Ben Stokes banishes Kolkata ghosts as England secure maiden India tour win

India thus sealed an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

In what has been a constant during this three match series, Jason Roy has provided England with a more than solid platform at the top of their innings.

“The next game will be key for us with the Champions Trophy coming up”.

India played only up to 75 per cent of their potential and still have scope for improvement despite a series-clinching 15-run win in the second One-Day International (ODI) match against England here on Thursday, skipper Virat Kohli said.

Kolkata hosts the third and final one-dayer on Sunday.

This will be India’s last ODI ahead of the Champions Trophy in June, and the side will hope to tick off most boxes before the big-ticket tournament.

The final match of the three-match series is in Kolkata on January 22.

England’s other change saw Jonny Bairstow grab his opportunity with two hands, making 56 from 64 balls and doing so in an assured fashion which will have reminded the selectors of his white-ball prowess going forward.

England’s innings was built on a solid platform from openers Jason Roy (65) and Sam Billings (35) as well as handy contributions from Jonny Bairstow (56) and Eoin Morgan (43).

Shikhar Dhawan, who has scores of 1 and 11, was also under an injury cloud.

In modern day cricket, batsmen prosper and bowlers suffer. Yet, he went through the drills during the optional practice on Saturday, and even had Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah bowl to him in the nets.

It come to such a level that India won’t settle for anything less. While the Indian cricket team will be looking to make it a clean sweep over the unsafe England in the third game, the visitors will be keen to make amends and try and go past the finish line for at least once.

When it comes to a five-match ODI series, India are on top there as well.

The seamers did well to trouble the openers but failed to give any breakthrough as it was England’s session, giving them a clear chance to reach 350-plus.

The 31-year-old middle order batsman played the England bowlers across the boundary and manipulated this innings whenever required. Gavaskar, in an exclusive chat with NDTV, also lauded Kohli’s captaincy.”The good thing is that captaincy has not affected Virat Kohli’s batting and we need him more as a batsman than a captain”, he said. We pulled it back nicely in the end. With the arena being much bigger compared to Pune and Cuttack, the competition could be tougher and with Kohli stating after the last game that there would not be any drop in intensity, it could be a fiercely contested tie despite there being little to play for in terms of the series.