England's batsmen brutally attacked the Indian bowling to pull off their highest run chase of 337 against India with ease and 39 deliveries in their kitty and thrashed the hosts by 6 wickets in the second ODI to level the three-match series in Pune on Friday (March 26).
Particularly Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes were outstanding with the bat on Friday, as the two England batsmen launched a brutal attack on Indian bowlers, especially spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya to help the tourists chase down the record target against India.
While Bairstow smashed an entertaining knock of 124 runs off 112 balls, Stokes played ruthless innings (99 off 52 balls) as well as stitched a stunning 175-run stand off just 117 deliveries for the second-wicket to win the second ODI in just 43.3 overs against Team India.
After the crushing defeat, former Indian cricketer Madan Lal has expressed disappointment with the performance of the Indian bowlers, especially spinners Kuldeep and Krunal.
Yadav leaked 84 in his 10 overs while Krunal gave away as many as 72 runs in 6 overs and Lal said he has never seen spinners bowling in such a way in international cricket while claiming India didn’t field their best two spinners in the game and it cost them against England.
Madal Lal told Sports Tak after the second ODI: “When Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow got going, the Indian spinners at the time - Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav - did not bowl well. I have never seen the spinners bowl so poorly in any form of cricket ever.”
He continued, “Every bowler gets hit (by the batsmen), but if you have to get hit, at least, let them be good deliveries, that way there will be chances for the bowlers, but you should not be bowling such poor deliveries. I don’t think India played their best two spinners in the match.”
The former batsman further said the chinaman bowler does not seem to have the kind of variation and control over his bowling at the moment while Krunal was just clueless with the ball on Friday.
He further went on to explain, “Kuldeep Yadav, maybe he is short of game time, but in his bowling, the flight that he earlier used to give the ball and the turn he had, although this wasn’t a turning wicket, but he does not have the spin that he earlier had. He bowled a lot of short-pitched deliveries on Friday. Krunal Pandya was not sure on where he had to bowl.”
Lal signed off by saying, “Rarely have I seen spinners bowling in such a way in international cricket where they are unsure on where to bowl, and that too they were bowling in such a manner to Ben Stokes, who is a powerful hitter.”
