Pune: T Natrajan’s composed bowling in the penultimate over ensured India a seven-run win over England in the final ODI on Sunday (March 28). Sam Curran’s (95 not out) heroics at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium went in vain as the visitors were held on 322/9.
India had put on 329 runs on the board on a good batting deck with Rishabh Pant (78) and Hardik Pandya (64) driving their innings. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (3/42) and Shardul Thakur kept India in the game ultimately helping them to claim the series 2-1.
Chasing 330, England were on backfoot early on as Bhuvaneshwar struck twice removing both Jason Roy and Johnny Bairstow cheaply before Natarajan sent the burly Ben Stokes for just three. Skipper Jos Butler got trapped in-front for 15 by Thakur shortly after that.
England after that had a brief good period when Dawid Malan (50) and Liam Livingstone (36) steadied the ship before they both fell in the trap of Thakur. Although the asking rate was within the reach of the visitors, they lost wickets at key moments.
Youngster Curran came in as the last hope and started an onslaught and was taking England towards an unlikely victory. However, with 14 runs to win in the last over, Curran failed to put away Natrajan. Bhuvneshwar again proved himself a key factor for India in the bowling department while Thakur despite being a bit expensive gave 4 wickets to his side in return.
Earlier, India started their innings well getting 103 for the opening wicket. Shikhar Dhawan played a gutsy 67 while skipper Virat Kohli went home for just seven along with last match’s centurion KL Rahul getting dismissed on the same score. The duo of Pandya and Pant then started taking the game away from the visitors.
Had they both kept themselves at the crease till the final overs, the hosts would have accumulated a big score on the board but both of them got dismissed after playing so well. Krunal Pandya struggled quite a lot while Thakur chipped in with 21-ball 30 before the Men in Blue got all-out for 329.
