England's third ODI against India at Headingley is the perfect World Cup 2019 warm-up

For a potential World Cup semi-final against India next summer, England’s match at Headingley on Tuesday will be as good a dress rehearsal as there could be.

Headingley is likely to contain more supporters of India than England, as will a World Cup semi-final between the two countries, whether it is staged at Old Trafford or Edgbaston. There will be no curb on singing and dancing and chanting either, as there effectively was at Lord’s, where England won the second international in a highly impressive all-round performance to set up Tuesday’s decider.

“I am not a huge fan of bilateral series,” said England’s captain Eoin Morgan, having led England to the 86-run victory which levelled this series at 1-1. “Having a game like this is crucial for us.” An England win will also maintain the distinction in the ICC ODI rankings between England in first place and India in second.

“They (India) are a really strong side, as we saw in periods (at Lord’s) and particularly at Trent Bridge,” Morgan added. “So to beat them in this series would be quite significant – very significant.”

Morgan himself played a captain’s innings with his 53 off 51 balls, which went a long way to breaking Kuldeep Yadav’s hold on England. It was bold, it was leadership in action, and not before time as the captain had been averaging 24 in ODIs.

“Emphasising the need to be clear on your plan and then sticking to it,” was how Morgan described the difference between England’s approach to Kuldeep at Trent Bridge and Lord’s. “And that’s what we did. Our plans are always about positive thinking and we didn’t veer away from that.”

Morgan was dismissed by Kuldeep but it was off a full toss and he had already shown that he intended to be boss, after Kuldeep had dismissed both of England’s openers in his first three overs and looked set to run amok again. Morgan swept both of India’s wrist-spinners, and skilfully, because he got his head down low to play the shot unlike several of England’s righthanded batsmen, and occasionally he used his feet during the defining third-wicket stand of 103 off 98 balls with Joe Root.

“I thought Joe was quite significant in that – his rotation of strike, his calm head.  I thought we did our basics right. It was much better,” Morgan concluded. And so it was: Root’s 113 off 116 balls saw England’s best batsman return to his best form which has been missing for almost a year.

Here indeed is the template for England’s future, whether in ODIs or Tests (but not in T20 internationals). If Root gets in early and bats through an innings, England will win most of their matches and lose very seldom.

Root, when he reins himself in and does not lose his shape by hitting too hard as he tends to do in T20 games, can score a single off most balls with very low risk. He thereby rotates the strike and keeps one end secure, which allows England’s big-shot batsmen like Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler to do what they like at the other end. An almost perfect template.

Player of the match, Root did not quite bat through England’s innings but was only a yard away from doing so: as non-striker he went for a run off the last ball with little chance of success, because MS Dhoni now takes his right glove off for the final ball so he can shy at the stumps. Otherwise Root was everything that could have been asked of him, placing Kuldeep into gaps for singles, then cashing in on width from every bowler to hit boundaries.

When India batted, and lost three quick wickets, their new batsmen found it hard to start against spin, just as England’s had in earlier white-ball games over this last fortnight. Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, blessed with scoreboard pressure on their side, were back to their formidable best as the pitch progressively turned - and had Morgan thank for deciding to bat first in defiance of recent custom. When batting, and faced with a mounting run-rate required, Dhoni never really took his gloves off and finished with 37 off 59 balls.