Dhawan stars as India thrash England in first ODI

Opener Shikhar Dhawan smashed 98 and debutant pace bowler Prasidh Krishna claimed four wickets as India thrashed England by 66 runs in the opening one-day international on Tuesday.

Dhawan started strongly while KL Rahul, 62
not out, and Krunal Pandya, unbeaten 58 off 31 balls, steered the hosts to
317-5 after being put into bat first at the start of the three ODIs in Pune.

Chasing 318 for victory, England were
bowled out for 251 in 42.1 overs despite a blazing 94 by Jonny Bairstow to
trail the series 1-0.

Krishna, who returned ODI figures of 4-54,
a best by an Indian on debut, and fellow quick bowler Shardul Thakur shared
seven wickets between them and turned the game on its head after Bairstow put
on a blazing opening stand of 135 with Jason Roy.

Krishna broke the stand to send back Roy
out for 46 and then struck in his next over with the key wicket of Ben Stokes
for one.

He nearly got his third on the next ball
when Morgan, who came into bat with four stitches on the webbing of his hand,
edged his first ball to Kohli at slip but the Indian captain dropped the catch.

Thakur soon took over from Krishna to deny
Bairstow his hundred after getting the opener caught at deep midwicket.

He then struck twice in his next over to
send back Morgan, for 22, and Jos Buttler, lbw for two, as England slipped
further to 176-5.

Moeen Ali made a fighting 30 before falling
to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who combined with Pandya and Krishna to wipe off the tail.

For India, left-hander Pandya, who played
alongside his younger brother Hardik Pandya, put on an unbroken stand of 112
with wicketkeeper-batsman Rahul as India finished with a flourish.

Stokes struck first with his pace bowling,
claiming Rohit Sharma caught behind for 28. He returned figures of 3-34 from
eight overs.

Dhawan put on 105 for the second wicket
with Kohli. He made his 31st ODI fifty with a six off leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

Kohli reached a run-a-ball fifty but fell
for 56 to pace bowler Mark Wood.

Dhawan, who hit 11 fours and two sixes in
his 106-ball knock, fell short of his hundred after he mistimed a pull off
Stokes.

Pandya completed his 50 in 26 balls to
record the fastest fifty for an ODI debutant and later choked up with emotion
while dedicating the innings to his father who died in January.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/sports/2021/03/dhawan-stars-as-india-thrash-england-in-first-odi/