India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: Virat Kohli return likely to axe Shreyas Iyer, IND a win away from sealing series

Posted by author February 9, 2025 Cricket

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India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: It can be easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to the first game of a series of any length, and that is especially true when the series lies on the eve of a major upcoming tournament. From that lens, India would be extremely pleased with their clinical display in Nagpur, with both bat and ball, easing past England in a game that looked fairly lopsided by the end of it. Equally, sirens will be ringing for an England team that has looked hapless throughout their white ball tour of India, with spin continuing to be the great undoer on both sides of the ball.…Read More

But things change quickly in cricket. The second ODI of this series in Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium presents India a chance to seal the series and keep their positive momentum going, but equally, a loss is just as likely to put the cat amongst the pigeons and raise warning signals within an Indian camp which is yet to quite find their identity under new coach Gautam Gambhir. More of the same will be the expectation from India, especially against an England unit which hasn’t been as impressive or cohesive as those of the past as they undergo a period of transition.

India will have a couple of positive takeaways that could prove to be key heading to the UAE for their portion of the ICC Champions Trophy. The bowling combination, at least in terms of balance, seems to be pitch-perfect if conditions are relatively slow, which they tend to be in the UAE. Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel act as a cog in the middle of the team that will provide quality, controlled spin through the middle overs, allowing a more attacking spinner like Kuldeep Yadav to operate alongside them. Crucially, however, the bowling form and endurance of Hardik Pandya means that they can still bat all the way to number eight, which Gambhir sees as a staple of his teams across formats, operating with just two frontline seamers.

On the batting front, Shreyas Iyer must be seen as a can’t-lose player at number four. Shreyas claimed after his belligerent half-century in the first ODI that he was the batter likely to miss out, but was hitting and timing the ball to an extent that he could be a gamechanging player in that role. If Virat Kohli does return, it raises the question of which batter sits out — and with Shubman Gill continuing his great touch in ODI cricket, it looks likely that the answer will be Yashasvi Jaiswal, just after his debut. A tough call against the youngster, but it is only a matter of time for his kind of talent.

The one major question of concern: what is going on with Rohit Sharma? The captain has just not been able to find runs of any kind in red-ball cricket, and his woes continued in his favourite format as he chipped a nothing half-volley on his legs straight into the air in the first ODI. Rohit has more than enough credit in the bank when it comes to ODI cricket, but Indian fans will want desperately to see that version of Rohit back on the field for the men in blue, replacing this off-colour version of the last few months.

On the English front, there will be some ringing concerns as they continue to struggle to deal with scoring runs against spin. There were some reasons for optimism: Phil Salt looked in good touch and full flow before he was out to a miscommunication while running between the wickets, and if not for that, the story could have been very different. More will be expected of Harry Brook, who has been largely quiet on this tour outside of one fantastic innings, while positive signs were also shown by Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell.

With the ball, Saqib Mahmood and Jofra Archer were impressive to begin with, but once Shreyas Iyer took the attack, there seemed to be few answers that Buttler was able to find in terms of stemming the run flow. This has been an issue throughout for England: when Indian batters hit their stride, they have been incapable of clotting it, outside of perhaps Adil Rashid. England fans will want to see more creativity and proactive thinking from their leadership group in that matter, with there being plenty of such batters in the Champions Trophy who can hurt them with some big hitting, particularly against the relatively timid secondary spinner options they present in the lineup they went with in Nagpur. They just seem to be a spinner short in their squad, meaning the pacers need to step up.

India start off as strong favourites to go up 2-0 in this series in Cuttack, on a ground that has seen fireworks between this pair of teams in the past. There aren’t any major concerns in terms of team composition or balance for the hosts: as much as anything, this will just be an opportunity for some polishing, for players in the team to play themselves into form heading into the Champions Trophy.

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Feb 9, 2025 10:00 AM IST

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: What about Virat Kohli?

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: Virat Kohli isn’t the sort of player who sits out of games often, especially in his favourite format. There will be lakhs of fingers around the country crossed when Rohit Sharma arrives for the toss: is Virat fit? Can he be ready to play? No injury is good news at this stage of a player’s career, and knee injuries can often be devastating in terms of recovery. Indian fans will wait with breath held, hoping it was a minor tweak, his non-involvement in Nagpur more precautionary than anything else.

And once he is back, he will see scoring runs as a non-negotiable. This is the format he has dominated for years, and must continue to do so.

Feb 9, 2025 9:50 AM IST

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: Speaking of Coach GG…

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: Throughout England’s tour, the Indian team has made sure that their fans can go to bed without grumbling about what they have just seen. That’s a great start for any sports team, and one man will be very happy that he has been able to create this kind of positivity: Gautam Gambhir. Much needed for the Indian team’s new head honcho after a, fair to say, subpar winter in Test cricket.

Gambhir has shown his astute nature in T20 cricket already, but having some sort of tangible success in ODIs — beginning with this bilateral series — will earn him some significant goodwill with the higher ups.

Feb 9, 2025 9:40 AM IST

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI What can we expect

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: In a series that has seen bowlers generally get the rub of the green, with spinners in particular enjoying their time on slower wickets, Cuttack could provide a change of pace — no pun intended. The last time these two teams competed at this ground, they combined for nearly 750 runs — and fans will want more of the same after what was a fairly slow-going match in Nagpur.

This, however, will also bring England’s stock of high-pace bowlers into the game. They might be expensive, but they could also be more impactful than they turned out to be in Nagpur. Nevertheless, Gautam Gambhir prefers turning, slower tracks for his spinners to have an influence over games. Will be interesting to see what kind of track is produced for the second ODI.

Feb 9, 2025 9:30 AM IST

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: India continue to exert dominance in domestic head-to-head

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: Some splendid reading for Indian fans here. India have thoroughly dominated England in their ODI history, with their win in Nagpur taking them to a 59-44 lead in overall matches. However, it’s in domestic ODIs that India’s dominance really takes shape. India now lead 35-17 in home conditions following that win, with England only having won twice on Indian turf in the last 10 years. Ominous signs for the visitors as they look for some sort of momentum.

Feb 9, 2025 9:20 AM IST

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: Weather forecast in Cuttack

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: No fear of any rain impacting play today, expected to be sunny and warm throughout. Clear skies for good cricket on the cards, but not all rosy for the players themselves: the heat could touch up to 30 degrees, while up to 75% humidity is expected, which could make for an energy-sapping effort in the field. Despite it only being early February, players were still impacted by the heat in Nagpur, and it could continue to be a factor in this game, especially in the first innings.

Feb 9, 2025 9:10 AM IST

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: Stats attack from Cuttack

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: You don’t want to read beyond this point if you’re someone hoping for an England win today. India’s dominance at the Barabati Stadium is incredible: they are gunning for an EIGHTH consecutive victory in Cuttack in ODI cricket, having won 11 of the last 13 matches held at this venue.

This is the first time since 2019 that Cuttack is hosting an ODI, while England visit for the first time since 2017, when Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni struck twin centuries in a famous win against Eoin Morgan’s powerhouse ODI team of that era.

Feb 9, 2025 8:57 AM IST

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: HELLO AND WELCOME TO CUTTACK!

India vs England LIVE SCORE, 2nd ODI: ODI cricket is suddenly the mood of the day. Teams can begin smelling the silverware that is on offer, 4 weeks from today exactly, and the preparations are going full steam ahead when it comes to putting the right pieces together for the ICC Champions Trophy. Before that, let’s focus on what we have in store today. Welcome to our live blog for the second ODI in this three-match series between hosts India, confident and comfortable winners in the first match, and visiting England, who are left scratching their heads as they continue to get trumped on this white-ball tour. Plenty of action lies ahead in a match that both teams will hate to lose, and fans will be expecting some fireworks on show. Can Cuttack provide?