A swift stop at extra cover may have displaced Rohit Sharma's elbow, but the India captain was quick to pop it back into place in the second One-day International against England on Thursday. As Rohit stopped Liam Livingstone's powerful drive off Ravindra Jadeja, he seemed in discomfort, having hurled to his left to save three runs. He appeared to have hurt himself in the process before cameras showed him fixing his elbow and putting it back into the socket.
Rohit even had a laugh with Jadeja after the fielding effort. Livingstone perished in the next over as he fell to Hardik Pandya in his attempt to pull a short ball. His exit left England tottering at 148 for six in 29 overs at the ‘Mecca of Cricket’, where the Poms were trying to avoid the Oval embarrassment.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who returned 4/47, ripped through England's middle-order, claiming the prized scalps of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Ben Stokes, as the home side was bowled out for 246 inside 50 overs.
{{/usCountry}}Yuzvendra Chahal, who returned 4/47, ripped through England's middle-order, claiming the prized scalps of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Ben Stokes, as the home side was bowled out for 246 inside 50 overs.
{{/usCountry}}Chasing 247 for the win, India were undone chiefly by Reece Topley, who recorded career-best figures of 6-24 to help England return in style after suffering a 10-wicket defeat in the series opener. England thrashed India by 100 runs to level the three-game series, with Topley surpassing Paul Collingwood's previous England best of 6-31 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2005.
Rohit, who hit an unbeaten 76 at the Oval, was lbw for a duck to Topley, while out-of-form Virat Kohli fell for 16 when caught behind off a David Willey delivery angled across him. Any remaining hopes of India's win ended when Mohammed Shami (23) and Ravindra Jadeja (29) were dismissed off successive deliveries, leaving the visiting side in tatters at 140 for eight. Topley claimed the remaining two wickets to finish with a record six-fer.
"By no means that target wasn't chaseable but we didn't bat well. Have to take catches, something we've been talking about a lot. All in all, we bowled pretty well," said Rohit in the post-match presentation.
England and India now head to Manchester for the final game of the ODI series on Sunday. "Going to be an exciting one (in Manchester). Have to look at what we need to do better. Have to look at the conditions there and adapt," added the India skipper.