1st ODI: Kohli, Jadhav slam tons as India cruise to three wicket win against England, lead series 1-0

Skipper Virat Kohli and local boy Kedar Jadhav scored blistering ton each to guide India to a sensational three-wicket win over England in the first ODI against England in Pune on Sunday. Chasing 351, India were four down with just 63 runs on board, before Kohli and Jadhav put up a solid 200-run partnership to rescue India’s sinking ship. Though the duo fell much before the target, the tailenders didn’t let the skipper’s effort go in vain and held their nerves to script a brilliant win.

Earlier, Kohli won the toss and asked England to bat stating that he would like to take advantage of the dew that expected in the evening. India took the field and had their first breakthrough in the sixth over. Alex Hales was the man to fall to a direct hit from Jasprit Bumrah. But Joe Root, who came in next stuck with Jason Roy. The duo then put up a 69 run partnership for the second wicket before the latter was stumped by MS Dhoni to a Ravindra Jadeja delivery. It was the first of three major partnerships that took England’s total to 350. The last of the three between Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali was the one that did the most damage to India. England ended up smashing 105 runs in the last eight overs, giving India a total that was just 50 runs shy of 400.

KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan opened India’s stint at the crease. Dhawan was making his comeback after recovering from an injury. it turned out to be an anticlimax of a return for him as he was the first to depart for India. Dhawan made just one run and walked before the end of the third over. Virat Kohli came up with his batting gear for the first time as Indian ODI captain. Kohli could do nothing but stand and watch as he saw Rahul fall, followed by Yuvraj Singh and then his predecessor MS Dhoni. Yuvraj did smash the ball around the park but he couldn’t stay around for long. After Dhoni, in came Kedar Jadhav and he turned out to be the man who would stand with his captain.

What followed was a carnage in which Jadhav and Kohli notched up 200 runs in under 25 overs. In the process both notched up their respective 100s. But both weren’t around to finish things off for India. Kohli was the first to fall. It was a rare blemish in an otherwise perfect innings when Kohli as he tried to pull a short one from outside off. Stokes had bowled a slower one and Kohli ended up taking a thick outside edge. The ball went high but didn’t travel far and David Willey held on top the ball gleefully. The stadium went silent for a moment. Then they went up in applause to appreciate the batting masterclass they had just witnessed from the Indian captain.

Jadhav had started struggling with cramps even before he got to his 100 and it seemed to have only been aggravated after he crossed the mark and lost Kohli at the other end. But he decided compensate his lack of ability to run by dealing with sixes and fours. It was on one such occasion that he hit a ball straight down the throat of Jake Ball at square leg. But India were already in a strong position by that time. They did lose the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja but Hardik Pandya and Ravichandran Ashwin took India over the line with consecutive sixes. Kedhar Jadhav was the man of the match.