Joe Root scored an unbeaten 99 runs to help England win the second ODI by 4 wickets against India. With the home team’s victory, the series is levelled 1-1, and the decider will be played on Sunday. Chasing 234, England reached the target in 44.1 overs. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, the senior batter kept the scoreboard ticking and stitched an unbroken stand of 38 with fast bowler Gus Atkinson to seal the win. Gus amassed 23 not out in 16 balls, including three boundaries and a six. On the other hand, Root faced 133 deliveries and struck 9 boundaries.

England were put on the back foot in the powerplay overs, with Ben Duckett (0) and Jacob Bethell (4) returning to the dressing room without making big contributions. Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Duckett on the first ball of the run chase, while Bethell had no answer to Prasidh Krishna’s brilliance.

The home team lost three more wickets, and the score was 125 for 5 in 25.4 before Root joined hands with Will Jacks and took the total to 197. Gurnoor Brar dismissed captain Harry Brook on a personal score of 16 while Sam Curran became Shivam Dube’s only wicket of the day. He faced 31 balls for his 26 runs and smashed 4 boundaries. When Axar Patel sent back Jos Buttler (17 off 18), India thought of putting more pressure. However, it didn’t happen as Root and Jacks batted smartly. Will’s 44-ball 30 saw him hitting two boundaries. In the end, Root’s effort was enough for England.

For India, Brar picked up two wickets while one scalp each went to Bumrah, Krishna, Dube and Axar.

Earlier, Brook won the toss and invited India to bat first. From 104 for 1, the Men in Blue were dismissed for 233 in 44 overs, with only Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer scoring fifties.

Rohit Sharma (26 off 47) and Shubman Gill (31 off 30) added 44 for the first wicket before Jacks undid the skipper. Rohit and Virat got together and took the score to 104 for 1 before Atkinson ended Rohit’s struggle. Ishan Kishan, who replaced KL Rahul, had another ordinary outing, with the wicket-keeper batter managing just 1 run. Shreyas and Virat tried to steady the ship with a 77-run stand, but the latter’s departure started the batting collapse.

Jofra Archer got the big wicket of Kohli, who scored 65 runs in 66 balls, packed with 8 fours. Iyer contributed 66 runs off 71 balls before becoming Atkinson’s second scalp of the game. He struck 5 fours and 2 sixes. Washington Sundar (2) and Axar (1), the two heroes of the previous game, became walking wickets in the recent outing. Dube couldn’t open his account while Brar added just 7 to the total.

It was Bumrah’s 13-ball 20 that gave some respectability to the total, with the pacer hitting 3 fours and 1 six before Krishna’s wicket ended the innings.

Archer and Atkinson took three wickets each while Saqib Mahmood got rid of two batters. Curran and Jacks claimed one scalp each.