Trophy Heist! India survives thrilling match against England, clinches ODI series 2-1

Pune, Mar 29: In a thrilling match, Team India survived a major scare as they came from behind to win the third ODI against England by 7 runs. This means Virat & Co clinched the series 2-1. It also means that in the India vs England series, the hosts have won all - Tests, T20I, and ODIs - series.

 

Chasing yet another massive total of 330, England kept on losing wickets frequently and it seemed like the ball was in India's court. However, Sam Curran came on to the crease and almost took the match away from India. On the other hand, India had consistently dropped catches like Ben Stokes, Sam Curran. In the last two overs, India had managed to reduce the total to 14 off the final over. Wood who was assisting Curran was dismissed through a run-out.

 

 

With Wood sent back to the pavilion, T Natarajan have no runs off the third and fourth ball and it became difficult for the visitors to achieve the target. England needed 12 runs off 2 balls. Natarajan conceded four runs in the fifth ball and everyone breathed a sigh of relief and Curran on the sixth ball went for a four meaning India won the match and sealed the series.

 

Shardul Thakur once again went against the set batsmen and picked four wickets. He managed to dismiss Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, and Adil Rashid. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had dismissed in-form Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow to reduce England and later Moeen Ali.

 

 

Earlier, in the day, Kohli lost the toss and India batted first. Rohit Sharma (37) and Dhawan (67) had a stable start and India were 65 for no loss after 10 overs. However, both the openers fell prey to Adil Rashid’s googlies. In the next few moments, Kohli was also sent back to the pavilion by Ali.

 

KL Rahul got out to a full-toss from Livingstone. From 157/4, Pant and Hardik counter-attacked to put pressure back on England. They scored cracking half-centuries but got out at the wrong time. Thakur’s 30 off 21 balls at the death turned out to be a very important cameo. India lost their last four wickets for eight runs, but this team has made fightback its second nature.