india captain Shubman Gill It was a disappointing result as his team squandered a commanding position in a four-wicket defeat to England in the second ODI at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Thursday, July 16, 2026.After reaching 180/3, India suffered a dramatic mid-over collapse and ended up out for just 233, while England chased easily with Joe Root’s unbeaten 99, who fell just one run behind Gus Atkinson’s match-winning score. The win helped England level the three-match series at 1-1.Looking back at India’s batting failure, Gill admitted that his team fell far short of their target.“Honestly, very disappointing. We thought 300-310 after 25 overs would be a good total. We were in a good position but we lost too many wickets in the middle overs. Our tail-enders were not the best batsmen but we expected more from the lower-middle order. We couldn’t capitalize on our start. Hopefully next time we can build a small partnership and go from there,” said Bujerman on the small partnership after the next game.
Gill points out Washington Sundar’s injury
Talking about Washington Sundar’s injury, Gill admitted that it disrupted India’s plans, although he stopped short of blaming India for the defeat.“He is a key part of our team. I think he got injured while running to mid-off. We had to bowl our main bowlers throughout the innings and change our strategy. This resulted in some loss of momentum but I don’t think it would have a huge impact as the ball was good enough for the fast bowlers,” he added.
Root easily chases the target
India wasted a commanding position after being asked to bat first at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. Despite a solid 114-run defense between Virat Kohli (65) and Shreyas Iyer (66) as the visitors posted a score of 180/3, a dramatic mid-order collapse saw them lose their last seven wickets for 53 runs and be bowled out for 233. Jofra Archer (3/47) and Gus Atkinson (3/50) were the protagonists of the ball while Jasprit Bumrah’s unbeaten 20 helped India cross the 230-run mark.England’s chase got off to a disastrous start with Jasprit Bumrah removing Ben Duckett on the first ball of the innings before Prasidh Krishna reduced the hosts to 8/2. However, Joe Root sealed the chase with a brilliant 99 off 133 balls* and received valuable support from Will Jacks (30), Sam Curran (26) and *Gus Atkinson (23)**. Atkinson hit the winning boundary to seal the four-wicket victory, leaving Root agonizingly short of a century.The three-match ODI series is leveled 1-1 and the decider will be played at Lord’s on July 19.
