Joe Root’s century inspires England to 41-run win against India in 5th ODI at Headingley

By Shiamak Unwalla

Sep 5, 2014

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England beat India by 41 runs in the fifth One-Day International (ODI) at Headingley after Joe Root’s superb century guided England to a commanding score of 294 for seven. India were always going to find it tough to chase down. That their best batsman in the series, Ajinkya Rahane, was dismissed in the first over didn’t help their cause.

Virat Kohli fell to his nemesis James Anderson, while Shikhar Dhawan was guilty of throwing away a good start. The left-hander was dismissed slogging against Moeen Ali, getting bowled in the process. Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu then put together a good partnership before Raina also fell to Moeen.

It was a case of none of the batsmen showing much application, as Rayudu was dismissed soon after making his fifty, while MS Dhoni fell trying to get a single and playing the ball uppishly. Ravindra Jadeja scored some quick runs at the end, and got a fighting half-century — which was immediately followed by a Lord’s-style swishing of the bat — but it was in vain. His score of 87 was the highest of the innings, and also his personal best in ODIs. For their part, the England bowlers ensured that there were no easy runs on offer, as they kept pegging India back with wickets.

Earlier, England had started well, with Alastair Cook getting two boundaries in the very first over. At the other end though, Alex Hales scratched around till he tried to pull a sharp, short ball from Umesh Yadav only to get an innocuous top-edge to Ajinkya Rahane.

Moeen Ali came in at No 3, following his impressive fifty in the fourth ODI, but was unable to capitalise on the opportunity. Soon, Cook top-edged a sweep to MS Dhoni, and Eoin Morgan celebrated his 100th ODI with an agonizing 34-ball 14, finally out charging down the track and missing a ball from Ashwin only to see Dhoni break the stumps.

The period that followed was possibly England’s most productive one in four ODIs, as the duo of Joe Root and Jos Buttler combined savage hitting with industrious placement to get a 108-run stand, England’s first century-stand of the series. Buttler was eventually dismissed for 49 in rather comical fashion; an LBW appeal against him was turned down, but he started off for a run, not realising that the ball was right next to Dhoni.

Root took over after that. He brought up his century — a sublime one at that — with a slog over midwicket before falling for 113 off 108 balls, a knock that ended up being a match-winning one.

At the toss, Dhoni called correctly and elected to field first. Dhawal Kulkarni got to play just one game before being dropped in favour of Umesh Yadav, while Ben Stokes and James Tredwell came in to replace Gary Ballance and Harry Gurney.

Brief scores:

England 294 for 7 in 50 overs (Alastair Cook 46, Joe Root 113, Jos Buttler 49; Mohammed Shami 2 for 52) vs India 253 (Ambati Rayudu 53, Ravindra Jadeja 87; Ben Stokes 3 for 47) by 41 runs.

Man of the match: Joe Root

Player of the series: Suresh Raina

Full scorecard

Complete coverage of India’s tour of England 2014

(Shiamak Unwalla is a reporter with Cricket Country. He is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and Cricket fanatic who likes to pass his free time by reading books, watching TV shows, and eating food. Sometimes all at the same time)