Shortly after India captured the ODI series 2-1 by defeating England by five wickets in the third ODI in Manchester where Rishabh Pant emerged as the star with a match-winning century, a tweet from Yuvraj Singh has gone viral. Pant slammed his maiden ODI ton off 109 balls and took his team home in a chase of 260, thus helping India register only the third ODI bilateral series win in England. As former cricketers went gaga over Pant and his heroics, Yuvraj's tweet indicated that he'd had a 45-minute conversation with the India wicketkeeper batter which resulted in the outcome.
"Looks like the 45-minute conversation made sense!! Well played @RishabhPant17. That's how you pace your innings. @hardikpandya7, great to watch #indiavseng," tweeted Yuvraj.
India's emphatic series win comes four days after the 20th anniversary of the team's famous and historic win over England in the 2002 Natwest Trophy final. 20 years ago, Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif had starred with the bat to help India chase down a mammoth 326-run target. Yesterday's match had shades of the Natwest Trophy final. Even though the target wasn't as big, India found themselves in a spot of bother at 72/4 when Pant and Hardik Pandya came together. The young duo added 133 runs for the fifth wicket to get the Indian innings on track in chase of 260 with Pandya adding to his four wickets in the first innings with a quickfire 71 off 55 balls with 10 fours. And although Pandya perished in the 36th over, Pant's cool head guided India over the line.
This was Pant's first century in white-ball formats. For the longest time, there were noises that Pant was criticised for his batting in ODIs and T20Is and his record in limited-overs cricket were far less convincing that his achievements in Tests. Before yesterday's game, Pant had played 26 ODIs and 50 T20Is for India, having hit eight half-centuries, but on Sunday, the maverick India batter turned things around in style, playing one of his more mature innings. Against character, Pant got his eye in and one settled, unleashed brutal carnage on England. After reaching his century, Pant smoked David Willey for 5 fours in an over, before a reverse sweep of Joe Root for a boundary sealed the series for India.
{{/usCountry}}This was Pant's first century in white-ball formats. For the longest time, there were noises that Pant was criticised for his batting in ODIs and T20Is and his record in limited-overs cricket were far less convincing that his achievements in Tests. Before yesterday's game, Pant had played 26 ODIs and 50 T20Is for India, having hit eight half-centuries, but on Sunday, the maverick India batter turned things around in style, playing one of his more mature innings. Against character, Pant got his eye in and one settled, unleashed brutal carnage on England. After reaching his century, Pant smoked David Willey for 5 fours in an over, before a reverse sweep of Joe Root for a boundary sealed the series for India.
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