England national cricket team captain Harry Brook reflected on his team’s performance after winning the series 2-1 at Lord’s.
Speaking after England’s series win, Harry Brook was pleased. He expressed confidence by appreciating the collective efforts of the players and also praised Ben Duckett.
In the probable final match of the India national cricket team, it was Rohit Sharma who stole the show at the prestigious Lord’s.
It was not clear during the match hours whether this was Rohit’s retirement match or not. One thing was clear: every cricket fan around the world wanted to see the former India captain’s epic innings against the England national cricket team in the series decider.
Harry Brook’s team scores huge score to challenge India at Lord’s
Winning the toss, England captain Harry Brook called to bat first, which was the right decision taken by the captain as the batsmen scored a total of 387 runs in 50 overs thanks to a century from Ben Duckett and an innings of 91 runs from Jacob Bethell.
Joe Root and Jos Buttler also played their roles well by playing explosive innings. When India came in to chase the runs, the target seemed bigger than claimed.
On paper, the goal was daunting, but not unattainable. The Indian batting unit knew that if they managed to get the ball down the middle then they were capable of producing some spectacular performances.
Rohit Sharma was the star in the Indian batting order
The partnership of 147 runs for the first wicket between Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma decided the direction of the team’s run chase. England’s bowling unit got a breakthrough when Adil Rashid took the wicket of Shubman Gill. Gill was out after scoring 77 runs in 84 balls.
India came very close to completing the run chase on a clinical note but lost momentum when Rohit Sharma was dismissed for 138 off 110 balls. Virat Kohli made a good contribution with his bat to maintain this rhythm. As soon as Virat lost his wicket, the game was almost over for the Men in Blue.
India needed 60 runs to win from the last three overs, which proved to be more than enough for England to clinch the match as well as the series. Now it is difficult to say what would have been the outcome of the match if Rohit Sharma had stayed on deck, or if Virat Kohli or Shubman Gill had not been out first in the run chase.
The reality is very cruel for the Indian cricket team. They would return home without winning any of the three series they played during their United Kingdom tour. Rohit Sharma did not disappoint his fans. He went into the field and left behind a masterclass.
“I thought we fought hard” – Harry Brook happy with team’s performance
Harry Brook praised opening batsmen Jacob Bethel and Ben Duckett for giving him the platform to post a big score, and he was happy to have won two consecutive series against the world No. 1 team.
Harry Brook said, “[On England’s series victory over the world’s No. 1 ODI side] Very proud. I thought we fought hard. We communicated well as we did in T20 and yes, we managed to win the series against the world number one.”
“[On England’s batting performance] To be honest, we have talked about it a lot. We want a set template. I think the way Beth and Ducky started the innings was phenomenal.”