India vs England, 1st ODI - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: England tour of India, 2016-17 Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Date & Time: Jan 15, 01:30 PM LOCAL

Kohli won the toss and elected to field in his first game as full-time ODI captain. © Cricbuzz

Behold the Virat Kohli era of Indian cricket. He may be the best batsman across formats at the moment but as he will discover very soon, captaincy (of all formats) can be a different animal altogether. But given the exemplary records of his predecessor, all eyes will definitely be on Kohli. Comparisons will be inevitable - How similar or how different is he to MS Dhoni?

Those will come later. Right now, it's about making a fast start. Results and combinations will be paramount. Because India have just about three competitive ODIs to go before their Champions defence. And in England, they face just the right opposition to test just where they stand in the ODI revolution.

Welcome to the first ODI of the three-match series from Pune. This is Kaushik Rangarajan. As Dhoni would say, 'Come... let's have some fun'...

They're easily the most improved side in the last 1.5 years. Morgan has infused new belief into England and white-ball cricket. So much so that they now hold the record for the highest ODI score - 444. Their fearless brand of cricket in the shorter forms has even earned them a new moniker - New England. There's firepower right from the top and they bat all the way down to 8 and 9. Weakness, if any, is only with the balance in the bowling attack which may be exacerbated on the Indian pitches. But other than that, they look solid.

5 0

Many a time I have seen him say 'Okay, don't worry I'll make the runs'. It could be even 400 runs and he would say he will make it - R Ashwin on Virat Kohli
Many a time I have seen him say 'Okay, don't worry I'll make the runs'. It could be even 400 runs and he would say he will make it - R Ashwin on Virat Kohli

Here's the new Indian ODI captain talking all about self belief. Read the interview,the latest offering from Ganesh Chandrasekaran in the Spotlight series.

Strategies. Let's face it. The Champions Trophy in June is going to be central to all decisions taken during this series. More so from India's point of view, because Kohli's men have only these three ODIs to play before they revert to Test mode again. Prakash Govindasreenivasan, our man at the venue, found contrasting takes on England's recent ploy to employ an 'all-out attack' ..

(known instances): 26 MS Dhoni, Cardiff, 2011 29 Y Pathan, Indore, 2008 29 K JADHAV 32 S Patil, OT, 1983

5 1

Kohli is pushing Jadhav to pinch that extra run. The boundaries are coming along every over too. Kohli is making room against Willey and when the pacer has gone short, he's upper cut him for six. Meanwhile, Jadhav continues to make merry. A four and a six off Rashid and he's into the eighties. Tremendous batting. He continues to outscore Virat Kohli in this partnership, which by the way has passed 150 now!

As Nasser Hussain puts it, the year is different, but this man is still the same. Century no 27 for the new India captain. The 17th in a run chase. He equals the great man Sachin Tendulkar to the feat. He plays three dot balls and then walks down the pitch and slams straight over his head for six. Peerless batting. No great celebration. He asks for a drink. Easy peasy.

What self belief. Here's what he had to say about that in an interview with Ganesh Chandrasekaran earlier this month - What makes Virat Kohli believe?

Virat Kohli got off to a sparkling start despite wickets tumbling at the other end. ©Reuters

Such shots should not be allowed. I shall just quote the jeetwins99.commentary. And even that may fail to do justice.

Woakes to Kohli, SIX, that's impossible. That's undoable. He's just punched a back of a length delivery over cow corner. Uses a straight bat and times it away nonchalantly. Effortless batting. You cannot be better than this at cricket
Woakes to Kohli, SIX, that's impossible. That's undoable. He's just punched a back of a length delivery over cow corner. Uses a straight bat and times it away nonchalantly. Effortless batting. You cannot be better than this at cricket

A 65-ball century for Kedar Jadhav. Dabs it to third man and it races away for four. The home boy is embraced by his captain, who also has a few words of encouragement to pass on. 'Stay with me. Job isn't done yet' is not what he said. But it looked something like that. India have slowly moved in to the drivers seat with this double century stand.

End of a fabulous innings and it's that man Stokes again, who gets the big wicket. Short delivery and for once, Kohli mistimes a shot. The top edge goes only as far as the extra cover fielder. End of a terrific innings, the stadium rises as one as the Indian captain trudges off. Phenomenal innings but Kedar Jadhav and the follow-up batsman still have a job to do.

He was struggling with cramps and his run-scoring had been restricted to boundaries but this time a pull off Jake Ball goes straight to the deep-square fielder and guess who (Ben Stokes) is there to complete a simple catch. End of possibly the innings of this match. India still need a run-a-ball 60 from here to win the game. Jadhav walks off to a standing ovation. His parents, at the venue, can be extremely proud of their son's effort.

The match isn't over yet. New belief in the England camp. Ravindra Jadeja is the new man.

Another Indian batsman falls to the short ball. There was no need for such this as India were walking this. Attempts an audacious pull, goes nowhere and ends up offering a simple catch to mid-on. Ravichandran Ashwin walks out. Game very much on!

Hardik Pandya remains unbeaten on 40. What a day it has been for him. Two wickets, economical figures and now an unbeaten 40 in a massive run chase. After Jadeja's dismissal, the young all-rounder bats steadily to ensure there are no further hiccups and India polish off the chase with 11 balls to spare. It's R Ashwin who finishes things off with a massive six. What a chase. It's finished with a stroll for India.

But it was all set-up by that 200-run partnership between Jadhav and Kohli. Two magnificent centuries from a hopeless position. And India go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

This was the joint fourth highest chase in an ODI ever. India have chased the same target before and only once have they chased a total higher than this. Kohli now has 15 successful hundreds in chases, one more than Sachin Tendulkar who held the record previously. But he is more in awe of the other centurion, Kedar Jadhav.

"Some of the shots he played, I was in awe. Very special partnership that I will remember for a long time," says Kohli.

"350 is clearly not a winning score here. We have chased 350s, so we now know what it feels like to be at this end of the stick," says Eoin Morgan.

"I missed many chances to bat with Virat and watch him bat closely, so today was the chance. Special day for me," says the Man of the Match, Kedar Jadhav.