Last Updated on 7 years by Charbel Coorey
Oh how England wish Australia were still in town.
Everyone was buzzing.
The World Cup (cricket and football) was coming home, with talk of this England side being their “greatest” ever in ODIs. They were unstoppable. Don’t you dare question their favouritism for next year’s tournament!
Well, all that came crashing down in a disappointing 24 hours for England sport. I’m confident I could read the entire Harry Potter series quicker than it will take England to properly read Kuldeep Yadav, who will be the source of nightmares for many of the English batsmen over the next night or two.
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| A tough day for Michael! |
The same English batsmen who were dreaming happily about Ashton Agar just a few weeks ago.
Then, after Yadav put in England in a spin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli knocked them out with a dominant partnership.
In this cricket opinion piece, I will go through the player ratings from the 1st ODI. As always, I will try to get a smile or a laugh, and as always, feel free to leave a comment!
England
Jason Roy: Looked good. Looked so good that England Cricket started tweeting about just how many England could score. LOL. Threw it away after a good start, though. 6
Jonny Bairstow: Saw the ball pitch on leg stump and thought “you beauty”. Thing is though, he wasn’t facing Ashton Agar. Promising start ended prematurely. 6
Joe Root: I can definitely read the whole Harry Potter series, and watch the movies too, before Root reads Kuldeep Yadav. 1
Eoin Morgan: New potato chips are about to hit the supermarket shelves! I’m not sure the “Soft Chip” by Eoin Morgan will be a hit among the public, though. Awful shot to get out. 2
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| “The Soft Chip” by Eoin Morgan! |
Ben Stokes: Poor Benny showed up in the wrong clothes! Tried his best to show everyone he is ready for the big Test series. Unfortunately, it was the wrong day to showcase those skills. 4
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| Ben Stokes was dressed in his whites |
Jos Buttler: England’s best performer. Gave England hope that they could reach 300. Class player. Would have been so disappointed to get out to an innocuous ball at a key stage. 7.5
Moeen Ali: Decent cameo with the bat, expensive with the ball. 4
David Willey: Quiet day. 3
Adil Rashid: Good cameo with the bat and bowled an absolute peach to get Virat Kohli out. Needs to take more wickets for his team with the India spinners on fire. 6
Liam Plunkett: Needs some more variety to his bowling. 3
Mark Wood: More expensive than a gold digger. 1
India
Rohit Sharma: I see fans criticise Sharma quite a bit. Can we have him move to Australia? I’ll happily have him as opener of the Aussie team every single game in white ball cricket. 9.5
Shikhar Dhawan: Found some form after a quiet T20I series. Delivered a nice gift, wrapped in a royal blue ribbon for Moeen Ali, though. 7
Virat Kohli: Ever feeling sad? Just remember you are alive at the same time as Virat Kohli. Witnessing greatness. 9
KL Rahul: Cruisy day. Might have to get used to watching the action with his pads on, with Sharma and Kohli in great form. Took a catch and hit the winning runs. 6
Suresh Raina: Snuck in three pretty quiet overs with the ball, including a maiden! Indicative of India’s complete dominance. Again not needed with the bat. 6
MS Dhoni: Superb glovework by the great man to get the vital wicket of Buttler. Solid as ever behind the stumps. The wait for 10,000 ODI runs will continue. 7
Hardik Pandya: Expensive outing with the ball but showed decent variations at times, despite calls he is overrated. 4
Siddarth Kaul: Replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar is never easy but I’m sure most fans would have taken an economy rate of 6.20 in ten overs. 5
Kuldeep Yadav: Despite the English claiming they know how to play Yadav after the 2nd T20I, he went ahead and proved that England are still in KulDEEP trouble against quality spin. What an amazing performance, from an amazing bowler. 10
Umesh Yadav: If I had the choice to buy a ten storey mansion or Umesh Yadav in the death overs, I’d pick the mansion. Less expensive. 4
Yuzvendra Chahal: Excellent in the middle overs for India. 1/51 is a good return. 7
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So, there are my player ratings for the first ODI. It will be interesting to see whether England bounce back in the 2nd ODI. Looking forward to it.
Thanks for reading!
