The Indian bowling line-up has made it a habit of bowling out the opposition in ODI cricket.
This is something which India struggled with a decade ago when they were unable to pick up regular wickets. This was why Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were benched after the 2017 Champions Trophy, as they were not able to provide India with wickets in the middle overs.
However, things have changed now. After India bowled out England for 259 in the third ODI of the three-match ODI series in Manchester, it was the seventh successive ODI with India having bowled out the opposition. In the 22 completed ODIs after WC 2019 prior to the start of this sequence, they did so just five times.
The only other instance in India's ODI history where they bowled out the opponents in seven consecutive matches came in the 2015 ODI World Cup.
Rohit Sharma, the India captain, was clearly elated after India won the series 2-1. He remembered the last time they came for an ODI tour to England and were not able to win the series.
The win was truly his and team India's to be cherished as they beat England at their home and did it quite comprehensively.
"Very pleased. Came here, and wanted to achieve something as a group in white ball. We were here last time and were beaten, I remember that. Not an easy place to come and win games. It was a good pitch, but we do understand it's not going to be easy if we lose wickets upfront. On the positive side, these guys haven't batted much in the middle overs. Today we got to see that with Hardik and Rishabh. At no point we felt they were panicking. They backed themselves and played cricketing shots. Chahal is a critical member for us. Has got so much experience bowling in all formats. Pretty pleased with how he's come back after the WC," Rohit said.
One can clearly see the marked improvement in India's wicket-taking ability, and massive credit for that goes to not only spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who has started striking quite consistently in the middle overs but to the Indian pace bowlers as well, who are ensuring that they have the position two-three down in the powerplay itself.
The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have done the damage nice and early.
