England in India: Brendon McCullum suffers defeat in first one-day international in charge
2025-02-06
Category: sports

First one-day international, Nagpur England 248 (47.4 overs): Buttler 52, Bethell 51; Jadeja 3-26, Harshit 3-53India 251-6 (38.4 overs) Gill 87, Iyer 59; Mahmood 2-47India won by four wickets; lead series 1-0Scorecard
England suffered another disappointing defeat in Brendon McCullum's first one-day international in charge as India won their series opener in Nagpur by four wickets.On the back of a 4-1 loss in the preceding T20 series, Jos Buttler's England wasted a good start with the bat to be bowled out for 248.Opener Phil Salt crashed 43 from 26 balls, including 26 from one Harshit Rana over, but his calamitous run-out began a collapse of three wickets for two runs in eight balls from 71-0.Captain Buttler threatened a successful rebuild before miscuing on 52, leaving Jacob Bethell to bat with the lower order.The 21-year-old left-hander started slowly and had just begun to open his arms when he was pinned lbw for 51. England were dismissed in 47.4 overs.India fell to 19-2 in reply but Shubman Gill stuck a fine 87 from 96 balls to take his side to the brink of victory.They stumbled late on - Gill's dismissal one of three wickets for 14 runs with fewer than 30 needed - but India still completed their chase with 68 balls remaining.The second ODI in the three-match series is on Sunday.
Familiar feelings for England
After a convincing defeat in the T20s, McCullum now has these three games to turn around England's 50-over side before their Champions Trophy opener against Australia on 22 February.England come into this contest on the back of three consecutive ODI series defeats and this latest loss was littered with familiar struggles - those which have dogged England's 50-over cricket since they won the World Cup at Lord's in 2019.There was a collapse â Salt, Ben Duckett and the out-of-form Harry Brook fell in a flurry â before the loss of regular wickets, including the returning Joe Root for 19, meant they were unable to turn the tide.They were bowled out for the 21st time in 44 ODI innings since the start of 2022.When their turn to bowl came, Jofra Archer conceded only two runs and nicked off Yashasvi Jaiswal in his first three overs but his next two cost 23. Despite Rohit Sharma chipping Saqib Mahmood to mid-wicket for two, India took 71 from the first 10 overs.From there, England's bowling was too often wayward and rarely threatening. Shreyas Iyer capitalised to take 59 from 36 balls and a partnership of 108 between Gill and Axar Patel took India to the brink.Axar was bowled by a fine leg-spinner by Adil Rashid with 28 runs needed, KL Rahul tamely chipped the leg-spinner a return catch and Gill's mis-timed pull went to mid-on.That only made the scoreline closer look closer than it should have. England were well beaten.
Mix-up sparks England's struggles 
Little went right for England after they gifted India their breakthrough in the ninth over.After Salt cut behind point, Duckett ambled the first two runs and sent back his partner as he set off for a third. Salt was already mid-pitch and had no chance of recovering before Iyer's return from the deep.Four balls later, Duckett was brilliantly caught by Jaiswal running back at square leg off Harshit, who then had Brook fending a short-ball down the leg side for a three-ball duck.Whereas England were spun out attempting big shots in the T20s, this was more a meek slide.Root went lbw to a quicker one from Ravindra Jadeja before a partnership of 59 between Buttler and Bethell.Buttler accumulated steadily, the England skipper hitting only four fours in his half-century. He could only laugh at his misfortune when he managed to toe-end Axar's long hop to short fine leg.The biggest positive for England was Bethell, who overcame his early struggles to reach a second ODI fifty in 62 balls. But hopes of a late surge failed to materialise. Liam Livingstone nicked behind and Brydon Carse was bowled swinging at the other end.
'We're trying to put the opposition under pressure' - what they said
England captain Jos Buttler: "Disappointed to not win. We got off to a fantastic start, the two opening guys were really aggressive. Losing four wickets close together got us down. We saw how the wicket played, 40 runs would've been crucial."It's not how we want to play. We're trying to put the opposition under pressure and try to keep the momentum going for as long as possible."India captain Rohit Sharma: "We all knew we were coming off a long time not playing this format. It didn't start off well, with the openers putting on pressure, but the way we came back was superb."This is a long-ish format when you have time to come back in the game. When things start coming away from you, it doesn't mean it'll keep coming away."