July 17: A fantastic bowling spell by lanky pacer Jofra Archer and an unbeaten innings of 99* runs by star batter Joe Root helped England win the second ODI match versus India by four wickets at Cardiff on Thursday.
For his brilliant match winning innings, Joe Root was declared player of the match.
With this win, hosts England have kept the three-match ODI series alive.
The third and final ODI of the ongoing series will be played at Lord’s on Sunday.
Earlier, England skipper Harry Brook won the toss and asked India to bat first.
Virat Kohli (65) and Shreyas Iyer (66) scored brilliant half-centuries, helping India reach a respectable total of 233.
India were bundled out for 233 in 44 overs.
For England, Jofra Archer claimed the prized scalp of Virat Kohli for the second time in a row, and got the wickets of India all-rounders Axar Patel and Shivam Dube as well.
Archer was relentless and ended up his spell of 10 overs with 47-3.
England’s other two pacers, Gus Atkinson and Saqib Mahmood, also bowled well. Atkinson took 50-3 in 9 overs while Mahmood 52-2 in his 9 overs.
Chasing 234-run target, England didn’t have a good start to their innings, losing opening batter Ben Duckett first ball for a duck.
Jasprit Bumrah took his wicket.
Soon, Prasidh Krishna claimed the wicket of Jacob Bethell. England were 8-2 at that stage.
Harry Brook didn’t last long either and fell to Gurnoor Brar for 16.
England were reeling under pressure, 53-3.
However, Joe Root stood there like a rock and forged an important partnership of 41 runs with Sam Curran, another 31-run partnership with Jos Buttler, a match defining 72-run partnership with Will Jacks, and a match-winning partnership of 38 runs with Gus Atkinson.
Root made unbeaten 76* runs in the first ODI and remained undefeated on 99* in the second ODI.
