Former England Test captain Michael Vaughan is known for his acerbic takes on international cricket, and habitually gets into irreverent banter with Indian fans online when it comes to an India vs England encounter. Fans may love him or hate him, but they can't seem to ignore him as all such tweets of his create a buzz on social media. On Sunday, during the 2023 ODI World Cup clash between India and the defending champions in Lucknow, Vaughan did something similar. (Highlights | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
After England left-arm seamer David Willey had India batting superstar Virat Kohli caught by Ben Stokes at mid-off for a duck, Vaughan posted a snarky message on X (formerly Twitter), wherein he wrote: "Does getting @imVkohli out for a duck automatically get @david_willey a England central contract .. !!! #CWC23 .."
The tweet refers to the fact that Willey was not given a central contract by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) this year, despite being part of their team for the ongoing Cricket World Cup. On October 24, ECB had handed out multi-year central contracts to 18 players and annual contracts to eight others, including Stokes, veteran pacer James Anderson and all-rounder Moeen Ali.
What Vaughan cheekily alluded to was that someone who scalped the wicket of one of the world's most vaunted white-ball cricketer Kohli in the ODI World Cup should rightfully have a central contract with ECB.
The former England opener's comment came when India was not doing so well with the bat. However, Indian bowlers turned things around dramatically as the hosts bowled out the defending champions for a paltry 129 to win the match by a whopping 100 runs. Mohammed Shami was the wrecker-in-chief with four wickets, including those of Stokes and Jonny Bairstow off successive deliveries.
But it was pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who began the onslaught with the crucial wickets of Dawid Malan and Joe Root off consecutive balls. Bumrah ended with three scalps, and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav too chipped in with two wickets.
Earlier, Indian batters struggled on a tricky surface to end up with a below-par but respectable total of 229/9 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. After being asked to bat to first by Buttler, the Indian innings soon began to unravel. By the end of the 12th over, the hosts were three down with just 40 runs on the board.
But skipper Rohit Sharma came up with a resilient and counter-attacking knock of 87 (off 101 balls) and along with KL Rahul (39 off 58), held the innings together. Later, Suryakumar Yadav (49 off 47) provided the final flourish to take India to a decent total. England, needing a win to keep their semi-final hopes alive, were given a new lease of life by the bowlers. David Willey led the attack brilliantly, taking three for 35. Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid also grabbed two wickets each.
