England openers Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell achieved a new milestone during the third ODI against India at Lord's in London on Sunday. The duo forged a 192-run stand for the first wicket.
That partnership became the highest opening partnership for England against India in ODIs.
Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell break multiple records
The duo broke the record of a 160-run stand that had been formed by Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow against India in Edgbaston in 2019 during the ODI World Cup that year.
Duckett and Bethell also became the first duo to forge 150 runs or more for the first wicket at Lord's.
The previous record was when Geoffrey Boycott and Peter Willey forged 135 runs for the first wicket against West Indies in 1980. While Duckett went onto forge 141 runs on Sunday, Bethell, however, missed out on scoring a century as he was dismissed for 91.
It was only in the 32nd over when India finally got the breakthrough as Prasidh Krishna struck. It was a short ball from Prasidh Krishna, Jacob Bethell looked to whip over the leg side as he found Rohit Sharma at deep square leg. Bethell slammed 11 fours and two sixes during his knock. On the other hand, Duckett's knock consisted of 18 fours and one six.
England eventually went onto post a whopping total of 387/3 from 50 overs. The hosts never slowed down even after the dismissal of Bethell and Duckett, as Joe Root continued his impressive form with an unbeaten knock of 74.
That was his third 50-plus score in this series, meaning that he has scored a half-century in each of the three ODIs.
India are missing the services of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of the third ODI due to a knee injury. That eventually hurt the Men in Blue quite significantly, as they ended up conceding almost 400 runs. The three-match ODI series is currently well-poised at 1-1.
At the time of writing this report, India were 60/0 after 11 overs, with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill unbeaten on 34 runs and 26 runs respectively.
