Cuttack, Feb 9: Joe Root and Ben Duckett smashed 69 and 65 respectively while Liam Livingstone applied finishing touches with his 41 as England posted a mammoth 304 in 49.5 overs in the ongoing second ODI against India at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday.

For India, Ravindra Jadeja starred with the ball by picking 3-35 in his ten overs and kept his economy rate below four, even as other bowlers had their economy rates above five. Meanwhile, England will be pleased with posting a total more than 300 and batting for longer periods, something which has eluded them in the 50-over format for a long time.

Electing to bat first, Duckett was at his best self from the word go and give England a flying start to their innings. It also helped that he was offered short and wide balls as well as some balls going down leg, which meant Duckett picked nine boundaries with ease.

On the other hand, Phil Salt found it tough to get going and despite being dropped by Axar Patel in the first ten overs, he couldn’t make full use of the reprieve as his attempt to go for a big shot ended up in giving a top-edge to mid-on, giving Varun Chakaravarthy his first ODI wicket.

Duckett went on to get his fifty off 36 deliveries, but in an attempt to take on Jadeja, he went for a big shot and holed out to long-on in tame fashion. Root, though, out his foot down and be the anchor of England’s innings with a calculative knock. The highlight of his knock was him playing spinners on the back foot, and picking their early to get his boundaries via reverse-sweeps and pulls.

With Shubman Gill running back from mid-off and looking up over his shoulder to take the dangerous Harry Brook’s catch off Harshit Rana’s bowling, the onus was huge on Root and Jos Buttler to keep England going. But shortly after Root got his fifty, Buttler tried to loft off a slower ball from Hardik Pandya, but gave a catch to mid-off.

The big blow for England came in the 43rd over when against the run of play, Root couldn’t keep his aerial shot down against Jadeja and holed out to long-off, making it the fifth instance of him being dismissed by Jadeja.

With England’s score at 248/5, Livingstone hit a couple of boundaries off Rana and Mohammed Shami, with Adil Rashid taking three fours off the latter. Though England got only 74 runs in last ten overs for the loss of six wickets, it was enough to ensure they went past 300, thanks to efforts by Root, Duckett and Livingstone.

Brief Scores: England 304 in 49.5 overs (Joe Root 69, Ben Duckett 65; Ravindra Jadeja 3-35) against India

(IANS)

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