England has made a brilliant comeback in the ODI series against India by registering a solid victory in the second match at Maharashtra’s MCA Stadium. A big credit of the victory goes to Johny Bairstow and Ben Stokes. Opener Jason Roy’s responsible knock also helped England get the start they needed. The blistering 52 balls 99 by Ben Stokes was undoubtedly the turning point of the match that gave England the edge over Virat Kohli’s India.
India had literally devastated the English side in the first ODI, with debutants Krunal Pandya and Prasidh Krishna putting out wonderful performances respectively. So what went wrong today? There have been no changes in both the teams and the match was being played in the same MCA stadium that hosted the first ODI. Well, it was always known that this English side is not one to retaliate. The World Champions might have been in a bad form throughout this India tour, but their class and strength in the ODI format is undeniable.
Both India and England consist of players who can single-handedly lead their respective teams to victory on a good day. This is what worked in England’s favor tonight. Jonnh Bairstow scored a staggering 124 off 112 and gave Ben Stokes the platform to play freely which he did. Ben Stokes’ 99 off 53 was the final nail on India’s coffin. India got some brilliant individual performances as well in the form of KL Rahul’s 108 off 114 and Pant’s 77 off 40. But Rahul’s run rate of less than a hundred made the chances of India scoring a high total, meager.
Big moment in the game as Stokes survived a close call:
However, things could have been different, had the umpire not given a certain benefit of the doubt to Ben Stokes during the build-up of his innings.
What was the soft signal by the field-umpire? #BenStokes @ICC #EngVsInd #INDvENG #ICC #BCCI pic.twitter.com/ww81yH9oHL
— Prashant (@vprashant4) March 26, 2021
Soft signals, umpires’ call, and now benefit of the doubt. It seems like the umpires find some way or the other to put India’s efforts in vain. It was the benefit of the doubt this time around. In a close instance of run-out, the third umpire was referred, who gave the benefit of doubt to Ben Stokes, although his bat was on the line.
The Indian fans have exploded on Twitter on this controversial issue, and they have a varied range of takes on this particular instance.
That was out !!! No part of bat was touching over the line and It was just showing that it was over ! Just my opinion !! #IndiavsEngland
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) March 26, 2021
“The Indian umpires have been too scared to get on the wrong side of a report by the visitors. No reason to give any benefit to Stokes there, simply nothing past the line,” tweeted a fan.
Some fans even alleged the umpires of favoring Ben Stokes with their decisions, on numerous occasions.
“I repeat, Ben Stokes is the luckiest cricketer in the world. We all know how he’s been helped by umpires in the past.”
Even former English Player Michael Vaughan, who is well known for his trolls targeting team India, tweeted that it should’ve been an out in his opinion.
Wow … I would have given that Out … #INDvENG
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 26, 2021
“Wow … I would have given that Out,” he tweeted.
In the end, Ben Stokes missed his century by just a single run but nevertheless, the damage was already done.
