India vs England, 2nd ODI: Topley's injury struggles 'worthwhile' after bowler registers record England ODI figures

London, July 15: Reece Topley viewed his injury struggles and retirement fears as "worthwhile" after boosting his white-ball credentials with England's best ever ODI figures.

England avenged a 10-wicket defeat to India in the opening ODI at The Oval with a resounding 100-run victory at Lord's, teeing up a series decider at Old Trafford.

Jos Buttler's side only managed 247 all out but Topley soon made sure of a one-sided contest, claiming the two early scalps of captain Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

The left-arm quick then bowled Suryakumar Yadav and had Mohamed Shami caught behind before wrapping up his five-for by removing Yuzvendra Chahal.

Fittingly, Topley capped a fine individual performance by sealing victory as he dismissed Prasidh Krishna, finishing with figures of 6-24.

That marked the best figures by a men's player in ODIs for England, surpassing the previous benchmark set by Paul Collingwood in 2005 against Bangladesh when he took 6-31.

Topley's six-wicket haul was achieved a stone's throw away from where he underwent surgery to overcome stress fractures that almost called an end to his playing career.

"It was a terrific team performance and I'm just happy to have played my part," Topley told Sky Sports as he was presented with the Player of the Match award.

"It means a lot and makes it all worthwhile. It was just over the stand where I had surgery three years ago, so it's come full circle, which is crazy.

"It's everyone's dream to play for England and I just want to pull on the shirt as often as possible and play my part in winning games for England."

Topley continues to boost his hopes of featuring in the T20 World Cup in Australia in November, having impressed in the three-match series against India earlier this month.

The 28-year-old was the only bowler on either side to finish with an economy rate below 7.5 as the runs flowed in the final T20I at Trent Bridge, owing to his relentless knack of hitting the right area.

Former England captain and TV pundit Nasser Hussain finds it hard to see another bowler displacing Topley in England's first-choice limited-overs XI.

"It's an outstanding story, the way he's gone through the ups and downs, the stress fractures," Hussain said.

"He's bowled well in white-ball cricket of late and as well in that T20 game at Trent Bridge when everyone else was going around the park.

"It's his place now and when you get figures like that, with so many big games coming up and England are looking at bowlers with a long list of injuries... if some bowler can stand up and continue to put in performance after performance then you're almost saying 'you can't leave me out'."