England-India ODI Series 
1st Match Played at Pune, India on 23 March 2021 
India 317/5 (Shikhar Dhawan 98, KL Rahul 62, Krunal Pandya 58*, Virat Kohli 56, Ben Stokes 3/34, Mark Wood 2/79) 
England 251 All Out in 42.1 Overs (Jonny Bairstow 94, Jason Roy 46, Moeen Ali 30, Pardish Krishna 4/54, Shardul Thakur 3/37, Bhuvneswar Kumar 2/30) 
India Won by66 Runs 
Player Of The Match: Shikhar Dhawan 

India got off to a flying start in the ODI series against current ICC World Champion England with a thumping 66 runs victory in the first match of the series played at Pune. Big boys Dhawan (98), Rahul (62), Kohli (56) led the surge. Krunal Pandya on his debut getting opportunity for batting at 7 blasted an unbeaten 58 in 31 deliveries. India scored a massive 317/5. England despite of a fluent and aggressive opening partnership of 135 between Jason Roy (46) and Jonny Bairstow (94) succumbed to persistent good bowling of diversified Indian attack. They could reach up to 251 all out losing huge by 66 runs. An unknown fellow Pardish Krishna from Karanataka taking 4/54 rocked the world champions. 

World cricket must take note. India is producing fountain of quality cricketers. Name anything quality top, middle or late order batsmen, Quality pace bowlers, spinners (off spinners, leg spinners Orthdox or unorthodox) India has all. Indian team authority must be suffering from sweet shocks of plenty.  Whom to play whom not to?  I do not think England or any team can compete with them in business as usual mode. There has to be something extraordinary or catching them off guard on a bad day.

Winning the toss England chose to field. Shikhar Dhawan returned to open the innings with Rohit.The pair put on 64 playing normal fluent cricket. Rohit could not proceed more than 28 losing wicket to Stokes. Dhawan and Kohli then produced the match defining 105 runs second wicket partnership taking away the gloss of English bowling. Kohli (56) fell to Wood after scoring yet another half century. Dhawan  (98) did not last longer missing his well deserved century. Iyer and Hadik Pandya could not tweet. But Rahul pairing with debutant Krunal Pandya unbeaten 112 runs 6th wicket partnership took the match way out of England’s reach. Rahul remained not out on 62 and Krunal scored 58. 317 that India scored was a run mountain considering diverse and quality Indian bowling attack. 

England nevertheless made a rollicking start with two inform bats men Jason Roy  (46) and Jonny Bairstow (94) unlashing. They produced 135 in the first wicket partnership before Karnataka rookie Pardish removed Roy. Stokes was promoted but got perished by Parish as well in no time. England did not recover from there on losing wickets at regular interval. Apart from 94 that Bairstow scored only Moeen Ali (30) and Morgan (22) could resist a bit. Pardish (4/54) , Shardul Thakur (3/37) and Bhuvneswar (2/ 30)  restricted England to 251 All out. India won big by 66 runs. 

BDST: 1250 HRS, MAR 24, 2021
SMS