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Key events
5th over: England 35-2 (Moeen 5, Bairstow 0) What a wise move by Rohit to bring back Bumrah from the other end. He went slow-slow-quick-slow and Salt couldn’t get him away. Now he beats Bairstow outside off with a quicker one. By the time the last ball comes around, England are grateful to grab a leg-bye. Only two off the over!
WICKET! Salt b Bumrah 5 (England 34-2)
One brings two! Bumrah bowls a masterly over and Salt is bamboozled by what appears to be an off-break.
4th over: England 33-1 (Salt 5, Moeen 4) Buttler pulled out the reverse sweep right away, played it too early, and the ball looped up off the glove or maybe the toe of the bat to give Rishabh Pant an easy catch. That’s a huge moment – Buttler was in formidable form, and Salt had only faced four balls so itnow it’s as if England have two new batters in. Moeen Ali, Buttler’s vice-captain, promotes himself to give the spinners a right-and-left combo to think about. He and Salt manage to milk the rest of the over, but milking is not enough in the Powerplay. Advantage India.
WICKET! Buttler c Pant b Patel 23 (England 26-1)
The big one! India strike with their first ball of spin.
3rd over: England 26-0 (Salt 2, Buttler 23) Arshdeep continues and Buttler drop-kicks him for four – inches above the hand of Hardik Pandya at mid-off. Arshdeep, perhaps rattled, strays outside leg and Buttler helps it round the corner for four more. That’s 13 off Buttler’s last four balls faced, but Arshdeep bounces back with a pair of dots, taking the pace off. Buttler then retorts with a cut for another four. Thirteen off the over, and Buttler is carrying on where he left off against the USA.
2nd over: England 13-0 (Salt 2, Buttler 10) Here he is, Jasprit Bumrah, the stuttering catapult, the master bowler. Salt shovels a single, Buttler flicks for two, but then Bumrah produces two dots. India’s plan seems to be bowl straight at Salt, wide of off to Buttler … who dabs for four, through the vacant first slip. That was a lovely touch. Honours even so far.
By the way, we need eight more overs for the game to count.
1st over: England 5-0 (Salt 1, Buttler 3) Will India start with spin? No. The new ball is entrusted to Arshdeep Singh, left-arm over. He swings the ball in and Salt clips him for a single. Buttler takes one ball to get a sighter, then goes down the track. Arshdeep sees him coming and drops short; Buttler adjusts too and pulls for two. Arshdeep bowls a slower ball that beats Salt outside off, then another that pops off the pad as he misses a pull. India will be happy enough with that start.
The Indians are out there and now Phil Salt and Joss Buttler join them. Will they be watchful, or try and go for broke in the Powerplay?
“Approximately eight and a half per over? Against this attack? On this pitch?” says Dean Kinsella. “I don’t think so lads. But top effort from Livingstone there.”
An email comes in from Bangalore. “With 75 runs in seven matches,” says B Hari, “poor Virat should abdicate in favour of Jaiswal or Samson, if India get through today!” Nice choice of verb there.
India finish on 171
20th over: India 171-7 (Jadeja 17, Arshdeep 1) The last over, bowled by Chris Jordan, is a little bit of everything – two twos, one six, one wicket, and off the last ball, one missed run-out, as Jordan has too much time to think about an underarm shy. He finishes with 4-0-37-3 and more importantly, India finish with what looks like a solid total on a sticky wicket. Rohit and SKY were immense (104 off 75 between them), Pandya and Jadeja chipped in with sparky cameos (40 off 22), and only Jordan took more than one wicket. England’s spinners were tidy (8-0-49-1 between them); India’s could well be lethal. Time for a walk round the block.
WICKET! Patel c Salt b Jordan 10 (India 170-7)
Patel swings Jordan for six, one-handed, but then tries to go big again and gives a simple catch to long-on.
19th over: India 159-6 (Jadeja 14, Patel 2) Archer is back for his final over, with two left-handers to bowl at. Ravindra Jadeja is up to the challenge, cutting for four, pushing for a hard-run two, and then playing a sweep for four! That was brave. It sends Buttler up to chat to Archer, who goes round the wicket and into the blockhole and saves some face with a single and a dot. He finishes with 4-0-33-1, decent enough, but India have a spring in their step again.
18th over: India 147-6 (Jadeja 3, Patel 1) No hat-trick this time as Axar Patel calmly pushes a single. When Jordan came back on, I typed “This could go either way …” In fact it went both ways: first carnage, then atonement.
WICKET! Dube c Buttler b Jordan 0 (India 146-6)
Golden duck! Dube tries a dab, Jordan does a jig. He’s not going to get another hat-trick, is he?
WICKET! Pandya c Curran b Jordan 23 (India 146-5)
The end of an explosive cameo. After taking a few balls to size up the pitch, Pandya smacks Jordan for two successive sixes, both flat-batted in the V. But then he tries it again and gives takes a rasping catch at long-off.
17th over: India 132-4 (Pandya 9, Jadeja 3) Livingstone, bowling leg-breaks to the right-handed Pandya and off-breaks to the left-handed Jadeja, gets through another over without any damage. He finishes with 4-0-24-0 and nine dot balls, the same as Rashid. Not bad for a bag of Licorice Allsorts.
16th over: India 126-4 (Pandya 6, Jadeja 1) So Buttler turned to his two best bowlers, Archer and Rashid, and they both delivered when England needed them. Archer did concede one four, a gorgeous cut by Pandya off his first ball, but that’s a price he would happily pay for the wicket of SKY.
WICKET! Yadav c Jordan b Archer 47 (India 124-3)
The other big one! Archer goes back-of-the-hand and lures SKY into a skyer. Jofra’s buddy Chris Jordan takes the catch at long-on with aplomb.
15th over: India 118-3 (Yadav 46, Pandya 0) Curran gives way to Livingstone, who immediately gets spanked for four by SKY. But the next two balls are dots, and the two after those. Feeling hemmed in, Yadav plays a loose drive and would be caught at slip if there was one. Livingstone has 3-0-18-0, not bad but not quite what England were looking for on a two-paced turner.
14th over: India 113-3 (Yadav 41, Pandya 0) Buttler kept Rashid on for his fourth over, perhaps because his third had shown signs of improvement, perhaps because Rashid has delivered so many big wickets over the years. India promote Hardik Pandya and he nearly perishes first ball as Rashid drops his pace, finds the edge and sees the ball just drop short of Moeen’s left hand at slip. So Rashid, who was on 2-0-19-0, bounces back to finish with 4-0-25-1. But his last ball kept even lower than the one that got Rohit, so this pitch could be highly perilous for England’s big hitters, facing three specialist spinners.
WICKET! Rohit b Rashid 57 (India 113-3)
The big one! Rashid’s trusted googly does the trick, helped by the low bounce.
Fifty to Rohit!
13th over: India 110-2 (Rohit 56, Yadav 39) Curran returns, to be greeted by a phenomenal shot from SKY – a lofted slice for six over deep backward point. “I see your lofted slice,” says Rohit, “and I raise you a slog-sweep off a seamer.” Six more! That takes Rohit to his third fifty of the World Cup, off 36 balls. What an operator he is. SKY piles in with a pull for four. That’s 19 off the over and suddenly India are lording it.
12th over: India 91-2 (Rohit 49, Yadav 27) Rashid deceives Yadav in the flight as he advances, but his mishit brings a single, not a catch. Rohit brings up the fifty partnership with a single – 50 off 38 balls – but there are further mishits. A better over from Rashid has sent Rohit back to the inelegance he showed for the first four overs.
11th over: India 86-2 (Rohit 48, Yadav 23) Livingstone is dragging the odd ball down but getting away with it. Rohit hits a reverse sweep, only to pick out the man at backward point. Then he goes big and gets six, down the ground. So Livingstone, who went for only seven off his first 11 balls, now has 2-0-13-0, and Rashid has 2-0-19-0. England need the spinners to get a wicket or hand over to the seamers.
10th over: India 77-2 (Rohit 41, Yadav 21) Adil Rashid is back, replacing Jordan, so it’s spin at both ends for the first time. We may see that again when England bat. Buttler appeals for LBW as SKY misses with a sweep at a full toss, but it’s outside the line. Another full toss, and another! Is the ball wet? SKY sweeps the first one for four, with some authority, but has to settle for a single from the second. At the halfway stage, India are sitting pretty.
9th over: India 69-2 (Rohit 39, Yadav 15) Livingstone starts with two dots, cramping Yadav for room. Then a few singles… will Rohit go big off the last ball? He will not, so Livingstone has 1-0-4-0. Respect.
It’s going to be Liam Livingstone, as it would have been if the rain hadn’t intervened. He’s England’s sixth bowler in nine overs.
The players are out there. England go into a huddle. Jos Buttler addresses his men, but not for long. And here come Rohit and SKY.
This is your ten-minute warning
Play will resume, all being well, at 1.40pm in Guyana, 6.40 BST.
“So,” says Damian Clarke, “yer men in pink have a feck-off great umbrella to shield themselves from the sun. Bless .”
The sun goes in, rather inconveniently. And the super-sopper comes out, presumably to attend to those wet patches.
The sun is out
As the umps stroll out for the next inspection, the sun is shining on their pink shirts – but they’re taking a long hard look at some wet patches near the fast bowlers’ run-ups. They may have to treat this pitch like bad light: sorry guys, slow bowlers only. Jasprit won’t object, will he?
“I think a fairer system,” says John Tagg in upstate New York, “would be that, in the event of the game being abandoned, the winner should be the country bringing in the most revenue to the ICC and that would mean … ah yes, it’s already happening.”
The umpires’ indecision is final
There’s just been an inspection, and the umpires’ decision is … to hold another inspection! At quarter-past.
“Anyone nervous yet, Tim?” says Guy Hornsby. “I very much am, but that’s just being an England fan, eh. Those early wickets were crucial, but this is the danger partnership. Both SKY and Rohit look really up for it but with the weather it’s not clear what par is (170-80?) or what we’d be happy chasing. With India you feel beyond their Top 6 they’re more brittle but it won’t matter if they’ve got to 150 before the likes of Jadeja is in. A greasy pitch isn’t going to aid spin either, but we’ll probably not know if fielding first was the right call until the end. Argh.”
“There’s blazing sunshine and dazzling blue skies here in St John’s Wood,” says Yacine Sommar. “Maybe a possible future venue for cricket matches in June.”
Rohit the star
The player of the match so far is Rohit, with 37 off 26 balls. He mistimed a few early on before finding his touch in ominous fashion. England’s left-arm seamers did well to get rid of Kohli and Pant, but that just brought in SKY, who has started better than anyone with 13 off seven. Advantage India, I’d say – their run rate, a little over 8, may not sound like much to write home about, but it could turn out to be formidable on this slow surface.
Rain stops play!
Just as Jos Buttler reaches for the Licorice Allsorts, also known as Liam Livingstone, the rain gets heavier and the umpires take the players off. No overs will be lost yet, though, because of the four-hour safety net that is in place just for this match.
8th over: India 65-2 (Rohit 37, Yadav 13) On comes England’s fifth bowler, Chris Jordan, fresh from his hat-trick against the USA. He starts steadily, with three singles, but then Yadav plays a ramp-flick for six! Ten off the over. “England started well,” says Harsha. Up to a point: they need a wicket. This partnership is 25 off 16 balls, which is good going on this slow surface.
7th over: India 55-2 (Rohit 35, Yadav 5) Here’s Adil Rashid, England’s trump card … but he’s up against Rohit, who greets him with a reverse sweep for four, then a conventional sweep for four more. Rashid manages a couple of dots and finishes by beating SKY’s inside edge. Buttler appeals for LBW, Rashid is not interested. It’s raining, but the umpires have narrowly decided to keep the players on.
6th over: India 46-2 (Rohit 26, Yadav 5) Pant flicked Curran off his toes, but the ball didn’t come on as he expected. Everyone has struggled to find their timing at first … except Suryakumar Yadav, who drives his second ball for a lovely straight four. At the end of the Powerplay, it’s game on! As long as it’s not covers on.
WICKET! Pant c Bairstow b Curran 4 (India 40-2)
Scrap that! Pant’s first attempt at a flourish ends up with a simple catch at midwicket.
5th over: India 40-1 (Rohit 25, Pant 4) Topley continues and Rohit plays his most commanding shot so far, a fierce pull that skims to the boundary at square leg. Then he steps outside leg to play an inside-out drive with lovely timing. After taking four overs to get used to this pitch, he is looking himself again – and allowing Rishabh Pant to settle in on second fiddle.
“Just starting to get a little darker,” says Harsha Bhogle. “Not sure you’ll want to hear me saying that.”
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