ENGvIND-3RDODI: Powered By Aggressive Rishabh Pant’s Unbeaten Ton, Hardik Pandya’s All-Round Show India Beat England By 5 Wickets; Clinch Series 2-1

Picture : BCCI/ Twitter

After Clinching the T20I series with the identical score-line 2-1 , the Rohit Sharma led India completed their England tour with a superb ODI series win winning the third  ODI  decider at Old Trafford by 5 wickets against the English lions.

For India the heroes were aggressive wicket- keeper batsman Rishabh Pant who scored his maiden unbeaten hundred and all- rounder Hardik Pandya who excelled with both and and ball .

India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first . Jason Roy ( 41), Skipper Jos Buttler ( 60) , Ben Stokes (27), Moeen Ali ( 34) , Liam Livingstone ( 27), rare failures from Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root who did not trouble scorers, and Craig Overton ( 32) saw England getting eventually bowled out for 259/ 10 in their 50 overs.

For India , Hardik Pandya led the bowling show with figures of 4/ 24 ( 7 0vers), Mohammed Siraj 2/ 66( 9 overs), Yuzvendra Chahal 3/ 60 ( 9.5 overs) , Ravindra Jadeja 1/ 21 ( 4 overs) were the wicket- takers.

In reply , India were rocked early with dismissals of Skipper Rohit Sharma ( 17), Shikhar Dhawan ( 1) , out off form Virat Kohli ( 17) , Suryakumar Yadav ( 16). In-fact were in a in a spot of bother at 72 for four in a chase of 260.

But the dynamic duo of Rishabh Pant and and Hardik Pandya put India back on track for series win with superb partnership. Pant was brilliant as she smashed his unbeaten and maiden ODI ton a match- winning 125 ( 113 balls , 16 fours, 2 sixes), Hardik after superb spell with ball scored a vital 71 ( 55 balls, 10 fours), Ravindra Jadeja not out 7 , along with pant saw India home with five wickets to spare . India reaching 261/ 5 in 42. 1 overs.

For England, Reece Topley (3/35) again proved to be the wrecker-in-chief by removing the trio of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in quick succession. Brydon Carse 1/ 45( 8 0vers), Craig Overton 1/ 54 ( 8 overs) were the other wicket- takers.