Nagpur: It has been a season of debutants for India. Continuing with the recent trend that whoever gets the India cap makes immediate impact, Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya delivered match-winning performances to help India thrash reigning World Cup champions England by 66 runs in the first One-Day International match at Pune on Tuesday.
First it was Krunal Pandya, who played a dream innings on debut to take India beyond 300-run mark with a sensational unbeaten 58 off just 31 balls. During his quick-fire knock, the Mumbai Indians player created a record and became the fastest to reach half-century on debut.
Krunal, the elder of the two Pandya brothers playing for India in a historic match, smashed a blistering fifty which included seven fours and a couple of sixes. To cap a perfect day, the left-arm spinner also grabbed a wicket in the last over of his 10-over spell.
Later in the evening, it was the turn of another debutant to arrive on the scene in emphatic fashion. Prasidh Krishna justified his inclusion in the side with a four-wicket haul on debut. He also made a record by becoming the first Indian to take four wickets in his first ODI. Medium-pacer Prasidh Krishna impressed everyone during the last IPL held in UAE and Indian captain Virat Kohli also praised the youngster for his lion-hearted performances in several matches.
On the big stage, Prasidh Krishna continued his remarkable run and made a smooth transition from domestic cricket to international cricket. His spectacular spell of 8.1-1-54-4 will surely go down in the history books as one of the best efforts by a medium-pacer on debut.
Prasidh Krishna’s four-wicket haul halted the England’s march towards victory and ended their campaign at 251 in the 43rd over in pursuit of a daunting target of 318.
While it was important day for the two debutants, it was also a crucial match for Shikhar Dhawan. The veteran opener answered his critics with his bat by scoring a masterly 98 runs. Although, ‘Gabbar’ missed his century by a whisker he must have been a relieved person after the big knock.
BRIEF SCORES
India 317 for 5 in 50 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 98, KL Rahul 62 not out, Krunal Pandya 58 not out, Virat Kohli 56, Rohit Sharma 28, Shreyas Iyer 6; Ben Stokes 3-34, Mark Wood 2-75) beat England 251 all out in 42.1 overs (Jonny Bairstow 94, Jason Roy 46, Moeen Ali 30, Eoin Morgan 22, Sam Billings 18, Sam Curran 12; Prasidh Krishna 4-54, Shardul Thakur 3-37, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-30, Krunal Pandya 1-59) by 66 runs.
Man-of-the-match: Shikhar Dhawan.
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