Stuart Broad on England's blistering run-chase of 337 to beat India by six wickets in the second ODI: "It felt like I was watching a computer game! It was another [six], another one, and it wasn't like they were only just clearing the ropers - the fielders didn't stand a chance"
Saturday 27 March 2021 10:19, UK
India captain Virat Kohli hailed England's batsmen after they chased down 337 to win the second one-day international in Pune, describing it as "the most amazing batting that you're going to see".
England levelled the three-match series at 1-1 going into Sunday's decider - live on Sky Sports Cricket from 8.30am - after some staggering hitting from Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy and Ben Stokes helped fire the visitors to a six-wicket win - with a massive 6.3 overs to spare.
Bairstow (124) and Roy (55) shared in a century opening partnership, with the former then kicking on through to an 11th ODI hundred, while Stokes (99) fell one agonising run short of a fourth of his own after rocketing his score up from 50 to 99 in the space of just 11 deliveries!
Bairstow and Stokes blasted 17 maximums between them in a thrilling 175-run stand (off 113 balls) for the second wicket.
"I think we set up quite a decent total on the board," Kohli said at the post-match presentation. "But England found a way to get that 100-run partnership and we hardly had any chances come our way.
"I thought they batted brilliantly well tonight. Yes, we did not execute some things as well as we wanted to, but that was some of the most amazing batting that you're going to see while chasing a total.
"You have to give credit where it's due and tonight they totally blew us away with that partnership of Jonny and Ben Stokes - we didn't even have a chance, that's how good they were together and they thoroughly deserved to win."
Kohli added: "When two of the best teams in the world come up against each other, one of them is going to come out on top convincingly. Last time around, we came back into the game and totally dominated from the time we got the first couple of wickets.
"We know how England can play and once they get on a roll, with the kind of intent they have, it's very difficult to bounce back into the game. They gave us nothing at all, which is quite rare when you play with that strike-rate - it has to be a display of quality batting.
"Some days it comes off when you're defending, some days it does not, and tonight wasn't our night. It's now set up for a nice decider the day after tomorrow."
England Test cricketer Stuart Broad weighed in on England's impressive run-chase and, specifically, the period from the 30th over till Stokes' wicket in the 36th when a massive 91 runs were scored in just 31 deliveries, including six fours and nine sixes!
"It was astonishing, wasn't it?" Broad told Sky Sports. "It was great entertainment, brilliant skill, amazing power.
"I said to you on commentary, it felt like I was watching a computer game! It was another [six], another one, and it wasn't like they were only just clearing the ropers, the fielders didn't stand a chance - it was going 20 rows back.
"It was like they were having throw-downs, doing range hitting in practice without a care in the world. And they were doing that in an international game, with the series on the line!"
Watch the third and final ODI between India and England live on Sky Sports Cricket from 8.30am on Sunday. Don't forget the clocks change on Sunday!
