Bairstow, Stokes power England to 337/7 despite Shami’s 5-wicket haul
Birmingham, Jun 30: Ton-up Jonny Bairstow's scathing attack on spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Singh headlined a dominant English batting performance, leaving India with a tough 338-run chase in a World Cup encounter here Sunday.
Bairstow (111 off 109 balls), along with fit-again Jason Roy (66 off 57 balls), added 160 for the first wicket on a track where Kuldeep (1/72 in 10 overs) and Chahal (0/88 in 10 overs) had a forgettable day.
Ben Stokes (79 off 54 balls) then used the platform to give the total an imposing look in a do-or-die game for the hosts.
Mohammed Shami (5 for 69) got his maiden five-wicket haul but even he lost his bearings in the last two overs.
Jasprit Bumrah (1/44 in 10 overs) was amazing as ever, being the only Indian bowler to finish with a sub-5 economy rate and the only maiden of the innings.
Bairstow, who stoked a controversy by taking an indirect dig at former England skippers Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen for their criticism, channelized his anger in a positive manner scoring his eighth ODI hundred.
Chahal and Kuldeep were hit for 12 fours and as many as nine sixes as they hardly got any purchase from the Edgbaston track. Incidentally, Sunday's pitch was not the one which was used during Pakistan's game against New Zealand where Kane Williamson's part-time off-breaks turned right angles.
The two spinners, who have been India's trump card were read well by Bairstow and Roy, who did not play like some of the other batsmen in the tournament have played them.
From the start, they used big strides to reach to the pitch of the deliveries and smothered the spin for the big hits. If Bairstow targeted the arc between long-on to deep mid-wicket, Roy hit the straighter sixes.
In the second Power Play with the field spread, one shot that England batsmen used to good effect was the reverse sweep as they exploited the short boundary on one side.
It took an impressive diving effort from substitute fielder Ravindra Jadeja in the deep to dismiss Roy off Kuldeep in the 23rd over but the platform was set by then.
Bairstow lost a bit of sting after Roy's dismissal and finally was out for 111 that had 10 fours and half a dozen sixes.
Joe Root (44 off 56 balls) dropped anchor during a 70-run stand before getting out as Stoke hit six fours and three sixes to boost the total.
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Mercury plunges in Kashmir after brief respite, Shopian freezes at minus 6.4 deg C
Srinagar (PTI): Night temperatures in Kashmir dropped several degrees below the freezing point, even as a thick layer of fog engulfed parts of the valley, with Srinagar recording a low of minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, officials said on Saturday.
Shopian was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir as the mercury there settled at a low of minus 6.4 degrees Celsius, they said.
The mercury had on Thursday night settled above the freezing point at most places in the valley, providing huge relief to the residents from the biting cold conditions.
However, temperatures dropped across Kashmir on Friday night, bringing back the freezing cold, the officials said.
On the Friday night, the minimum temperature in Srinagar -- the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir -- settled at minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, a sharp drop from 0.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, the officials said.
The gateway town to the valley, Qazigund, recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, while the mercury settled at minus 3.5 degrees Celsius in north Kashmir's Kupwara, and minus 0.2 degrees Celsius in south Kashmir's Kokernag, the officials said.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius, while Gulmarg lodged minus 2.6 degrees Celsius and Konibal town in Pulwama district recorded minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, they said.
The meteorological department said the weather would remain generally cloudy but dry on December 6-7, and a brief spell of light snowfall at isolated places in the higher reaches of north and central Kashmir is likely on December 8.
