Vijaykumar Yomahesh's glorious hat-trick killed off England to gloss a performance of pure Indian silk at Cardiff.
Tanmay Srivistava may have lost the toss but from then on neither he nor his team put a foot wrong, smothering the England batsmen with suffocating fields, bowling tight lines and then knocking off the 165 required runs inside 30 overs for just one wicket to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in this three-match series.
England may be playing for pride only now, but there will be no let-up for them as the teams return to Sophia Gardens tomorrow. It was their batting that let them down today; they were a clear 90 runs shy of a competitive target and the game was pretty much up at the half-way stage. India's openers Uday Kaul and Parveez Aziz promptly confirmed matters with a rollicking stand of 125, showing just how flat the pitch was.
Kaul made a polished 58 not out, while Aziz scorched his way to 79 from 55 balls with some sumptuous cover-drives before holing out in the deep going for glory. This was supposed to be a floodlit match, but the lights were needed for just three overs as India well and truly dazzled.
While Yomahesh's memorable three-card trick of hostile quality put paid to England's tail, the innings had melted long before under a sultry sun. On a true pitch, the only gremlins were those in England heads, created by India's demon bowling and equally devilish fielding.
Frustrated by the lack of scoring opportunities, too many batsmen sent easy catches straight to fielders - that is, when they weren't being blasted out by Ishant Sharma. He used all of his six foot four inches to slam down delivery after nagging delivery and take three wickets, all bowled. Both openers fell to him: Varun Chopra for a duck, bowled through the gate, and he then yorked Moeen Ali (51 for 2). Later he removed England's topscorer Adam Lyth for 36, just as the batsman was looking like he could push England to at least 200.
Sharma hunted well with Yomahesh: at the start and end of the innings they really put the skids under England. Yomahesh followed up his destructive three-wicket haul in the opening match with the hat-trick here. Paul Dixey stopped on a cover-drive, Andrew Miller was clean-bowled, and then it was as much as Steven Finn could do to feather through to bring England's misery to an end on 164 and complete only the second one-day international hat-trick at this level, following Luke Wright's example a few years ago.
An ecstatic Indian team, who had been chirruping all of England's innings, then whooped around the field for joy. They knew Yomahesh had done something special. They also knew what a strong position they were in, even after just 50 overs. England's bowlers stuck well to their task, and they fielded with application, but despite the game attempt at geeing each other up, they knew their batting hadn't been at the races. India cantered home in style.
