Bumrah, Sharma rush India to series lead

LONDON – India captain Rohit Sharma notched up a sublime fifty as the tourists thrashed England by 10 wickets after a career-best performance of 6-19 by Jasprit Bumrah in the first one-day international of the three-match series at the Oval on Tuesday.

Rohit (76 not out) and fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan (31 not out) made light work of England’s 110, knocking off the victory target with 31.2 overs to spare.

Earlier, England had a horror start after being put in to bat when Bumrah rattled Jason Roy’s stumps with an in-swinger and then deceived Joe Root two balls later with a delivery that nipped away. Both players failed to get off the mark.

Ben Stokes also perished for a golden duck in the following over, edging behind off Mohammed Shami (3-31), before Bumrah accounted for Jonny Bairstow (7) and Liam Livingstone (0) to leave England reeling at 26-5.

“Looking at the overhead conditions and the pitch, the toss was a right call to make. We used the conditions upfront really well,” said Rohit. “There was some swing and seam upfront and we exploited them well.”

Captain Jos Buttler (30) and Moeen Ali (14) led a brief recovery but both were dismissed in quick succession before a 35-run ninth-wicket stand between David Willey (21) and Brydon Carse (15) pushed England past 100. The home side were eventually bowled out in 25.2 overs for their lowest total against India in 50-over cricket. Their previous lowest – 125 – came at Jaipur in 2006.

“We have some guys in the form of their lives in Tests coming here and getting nicked off,” said Buttler. “Jasprit is a great bowler to come up against. He has bowled fantastically well today and deserves these figures.”

(Reuters)