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Riding on Jasprit Bumrah's devastating spell, which was his career best six-wicket haul, India hammered England by 10 wickets in the three-match ODI series opener at the Kennington Oval on Tuesday (July 12).
Bumrah's magical bowling figure read 19/6 as Rohit Sharma-led side bowled out England for a lowly 110, their lowest against the visitors, and then easily overhauled the measly target without losing a wicket, thanks to skipper's impressive knock of 76 off 58 which was ably complemented by his old partner Shikhar Dhawan (31 off 54).
Dhawan was playing his first competitive game since the IPL.
Rohit and Dhawan shared a century stand for the 18th time to complete India's emphatic win.
Meanwhile in the post match presentation, Rohit was all praise for Dhawan as he said that the team is aware what the southpaw brings to the table and he also underlined the robust understanding between the two of them.
"Shikhar and me understand each other quite well, except for the first ball where there was that misjudgement. He is playing ODIs after a long time. We know what he brings to the table for us," Rohit said.
"Experienced player and he has done well for us in the past in these conditions. The hook is a high risk shot, I understand that, but as long as it comes out right, I am happy," he added.
Also, the dazzling duo of Rohit and Dhawan completed 5,000 ODI runs as an opening pair as they took just 12 deliveries to reach the milestone. With this record, the pair became the fourth duo in the world to achieve the milestone. The first on the list is Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly with a total of 6,609 runs. They are followed by Australia's Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden with 5,372 runs, and the pair of Desmond Haynes and G Greenridge with 5,150 runs. Rohit and Dhawan have stitched 5,108 runs so far as an opening pair.
Looking at the overhead conditions and the pitch, the toss was a right call to make. We used the conditions upfront really well. We never worry about the conditions because we have got the guys who can just come out and use those conditions. There was some swing and seam upfront and we exploited them well. When you play in such conditions, you have to understand the assistance and have field placements accordingly. We knew our bowlers could swing the ball both ways and hence had that kind of field. The hook is a high risk shot, I understand that, but as long as it comes out right, I am happy.
