India Needs 259 Runs to Win First ODI Against England

India bowler Axar Patel took four wickets as Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar also contributed with wickets. England captain Harry Brook won the toss and chose to bat first against India in the first one-day international.

Having been swept 2-0 by Ireland and 4-0 by England in a five-match series, India's T20 series have been a disaster. Following a shambolic T20 series, the Men in Blue are looking for an improved showing in 50-over cricket and a number of senior players are back to boost the batting line up. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are returning for India's opening one-day international, giving the squad a significant boost. Gill and Rohit Sharma have a formidable batting partnership with Kohli returning to the side, meaning Yashasvi Jaiswal will have to make way. 

Not selecting Kuldeep Yadav as India's main spinner was criticised as part of four quick bowlers and two spinners (Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Gurnoor Brar and Shivam Dube, with two spin options in Axar Patel and Washington Sundar) by critics.

Despite Brar and Krishna’s early wickets as England were six down, Liam Dawson and Joe Root scored runs without a specialist spinner to help save the day. Former India fast bowler Varun Aaron criticized the team management’s decision, saying it is not appropriate to rely on Bumrah to save India every time.

"India has Kuldeep Yadav. Axar Patel is bowling arm balls into the batter and bowling all those sliders. You have to play around with your speeds and the seam position to get something out of the wicket," Varun said.

“The English batters are setting up to play Axar as an off-spinner. It is very obvious he is not going to turn the ball past the batter. How do you get wickets in the middle overs?Jasprit Bumrah cannot be your answer to all your problems,” he added.