The 2nd ODI of India vs England bilateral series 2021 was played at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on 26 March 2021. Shreyas Iyer was not included in the playing XI because of his shoulder’s injury and Rishabh Pant came in place of him. England missed Eon Morgan and Dawid Malan was included to fill the place of Morgan, Livingstone & Reece Topley replaced Billings & Mark Wood. Liam Livingstone was making his ODI debut for England. England won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first. The pitch was flatter than the last game and good for batting. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were sent to the crease and Sam Curran got the new ball in hand to open the attack.
The Indian team did not get a good start and lost both the openers at 37 runs in 8.4 overs. Afterward, Virat Kohli, the captain himself handled the situation with KL Rahul and had scored 41 runs for 2 wickets at the end of the first Powerplay. India had completed its first 100 runs on the scoreboard from 118 balls. Virat and KL Rahul had built up the partnership of 121 runs for the third wicket. Adil Rashid in 31.6 overs dismissed Virat Kohli, after the dismissal, Hardik Pandya came out to the middle to support KL Rahul, who was looking awesome with the bat. Hardik Pandya struck some big shots and made 35 runs from just 16 balls. Rahul played an excellent inning and completed his 4th century in ODI from 108 balls that helped India to reach a defending total of 336 runs. Rishabh Pant was brilliant with his form and made 77 runs from just 40 balls. England needed 337 runs from 50 overs to win the 2nd ODI between Ind and Eng series 2021. Reece Topley and Tom Curran got 2 wickets each for his team.
Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow were on the crease to chase the target and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the new ball in hand to deliver the first over. England got a nice start and had made 59 runs without any loss at the end of the first Powerplay. India was looking for the breakthrough but both the openers of the English team played very well and had built up the opening partnership of 110 runs. In 16.3 overs, Jason Roy was run out by Sharma & Pant and thus Indian team got the first breakthrough. Afterward, Ben Stokes came out to join Bairstow and added a crucial partnership of 175 runs for the second wicket that helped England to achieve the target very comfortably in 43.3 overs. Jonny Bairstow looked awesome with the bat and struck a match-winning century from 95 balls. He contributed 124 runs and Stokes made 99 runs but missed his century from one run only. Prasidh Krishna got the 2 wickets for India.
England won the 2nd ODI of Ind vs Eng series 2021 by 6 wickets and Jonny Bairstow was named Man of the Match. The 3 matches ODI series between Ind and Eng was level by 1-1 win.