England's bowling arsenal was on full display against a strong Indian batting lineup. But it was Chris Woakes who kept rattling Indian batters from the word go. He snared the prized wickets of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer and reduced India to a below par total of 229/9.
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But besides Woakes bowling, it was his aggression on the field which caught everyone's eyes. Woakes came up with 48th over when India were on a precarious position, having lost nine wickets with Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav present on the crease. Woakes delivered an off-speed ball, short of length, which found the edge of Bumrah's bat. The ball went up in the air and landed just before Adil Rashid who was positioned at short third man.
However, Rashid neither committed fully to the catch nor made a diving attempt. This lack of effort didn't sit well with Woakes, who was visibly miffed on the lapse and were seen giving a death stare to his teammate. Woakes made a gesture with his fingers, pointing towards his eyes, signaling Rashid to be more attentive. The clip of the incident in no time went viral on social media.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE…
Woakes' show with the ball was undeniably one of the highlights of the match. With impressive figures of 2/33, including a maiden, his bowling spell was instrumental in limiting India to 229 runs despite Rohit Sharma's fighting 87 runs. His teammates, David Willey (3/45) and Rashid (2/35) and Mark Wood (1/46) too shone with the ball.
After the conclusion of India's innings Woakes reflected on his performance and said,"“Nice to do well with the new ball. It was nice to get back in rhythm, we bowled in the right areas today. Picking up wickets is always nice, we put them under pressure early on. I missed my lengths earlier in the tournament, was a bit frustrating, but I hit the right areas today. The fielders backed up the bowlers and that set the tone for us. It’s two paced with the new ball. Hopefully the conditions get better under lights. It’s a good Indian side, hopefully we bat well and chase it down.”
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