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 were bowled out for just 233, while England chased easily with an unbeaten 99 from Joe Root, who was just one run away from completing a century after Gus Atkinson’s match-winning score. The victory 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,” Shubman Gill said post-match.
Gill points to 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-on. 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 will 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 stars, 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 win, 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.
