LONDON: Joe Root insisted England must stay ‘ruthless’ when they go in search of the One-day International series victory over India at his Headingley home ground on Tuesday.

Root’s well-constructed 113 laid the platform for an 86-run win at Lord’s on Saturday that saw England square the three-match contest at 1-1.

His innings, allied to fifties from captain Eoin Morgan (53) and David Willey (50 not out) helped England post a total of 322-7.

India could only manage 236 all out in reply as they batted out their full 50 overs, with England fast bowler Liam Plunkett taking 4- 46.

Victory saw England remain at number one, with India second, in the ICC ODI standings.

It was a win made all the more satisfying by the fact England, the 2019 World Cup hosts, had suffered an eight-wicket drubbing in Thursday’s series-opener at Trent Bridge.

“That ruthless side of the ODI team really came out in this game,” said Test skipper Root. “And we’re seeing it more and more. Hopefully we can back that up and finish the series off now.”

England were faltering at 239-6 but Willey picked a good time to make his maiden ODI half-century, with his innings coming during a quickfire seventh-wicket stand of 83 with Root.

“David came in and took a lot of pressure off me, to help us turn in what was at least a par score, so it was a fabulous effort from him,” said Root.

Prior to Saturday, Root had faced just three deliveries from Kuldeep Yadav, whose left-arm wrist-spin had been proving something of a mystery for England’s batsmen.

They certainly appeared to have little idea of how to play him while Kuldeep was enjoying a stunning return of 6-25 at Trent Bridge.

But Root looked far more assured at Lord’s, even if Kuldeep still took 3-68.

Root was dropped recently from England’s T20 team and there have been suggestions that his brand of patient accumulation is no longer suited to the modern one-day game.

No India batsman made a fifty and the tourists struggled after England’s quicks took three wickets early in their chase.

“When we lost three wickets in around three overs that really hurt us,” said Virat Kohli, the India captain, who was out for 45.

With India desperately needing quick runs, M.S. Dhoni produced a curiously laboured innings of 37 off 59 balls — a display that saw the former captain booed by some sections of the normally polite crowd at Lord’s.

But Kohli defended Dhoni, who on Saturday became just the 12th man to score 10,000 ODI runs but the only one with an average of over 50, by saying: “When he does well, people call him the best finisher ever and when they don’t go well, they all pounce on him. We all have bad days in cricket and today was a bad one for everyone, not just him.”

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

J.J. Roy c U. Yadav b Kuldeep 40
J.M. Bairstow b Kuldeep 38
J.E. Root run out 113
E.J.G. Morgan c Dhawan b Kuldeep 53
B.A. Stokes c Dhoni b Pandya 5
J.C. Buttler c Dhoni b U. Yadav 4
Moeen Ali c Sharma b Chahal 13
D.J. Willey not out 50

EXTRAS (LB1, W-3, NB-2) 6

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 322

FALL OF WKTS: 1-69, 2-86, 3-189, 4-203, 5-214, 6-239, 7-322.

DID NOT BAT: L.E. Plunkett, A.U. Rashid, M.A. Wood.

BOWLING: U.T. Yadav 10-0-63-1 (1nb, 1w); Kaul 8-0-59-0; Pandya 10-0-70-1 (2w); Chahal 10-0-43-1 (1nb); Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-68-3; Raina 2-0-18-0.

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma b Wood 15
S. Dhawan c Stokes b Willey 36
V. Kohli lbw b Moeen 45
K.L. Rahul c Buttler b Plunkett 0
S.K. Raina b Rashid 46
M.S. Dhoni c Stokes b Plunkett 37
H.H. Pandya c Buttler b Plunkett 21
U.T. Yadav st Buttler b Rashid 0
Kuldeep Yadav not out 8
S. Kaul lbw b Plunkett 1
Y.S. Chahal c Stokes b Willey 12

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-13) 15

TOTAL (all out, 50 overs) 236

FALL OF WKTS: 1-49, 2-57, 3-60, 4-140, 5-154, 6-191, 7-192, 8-215, 9-217.

BOWLING: Wood 5-0-31-1 (1w); Willey 10-0-48-2 (5w); Plunkett 10-1-46-4 (3w); Stokes 5-0-29-0; Moeen Ali 10-0-42-1; Rashid 10-0-38-2.

RESULT: England won by 86 runs; three-match series levelled at 1-1.

UMPIRES: Alex Wharf (England) and Bruce Oxenford (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka).

MATCH REFEREE: David Boon (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Joe Root.

THIRD MATCH: Headingley (D/N), Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2018