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India vs England, 3rd ODI: India seal series with exciting win after Sam Curran nearly pulls off great chase
The hosts thus registered a hat-trick of series wins, across formats, sending the visitors back empty-handed.
India wouldn’t have been entirely confident at the halfway mark after finishing with 329. And what should have been a comfortable defence of the total was eventually an escape to a seven-run win as India’s five fast-bowlers (Hardik Pandya bowled) responded with collective intelligence and variety. India won the series 2-1 in a format where England are the reigning world champions.
The hosts thus registered a hat-trick of series wins, across formats, sending the visitors back empty-handed.
India’s poor fielding on the day—they dropped four catches and missed two run-outs—almost cost them the match. England looked done at 257/8 when Virat Kohli pulled off a stunning catch at covers to cut short Adil Rashid’s innings (19). They looked far from pushing for a win at 200/7 too, before Sam Curran and Rashid pulled off a 57-run eighth-wicket stand. At the start of the innings, they had lost wickets, reduced to 95/4, but Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone put together a 50-run fifth-wicket stand to keep them in the game.
Despite losing wickets regularly, England never really fell behind the run-rate, which underlines their go-hard-at-all-times mantra. Sam Curran remained not out on 95 (83 balls) as T Natarajan defended 14 runs that were needed off the final over.
England had announced to the world that they won’t retreat from their aggressive mindset. And they didn’t, in a chase of yet another 300-plus total, making India earn their win and showcasing the depth in their batting resources. And going by India’s changed batting display, it seemed England’s gung-ho approach had won them over as well. After England chased down 336 with consummate ease in the previous match, India decided to bat embracing their opponents’ playbook.
In appreciation of England’s handling of spin, Kohli decided to take Kul-Cha (Kuldeep Yadav/Yuzvendra Chahal) off the bowling menu, with Natarajan replacing Yadav.
Kohli’s luck with toss didn’t change, but the urgency in India’s batting approach was evident from the first over. It could be seen in Rohit Sharma’s and Shikhar Dhawan’s purposeful footwork, being on the lookout for runs off every ball. In the fifth over, Sharma announced himself against Curran when he freed his arms to hit one over covers; 15 runs came off the over and Curran had to be taken off the attack. Dhawan too was scoring runs with ease as India had their most productive opening powerplay of the series (64 runs), the openers taking India to 100 in 14 overs.
Then the spinners came on and both openers fell to Rashid’s googlies. Sharma (37) was bowled, unable to read Rashid and Dhawan (67) was caught, trying to force the issue. Pant was sent in at No.4 to counter the spinners, but India soon lost the centurion of the last game, KL Rahul, cheaply. India’s famed top order was taken out of the game by England’s spinners.
But Pant is not one to be influenced by external pressure, which is why he could send a Rashid googly sailing over mid-wicket for his first six of the innings. He kept attacking the spinners, whether it was by using his feet to hit sixes over the straight boundary or playing one-handed lofted hits, going through with his shots. Before falling to Curran for 78 (62b- 5x4, 4x6), Pant had brought out his full repertoire of strokes that keeps expanding with every outing.
Hardik Pandya also arrived in overdrive mode and continued attacking the spinners. At the 27-over mark, Moeen Ali was going strong at 6-19-1, carrying the confidence of having bowled Kohli (7) with a sharp off-spinner. But Hardik sent him to the stands with three clean sixes, once straight, twice over mid-wicket. It was clear India wasn’t going to allow the English spinners to settle down like in the previous match. And when Krunal Pandya (25-34balls) and Shardul Thakur (30-20 balls) kept going for their strokes, despite losing Pant and Hardik (64), it became evident India were aiming for the skies on the flat Pune pitch, even at the risk of falling decisively short.
The home team used to accumulation in the middle-overs (averaging 168 runs in two matches), this time got 218 runs in the same phase (overs 11-40). In constant quest for quick runs, India were dismissed for 329. They got only 46 runs in their last 10 overs this time, with the final 10 balls not used. That can happen when you don’t have a long enough lower order, something for the think tank to work on.
In defending the total, India needed early wickets, having seen England openers post two consecutive, blazing 100-run stands in the series. It was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who got India started by sending back Jason Roy (14) and Jonny Bairstow (1) with incoming deliveries that held their shape. Kumar regaining his rhythm in the white-ball leg has been key in India’s bowling. He could have had Ben Stokes too for 15 when the tall all-rounder found height not distance to a half-volley, but Hardik dropped the simplest of aerial catches.
Stokes was living a charmed life and also had a run-out chance missed, but he finally ran out of luck when he helped a Natarajan full toss to deep mid-wicket to be dismissed for 35. Soon, stand-in captain Jos Butter missed an incoming Shardul Thakur delivery to fall leg before for 15 and England were reduced to 95/4.
Every time India have needed wickets, they have turned to Thakur. The Mumbai seamer used all his variations to dismiss Malan (50), out to a mistimed pull, and Livingstone (36), who sent a full-toss back into the bowler’s hands. Thakur finished with 4/67, taking seven wickets in the three ODIs after a haul of eight in the T20 series.
