India vs England, 2nd ODI at Pune, IND v ENG, Mar 26 2021 - Match Result

9.51 pm: That's brought us to the end of a whirlwind ODI. I thought we saw the pinnacle of one-day hitting when Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya were going along. Then along came Jonny Bairstow to show us he could match that. And then along came Ben Stokes to show us he could outdo that. Exhilarating stuff. It's all set up for a mightily exciting series (and tour) finale. Make sure you join us for that. Till then, this is Saurabh Somani, signing off on behalf of Andrew Miller and Chandan Duorah.

Jonny Bairstow is the Man of the Match: Obviously disappointed to miss out in the last game but delighted to get across the line in this one. To be very honest, my thought process was exactly the same as last game. I thought we were excellent in the last game, we were ahead of the run-rate by a long way. We saw Ben play some rather entertaining shots.

(on his opening partnership with Jason Roy) It's natural. Today I faced 8 balls in the first 8-9 overs and Jason was blazing at the other end. Today they bowled well at the top. Bhuvi, we know his skills and how difficult he's to get away. We both have the game to catch up later. The relationship we have at the top of the order is great, and long may that continue.

Jos Buttler: Delighted with the response of the guys. I thought we put in a very good bowling performance as well to restrict India to that total. Look at how well they played in the last 10 overs, so I thought the guys in the middle overs did well to restrict them. And then the guys came out and played fantastically well, the intent and partnerships from the start made it a brilliant chase. The openers have been a pillar of our strength for a long period of time. Delighted for Jonny and that partnership with Ben Stokes was brilliant to watch, as a fellow player and a fan. Some of the strokes they played and the commitment to play that way. Some people talked about our way and if we need to be smarter - of course we want to play smart cricket but it's important to commit to our style of play when the conditions suit. Moeen and Adil bowled well in tandem, great friends and they enjoy bowling together.

We've played on some good wickets here, and a winner takes all game at the end, so we'll look forward to that.

Virat Kohli: I think we set quite a decent total on the board. It was going to be challenging if we stayed in the game for long periods. I think we started off really well with the new ball but still England found a way to get a 100 run partnership. We didn't execute too well but I thought they batted brilliantly tonight. It was some of the most amazing batting you'll see when chasing. They totally blew us away during that partnership of Jonny and Ben Stokes. We didn't even have a chance during that partnership. I don't think the dew played any role at all. The ball wasn't difficult to hold. You could say the wicket settles down a bit under lights but that's no excuse. When two of the best teams in the world collide, one of them is going to win convincingly. Last time we came back. This time England didn't give us anything at all. It's quite rare that if you play with that strike rate and give no chances. It shows the quality of batting.

(Why Hardik didn't bowl) We need to manage his body as well going forward. We need to understand where we need his skillsets with the ball alongwith his batting. We used him in the T20Is but it's a bit of workload management as well. We want to ensure we have Hardik Pandya fit and strong, because he's going to be an important part of the squad.

We lost two wickets early on and needed a partnership. That happened with KL and myself. KL carried on, really happy for him. Then Rishabh changed the game, and Hardik finished it off as well. Really pleased with these young guys stepping up. But tonight wasn't our night, it was England's. Nicely set up for the decider.

(on the lack of 100s) I never played for 100s in my life, that's probably why I ended up getting so many in such little time. It's all about contributing to the team cause. If the team doesn't win when you get three figures it doesn't mean anything. You're not going to sit back at the end of your career and look at numbers, it's more about how you played the game.

When the top two sides are playing each other, it's about who is better on the night.

9.35pm: For those wondering about the numbers of this chase, stats whiz Sampath says that a target of this magnitude (300+) has been chased down only five times with 39 balls or more remaining. Here's the list.

Ben Stokes: I think the most pleasing thing for us as a team is we didn't go away from our values as a team. We were bitterly disappointed after the first ODI. Great chase and happy we were able to go over the line fairly easily despite India putting up a big total. Better wicket to be honest but we don't really fear any totals to be honest. It could have been easy to rein ourselves in after the last game but from a personal and team point of view, it was important to play as we do. We speak about match ups in our changing room and my match-up was with the spinners to take the risk, just let Jonny keep going on with his business. He's in unbelievable form. The amount of runs they (Roy and Bairstow) have scored is obviously amazing, but if you look at the way they have scored it's even better .best in the world in my opinion. Always good going to the last game when the series is on the line.

Blesson: "I think India's solid (not explosive, especially the top order) batting line-up can allow for Ashwin to play purely as an excellent spinner for better dividends, and we can certainly discount the fielding and batting aspects which might be on the mind of Kohli, given the skill that Ashwin has!"

9.24 pm: The series is level at 1-1. There was that late wobble, but England's chase will come to be defined by that period of Ben Stokes' madness. Jonny Bairstow was also going like the blazes, but Stokes seemed intent on sending the ball into an alternate dimension. Eventually, India didn't have enough on the board on a belter of a pitch. They might want to have a re-look at how they dealt with the middle overs. Moeen Ali bowled 10 on the trot and conceded only 47, with just one boundary. Despite that Stokes-Bairstow assault, the match would have had a different complexion you think, if India had dealt with Moeen and the middle overs with more intent. Also memorably in this game, Jason Roy broke out of his Fearful 40s and got a fifty.

Free hit coming up.

Abhinav: "Last ball of the 40th over, India reviewed, so how was the leg bye counted? I thought the same happened with Pant but it was considered a dot ball despite it going for 4. Can someone please explain?"

- That's because in the first case, the review was successful. In the second case (ie a few overs back), the review was unsuccessful.

Danny: "India is definitely missing Bumrah in bowling lineup, although more concerning is the spin department, should bring R Ashwin back if jade ja is not available. Moen and Rashid are bowling better than Indian spinners last two games"

John: "How come Malan faced the last ball of over 39 and the first of over 40?"

- they took a leg-bye off that ball