Continuing their winning streak in the tournament, India registered their 6th victory by defeating England. The Ekana Stadium in Lucknow witnessed a low scoring game, resulting in a rather convincing victory for the Indian team. A billion fans rejoiced their team going on the top of the table with this win. On the other hand, England continued their horrid run in the tournament, facing their 5th overall, and 4th consecutive defeat. While ecstacy grabbed the hearts of Indians, agony surrounded the minds of the English team and their fans.

England were said to be the worst ever defending world champions by some critics before the match. And unfortunately, they gave even more to say to the one's who made such claims. One has hardly seen any top team perform so poorly at the grandest stage in the world cup. The champions of the previous edition of world cup, are now lying at the bottom of the table for quite some time. The fact that associate nations like Netherlands are much higher on the points table makes things look even worse for English team.

Even after knowing the fact the England's performance has been below par this world cup, the contest between India and England was considered to be one to watch. The hosts of the tournament were supposed to lock horns with the previous hosts and world cup winners at Lucknow today. And contrasting performance from both the teams did not affect the hype of the game before it began. The fans were in good numbers to still see a great contest, but to their disappointment, they rather saw a one-sided contest dominated by Men in Blue.

It was the first occasion when India were put to bat first in this tournament. Having chased the target in all of the previous 5 matches, the team needed to now show their batting prowess to set a good target. And that's where it started to look that the English team might bounce back in the tournament through this match. Woakes and Willey did the job of dismissing Indian top order cheaply. They were disciplined with the ball, and were making life difficult for India. Gill was sent back home quickly, and Virat was dismissed for a duck. At once the scorecard read 40/3, when Shreyas continued his struggle with the short ball.

But then it was the experienced duo of Rohit Sharma and Rahul who steadied Indian ship. Both took some time and started playing their natural game. Rahul was dismissed playing a shot in haste, but skipper continued to showcase his abilities. He played a sensational knock of 87 runs, making batting look easy on a difficult wicket to score runs. He showed his class, and his innings was the exact difference in between the batting sides of winning and losing team. Once he departed, Surya batted well and missed his well deserved half century just by a run. The the tail enders made sure India remains the only team to not be bundled out in this world cup.

A decent target of 230 looked gettable for the English team. But what followed for the same old story for them this world cup. Their openers started well, but their short-lived joy lasted only for 28 deliveries, as Bumrah dismissed Malan and Root on consecutive deliveries. Soon Shami dislodged Stokes' bails, moments before dismissing Bairstow. Kuldeep Yadav then produced a magical delivery which cleaned up Butler's innings and English hopes of victory. Half of the English team was back to pavilion, with still 180 runs needed. Moeen Ali and Livingstone offered little resistance, before perishing, and the tail enders were cleaned by spearheads Bumrah and Shami. The English were bundled on mere 129 runs, 100 runs lesser than their counterpart India.

The agonizing defeat definitely hurt the English, who were already reeling way backwards in the tournament. And on contrary, the successful Indian bowling line-up showed their masterclass to defend a really low total. The top class effort of Indian bowlers has been instrumental in all the victories for Men in Blue. And so has been the skipper who leads from the front, no matter anyone stands with him or not. While Bumrah displayed his class, Shami reminded the fans on why he is the most successful bowler for India in the World Cups he has played. Scalping 9 wickets in just 2 matches so far, he lived up to a billion expectations.

The feeling of ecstacy for Indian team, also comes along with the feeling of accomplishment. Now the team has won batting first, and batting second both. The bowlers are breaking the shackles of Indian bowling struggles till few years back, turning into match winners. And the batters are rising up to the occasion. It's great to see the seniors step up to the crucial moments. When Virat fails, Rohit delivers and vice versa. Rahul is looking too good at number 5 for the team. Spinners are spinning their web to perfection, and all the 11 members present look eclectic on the field saving runs. All in all, these are great signs for the Indian team going ahead. With this thumping victory, India has almost made it to the semifinals of the tournament, and now clearly look to be the favourites to win it, and England are almost on the verge of exit, and would like to forget this campaign.