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Predictions 
England skipper Jos Buttler called it right at the coin toss and decided to have a bat first. There were no signs of Kohli owing to a knee issue and India decided to hand a debut cap to Harshit Rana and Yashasvi Jaiswal. The tourists got off to a flying start and were motoring along at 75 for no loss by the 9th over.
But then a mini-collapse ensued. It started with the run out of Salt who succumbed after a blazing 43 (26). Then the debutant Harshit Rana struck in quick succession to dent England for 77-3. Root and Buttler tried to rebuild the innings but the former perished during the 19th over while trying to play Jadeja on the back foot.
Buttler was joined by Bethell after the fall of the fourth wicket and the pair tackled the spin quite patiently for a certain period of the innings. But after being watchful for the most part, Buttler slowly began breaking from the shackles. He struck timely boundaries from time to time to ensure England did not fall too far behind during the middle phase. Bethell on the other hand, looked edged and struggled to find the gaps during the initial stages of his innings.
Eventually, the pair managed to bring up a hard-fought fifty-plus stand by the 30th over. Buttler put on a well-compiled fifty and kept England afloat. Bethell continued to grind hard but still struggled to get to his fluent best. Despite an obvious lack of big shots, both Buttler and Bethell ensured steady strike rotation and milked singles effortlessly. But a rare lapse of concentration from Buttler by the end of the 32nd over resulted in a wicket for Axar in the form of a top edge leaving England 170-5 at the second drinks break.
Once the main anchor was taken out of the picture, England slipped further as Livingstone was hurried on with a quick short ball which had him caught by KL Rahul behind the stumps. At 183-6, the lower order had to fight back but wickets kept tumbling. Amidst dire circumstances, Bethell shinned with the bat and got to his fifty which ultimately got England over the 200-run mark. However, his departure during the 43rd over perhaps put the final nail in the coffin for England. That is what India thought before Archer and Rashid got into the rescue act and struck a flurry of boundaries to drag England to 248.
BRIEF SCORES: England 248/10 (Jos Buttler 52, Jacob Bethell 51, Jofra Archer 21, Ravindra Jadeja 3/26, Harshit Rana 3/53, Mohammed Shami 1/38)
