Rohit Sharma ended a poor run of form with his 32nd one-day international (ODI) hundred as India beat England by four wickets in the second one-day cricket international to win the series on Sunday.
Sharma, who last scored a half-century in October last year and averaged less than 11 in his last 16 international innings across the formats, hit a 76-ball century.
India, which won the first ODI in Nagpur by four wickets, took a 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The hosts had also won the preceding T20 series 4-1.
Photo: Reuters
Sharma scored 119 runs off 90 balls, hitting seven sixes and 12 fours, as India finished with 308-6 in 44.3 overs. Shubman Gill hit a second successive half-century in the series — 60 off 52 balls with nine fours and a six.
Earlier, England won the toss and chose to bat first. It scored 304 all out in 49.5 overs. Joe Root top-scored with 69 off 72 balls, while Ben Duckett scored 65 off 56.
Play was halted for 20 minutes because of floodlight failure at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.
One of the seven floodlight towers powered off abruptly during the seventh over of the Indian innings.
Ahmedabad is to host the third ODI tomorrow.
Sharma set a hectic pace as he raced to a half-century off 30 balls. He put on 136 runs for the first wicket with Gill, and the pair appeared unaffected by the floodlight delay.
Gill was bowled by a pinpoint yorker from Jamie Overton in the 17th over.
Kohli, back after a knock to his knee prior to the first ODI, was out for five shortly after. He was caught behind off Adil Rashid.
In hitting seven sixes, Sharma also became the second-highest six-hitter in ODIs — 344 in all, ahead of Chris Gayle’s 331 for West Indies and behind Shahid Afridi’s 351 for Pakistan.
India crossed 200 in the 27th over before Sharma was caught off a full toss from Liam Livingstone in the 30th. He added 70 off 61 balls with Shreyas Iyer, who scored 44.
Iyer and Axar Patel added 38 after Sharma’s dismissal, but the former was run out after a mix-up.
K.L. Rahul was caught behind off Overton and then Hardik Pandya off Gus Atkinson. However, Patel finished unbeaten on 41 off 43 balls and helped India cross the finish line.
In the afternoon, Duckett and Phil Salt (26) had put on 81 off 65 balls for England’s first wicket.
Varun Chakravarthy (1-54) snared his first ODI wicket when Salt was caught off a skier. Chakravarthy was making his ODI debut for the hosts. The 33-year-old is India’s oldest debutant since its inaugural ODI team in 1974 (against England).
Duckett was out caught off Ravindra Jadeja, who took 3-35.
Harry Brook scored 31 off 52 balls, and perished while trying to attack the bowling. Gill caught him running back from mid-off — a stupendous catch off Harshit Rana.
Root and skipper Jos Buttler (34) then added 51 off 54 balls to anchor the English innings and helping the score past 200. Gill took another brilliant catch at mid-off to dismiss Buttler in the 39th over.
The last six wickets fell for 85 runs as the visitors finished with another under-par score despite a good start.
Santiago Castro on Tuesday had an immediate impact off the bench as he scored the goal to send Bologna into the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in 26 years. Bologna won 1-0 against last year’s runners-up, Atalanta BC, and are to play either holders Juventus or Empoli in the final four. Juventus are to host Empoli in their quarter-final on Feb. 26. The last time Bologna reached the semi-finals was in 1999, when they lost 4-2 to ACF Fiorentina. There were chances for both sides in a high-tempo match in Bergamo, but it was Bologna who broke the deadlock 10 minutes from
After nearly six years away from the NBA, New Taipei Kings player Jeremy Lin (林書豪) is set to participate in the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend’s Rising Stars mini-tournament as the coach of Team G League. The NBA announced Monday (U.S. time) that the Taiwanese-American player will join a trio of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers – Tim Hardaway Sr., Chris Mullin, and Mitch Richmond – as honorary coaches for four teams featuring 28 rising talents. "See you soon in the Bay," Lin wrote in an Instagram story sharing the news. As the All-Star Weekend will take place at
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38
RSS