Cardiff: A brilliant unbeaten run from Joe Root and decent bowling from Gus Atkinson and Jofra Archer helped England to a four-wicket win in the second ODI of the three-match series against India at the Sophia Gardens on Thursday.
With the target of 234 runs to win, the England team reached the target by losing 6 wickets in 44.1 overs. Root scored an unbeaten 99 off 133 balls, hitting nine fours and falling just one run short of a century.
Will Jacks scored 30 off 44 balls including 2 fours, while Sam Curran and Gus Atkinson added 26 and 23 respectively. Wicket keeper-batsman Jos Buttler scored 17 runs and captain Harry Brook scored 16 runs.
England suffered an early setback when Ben Duckett was dismissed off the first ball, while fellow opener Jacob Bethel managed just four runs.
For India, Kurnoor Brar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/67 in his 10 overs. Jasprit Bumrah, Prashit Krishna, Shivam Dubey and Axar Patel took one wicket each.
Earlier, India were bowled out for 233 in 44 overs despite useful contributions from Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma and Bumrah.
Iyer top-scored with 66 off 71 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes, while Kohli scored 65 off 66 balls with 8 fours.
Gill scored 31 runs off 30 balls including 6 fours while Sharma scored 26 runs off 47 balls with a four and a six. Bumrah scored 20 runs off 13 balls with 3 fours and a six.
However, the lower order failed to provide significant support with Ishan Kishan and Axar Patel dismissed for one run each, Washington Sundar for 2, Shivam Dubey and Prasith Krishna for a duck and Kurnoor Brar for 7.
For England, Archer and Atkinson took 3 wickets each and Saqib Mahmood took 2 wickets. Sam Curran and Will Jacks took a wicket each.
The third and final ODI between England and India will be played at Lord’s in London on Sunday, with the series tied 1-1.