMT
OVER 24: ENG 135/4 (Buttler 36 Bethell 3)
Imperative these two hang about a bit because Livingstone’s speciality is the last 15 and Carse’s the last five. Back to pace for India who call Shami up for a second spell. Only Buttler’s single, tapped to cover, and a bye when Rahul parries a very sharp bouncer to Bethell who managed to jerk his head out of the way in the nick of time after rashly/bravely coming down the pitch.
09:45 AM GMT
OVER 23: ENG 133/4 (Buttler 35 Bethell 3)
A rare Jadeja half-volley and Buttler RSVPs greedily with a terrific on dive, opening his stance so wide to hit it more through midwicket than mid-on. Bethell uses his feet but is done by the dip and pace. Thankfully he adjusts in the nick of time to avoid yotking himself and squeezes out a single off the inside edge to fine leg.
09:42 AM GMT
OVER 22: ENG 126/4 (Buttler 29 Bethell 2)
Some respite for England with a pair of fours for Buttler, the first when Kuldeep’s line fails and he floats one too far outside off and Buttler square drives it through point. The next comes when the bowler’s length fails and he drags it down. The palm of Rohit’s hand hits his firehead long before the ball from Buttler’s pull stroke crosses the rope at backward square.
09:39 AM GMT
OVER 21: ENG 117/4 (Buttler 20 Bethell 2)
India are smothering England with their spinners which is what happens when you lose too many wickets in the powerplay. Jadeja rattles through his six balls in just over a minute at a cost of only three singles.
Here’s Jaiswal’s blinder from earlier:
09:36 AM GMT
OVER 20: ENG 114/4 (Buttler 18 Bethell 1)
Bethell gets off the mark with a legside flick and Buttler takes two singles off Kuldeep with an off drive and another whisk through midwicket.
09:31 AM GMT
OVER 19: ENG 111/4 (Buttler 15 Bethell 0)
Jadeja is a master of manipulation, his stock ball not turning at all and then ripping one through the defences with fizz and going on with the arm.
09:27 AM GMT
Wicket!
Root lbw b Jadeja 19 Ach! umpire’s call on height, ball-tracking showing it just trimming the off bail. He was done for pace as he shuffled back to whip it through the onside ans struck on the back leg, squared up. Nelson strikes! FOW 111/4
09:27 AM GMT
England review
Root lbw b Jadeja He went upstairs immediately. Hit by the quicker one above the knee on the back leg. No bat. Was it too high?
09:26 AM GMT
OVER 18: ENG 110/3 (Root 19 Buttler 15)
Root is still as fit as a fiddle and sprints back for two after cuffing one off his pads fine round the corner. Buttler gleans two singles with off-side drives as Kuldeep throws the ball out wider to turn his stock ball back into off-stump.
09:24 AM GMT
OVER 17: ENG 104/3 (Root 15 Buttler 13)
Jadeja is up to his old tricks of racing through an over by bowling dot balls and haring back to his mark, turning and wheeling in again. The dot balls come from his usual darts, the two singles when he varies his pace down a touch and goes for flight.
09:21 AM GMT
OVER 16: ENG 102/3 (Root 14 Buttler 12)
Kuldeep tormented England in last year’s Test series and England are thus treating him with due caution. As a left arm wrist-spinner, his stock ball turns in to the right-handers and both work him with the turn for singles. Buttler reads the quicker one too and drills another single through cover.
09:16 AM GMT
OVER 15: ENG 99/3 (Root 13 Buttler 10)
Jadeja rattles through his overs and Buttler, wise to that, makes him wait between the third and fourth deliveries. They pick him off for three singles and then Root uses that slick right wrist to work two through backward square.
09:10 AM GMT
OVER 14: ENG 94/3 (Root 10 Buttler 8)
Ah, that’s lovely from Root, reverse-sweeping Kuldeep for four and then shuffling back in his crease to wait for the turn before stroking it handsomely through cover for three.
Time for drinks.
09:09 AM GMT
OVER 13: ENG 85/3 (Root 3 Buttler 6)
A pair of singles each, Root using his feet then adjusting to flick Hardik through square leg and then cover driving for another. Buttler’s two come from a Harrow drive through long leg off a thick inside edge and another mis-hit, aiming for mid-off he claws it through mid-on.
09:02 AM GMT
OVER 12: ENG 81/3 (Root 1 Buttler 4)
Rohit sticks with Harshit for a fifth over and the debutant is also played circumspectly by Buttler as he tries to build some foundations for a middle-order rescue act. Good bowling too, tight line on off stump with some movement off a good length in to the right-hander but after five dot balls Harshit bangs one in and it doesn’t trampoline like the one for Brook so Buttler can fetch it and pull it for four behind square.
08:57 AM GMT
OVER 11 ENG 77/3 (Root 1 Buttler 0)
Root plays out a maiden from Hardik, hard length and heavy pace outside off, as England try to catch their breath.
08:55 AM GMT
OVER 10: ENG 77/3 (Root 1 Buttler 0)
A powerplay that was going swimmingly for England is upended after a moment of madness running and two wickets for the debutant Harshit in his fourth over.
Horrible few minutes to end the powerplay for England. They’ve lost three for two. Root needs to do his thing here, and Jos Buttler needs to remember just how much time there is left in the innings. This is a great batting surface and India have a batting lineup that could chase anything.
08:51 AM GMT
Wicket!
Brook c Rahul b Harshit 0 His miserable run of form on tour continues as, surprised by the bounce, he fends it off his ribcage and gloves it down the legside. FOW 77/3
08:48 AM GMT
Wicket!
Duckett c Jaiswal b Harshit 32 Could not go on to make amends as he spliced a pull to midwicket who made a terrific catch, turning on his heel and making a good 15m to take it just above the grass as he dived headlong for it. FOW 77/2
08:47 AM GMT
OVER 9: ENG 75/1 (Duckett 31 Root 0)
Awful running and England shoot themselves in the foot. Wouldn’t be surprised if Salt hurt his other foot by kicking lockers in the dressing room after walking off. Still, that was England’s best ODI partnership since December 2023, small sample size but they did play eight times last year.
08:41 AM GMT
Wicket!
Salt run out 43 Sawn off by his partner Duckett after Iyer chased down Salt’s crashing square cut. Salt set off for a third, which there seemed plenty of time for but Duckett had dawdled the second and sent him back... far too late. What an almighty c0ck-up. FOW 75/1
Oh dear! England were in total control, no wicket in sight, and Salt has run himself out looking for a third! At one point, he and Duckett were basically at the same end there, and he’s run out by half a pitch.
08:40 AM GMT
OVER 8: ENG 71/0 (Salt 40 Duckett 30)
Rohit turns to spin in the powerplay and calls up the tall Axar rather than Jadeja of his two left-arm spinners. Salt steps away to the legside and nails a drive through cover for four. He does the same to the next one, taking a stride into the legside to open up extra cover but this time Rohit makes a parrying stop and gets up to hurl the ball to the non-striker’s but the batsman was already home.
AB de Duckett deploys his array of sweeps, crunching an orthodox one for four through square leg and then reverses the next to collar it through point for another.
08:34 AM GMT
OVER 7: ENG 56/0 (Salt 34 Duckett 21)
Kuldeep makes a complete Horlicks off a Duckett uppercut, running in to grab it from the boundary, misjudging his dive and the ball skids and carroms underneath him for four. Rohit gives him the old double teapot (a sugar bowl?) But with Kuldeep there’s plenty of smooth to go with the rough of his fielding.
08:31 AM GMT
OVER 6: ENG 52/0 (Salt 34 Duckett 17)
After Harshit’s maiden in his preceding over, Salt gives it some pongo, trying a pick up shot intended for square leg off the first ball, but sending it for six off the top edge, no control but enough contact for it to sail over the keeper. He walked across to that and uses his feet all over towards point and down the ground. The next ball is dispatched for four with a withering, punchy drive and he follows that with a slog-swept six, a heave over midwicket for four and, after the respite of a dot ball for poor Harshit, a pull with no rolled wrists that goes into orbit over square leg for six! Three sixes and two fours from the over!
Very smart batting from England. Rana has been taken down there, for 26 in the over. He probably has to be taken off now. And Shami is blowing a bit, having spent an over off the field. Seven of the last eight balls have gone for boundaries.
08:25 AM GMT
OVER 5: ENG 26/0 (Salt 8 Duckett 17)
Rahul, preferred to Pant behind the stumps today, makes a fine diving stop to prevent a legside wide hooping away for four. Shami, round the wicket to Duckett, gives him some fullish tempters and the left-hander takes them on but is frustrated by the field and his own lack of timing. The wide apart, India rack up 13 successive dot balls until Duckett skips down to break the shackles and cuffs the ball for four even through mid-off even though the batface closed as he lost his bottom-hand grip.
He goes again off the last ball and shovels it over mid-on for four though Rohit is miffed that Hardik, who leapt for it, didn’t get there. Was he in the wrong position, walked in too far or jumped feebly. Shami gives him a Paddington Bear stare and walks off the field at the end of the over.
That is a bizarre bit of fielding from Hardik Pandya. He moved in to take the catch at mid-on, and the ball flew over his head! England should be fairly happy with this start. I was just thinking how patient Phil Salt has been, then he played a huge chof360 and top edged over the keeper.
08:19 AM GMT
OVER 4: ENG 17/0 (Salt 8 Duckett 9)
Harshit is a quick learner, finding a much tighter line and heavier length which earns him a maiden by cramping Salt on the back foot and even jags one back sharply and the opener cops a painful one right in the solar plexus. He tries to style it out but can’t help wincing and giving it a quick rub.
08:16 AM GMT
OVER 3: ENG 17/0 (Salt 8 Duckett 9)
Duckett starts the over at a decent lick with a flashing off-drive between mid-off and extra for four and then a leg glance for two but Shami ties him up with four dot balls, beating him twice outside off with fuller balls that wobble rather than nipping away.
08:10 AM GMT
OVER 2: ENG 11/0 (Salt 8 Duckett 3)
Harshit Rana, the concussion sub from last Friday, is given t’other new ball on debut and starts round the wicket to Duckett with a snorter that was pure Ambrose, angling in, back of a length and jagging away to scream past the edge.
Duckett finally gets England moving with back-foot punch in front of square. Would have been four but for Jadeja sprinting after it and diving headlong to claw it back from the rope and they run three. It delayed the boundary by only one ball as Salt flays at a back of a length delivery outside off with a vertical bat and it flies through cover at very catchable height, but mercifully wide of the fielder, for four.
A second soon follows with a big wipe across the line that comes off the toe and inside half of the bat but still makes it to the midwicket boundary.
08:05 AM GMT
OVER 1: ENG 0/0 (Salt 0 Duckett 0)
Good shape from Shami to start, curbing away from the right-handed Salt which means when he drives he has to reach for it and doesn’t middle it enough to beat mid-off. There’s bounce too and Shami makes him play and miss outside off on the back foot, the ball whistling past the edge up by the splice.
So Salt decides to use his feet, walks down and has a big swish at another outswinger, another play and miss. He stands still for the last ball and cuts it hard and low but straight to Jadeja, the best cover point I’ve seen in the past 15 years, and he snatches it on the bounce. Maiden.
08:01 AM GMT
Mohammed Shami has new ball
Or one of them, anyway, and Phil Salt is on strike. Two slips.
07:58 AM GMT
Grade one
Bit of a kit clash today, with both teams in a similar shade of baby blue. You might notice that a number of England players have gone full skin head. Word is that team barber Brydon Carse made a mistake when cutting Harry Brook’s hair.
07:55 AM GMT
In other news
Marcus Stoinis has withdrawn from Australia’s Champions Trophy squad and retired from ODI cricket:
07:47 AM GMT
Twelve years on, Root returns to Nagpur
Good afternoon from Nagpur, where it’s mighty hot and England have learnt from their torrid World Cup campaign in 2023 and chosen to bat first. They will field in cooler conditions under lights.
India look ridiculously strong. Somehow, the genius Jaiswal is only making his ODI debut today. That might be the format he’s best suited to. Virat Kohli is sitting out, which will upset the few thousand people who have turned up wearing shirts with his name on the back!
England are having problems balancing their side in what is likely to be the post-Ben Stokes world. As a fast bowler in the top five, he was gold dust. As it is, England have three frontline quicks, a brilliant spinner in Adil Rashid, then three part-time options to pick up the final 10 overs. One of those is Joe Root, on the ground he made his Test debut a little over 12 years ago. No survivors from that game in this England squad, although Kevin Pietersen – who he joined in the middle in his first innings – and Graeme Swann are on commentary duty.
07:38 AM GMT
Virat Kohli hurt his right knee at practice last night and is out
India Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
07:37 AM GMT
England have won the toss
And have decided to bat first.
Rohit: “We wanted to bowl first. We want to come out and be aggressive at the start and see what we can do thereafter. This series presents us fresh opportunity to come out and play well.”
Buttler: “We have got a nice thing going in the dressing room. The group’s nice and tight. Nice to have Joe Root. Morale’s good. Baz is good at making sure guys are in good headspace.Great atmosphere, it’s sure to be a good game. Morale’s good. We had our moments we just didn’t play well enough for long enough. Playing against a top side in their own conditions. It’s a tough test but one we’re excited about.”
04:36 PM GMT
England named their XI yesterday
England Ben Duckett, Phil Salt (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood.
04:35 PM GMT
Preview: Familar faces, familar foes
Good morning and welcome to live coverage of the first ODI of three on England’s pre-Champions Trophy tour of India. Today’s match in Nagpur, where India have won last three, is England’s 53rd against India in India and their record, winning 17 compared with 34 defeats, is not promising. Nor is their recent record against all-comers in the 50-over game in India, having won only six of their last 15 in bilaterals and global tournaments.
This is the first meeting between the two in this format since the 2023 World Cup where England, the defending champions, impressively restricted the runaway leaders and favourites to 229 for nine at Lucknow only to be blown away for 129 after Joe Root was pinned leg-before by Jasprit Bumrah for a golden duck and Ben Stokes soon followed him back to the hutch pursued by a mallard. There will be no Bumrah today but Mohammed Shami should be there to lead the attack with Arshdeep Singh and it was he who inflicted most damage back in 2023, taking four for 22.
India have barely played ODIs since their golden run of 10 successive victories in their home World Cup was abruptly terminated in the final by inveterate party poopers Australia. Today they have put the old gang back together for one more heist at the top of the order as Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant are reunited in the squad to join mystery-spinning stalwart Kuldeep Yadav and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. It’s a bold move given how well Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma played in the T20s but loyalty to their superstars has been both India’s blessing and curse in the past and, at least against England at home, is likely to be the former. Some fresh blood, too, though: Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made 209, 214* and three fifties in the five Test series against England last year and Varun Chakravarthy, who too 14 wickets in the T20 series against England, are in line for their ODI debuts.
England won three and lost five one-dayers in 2024, winning twice on the three occasions they chased and only once when batting first. Joe Root returns after a year’s rest to be the tiller man at No 3 and it’s encouraging to see Brydon Carse and Saqib Mahmood, both of whom bring variety to the pace battery in the XI. Liam Livingstone came of age in the format last year with that matchwinning, unbeaten 68 at Lord;s against Australia and 124 in Antigua, and one hopes he can kick on after only one good performance in the T20 series. But he will need to improve on his record in India where he has made only 123 runs in eight knocks at an average of 17.57.
