India rode on a maiden unbeaten One-Day International (ODI) hundred by Rishabh Pant and an all-round show by Hardik Pandya to score a memorable five-wicket win over England at Old Trafford on Sunday to clinch the three-match series 2-1. It also ended India’s poor run in ODIs against strong opponents in away series as the Men in Blue had lost to New Zealand (0-3), Australia (1-2) and South Africa (0-3) in the past three years. The triumph under Rohit Sharma was only India’s third in a bilateral ODI series in England after 1990 and 2014.
The win was set up by the Indian bowlers who were impressive throughout the series. They succeeded in bowling out the strong English line-up in all three matches. Jasprit Bumrah was just sensational as his career-best 6/19 helped them bundle out England for just 110 in the first match at the Oval which India went on to win by 10 wickets. It was the turn of leggie Yuzvendra Chahal in the second one-dayer as his four-wicket haul was instrumental in England getting bowled out for 246 in the second game at Lord's. However, Reece Topley’s 6/24, the best-ever figures for an Englishman in ODIs, meant India suffered a crushing 100-run loss.
Pandya’s short-ball tactics meant England could manage only 259 in the series decider. Pandya’s 4/24 along with Mohammed Siraj’s twin blows up front and Chahal’s triple strikes at the death meant the England innings came to an end with 25 balls remaining.
The Indian top order consisting of Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli failed for the second successive game. When Suryakumar Yadav departed in the 17th over India were reeling at 72/4. Pandya and Pant first stabilised the innings and then put India on the victory path with an entertaining 133-run stand-off 115 balls. Pant then unleashed an attack as the Indians romped home in just 42.1 overs.
The failure of the middle order had been India’s bane in the big games in the past few ICC events. The maturity and fearless approach adopted by Pant and Pandya under pressure would have pleased Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid no end.
Weak points
Despite the win, the Indians have a few areas to work on. The Indian bowlers let England off the hook in both the second and third games. England recovered from 148/6 to reach 246 at Lord’s, while they added 60 runs for the last three wickets to end up with 259 after struggling at 199/7 in the final game.
Likewise, the top-order batters have to find a way to tackle the left-arm pacers as they have a genuine problem. Also, the Indian think tank needs to have a serious look at the rather long tail. Mohammed Shami in at No.8 and the likes of Bumrah, Chahal and Prasidh Krishna to follow doesn’t inspire much confidence to the middle order. In the modern game most of the quality teams bat deep as in a crunch game it could make the difference.
Overall it was a hugely satisfying white-ball leg for India as they won both the T20I and ODI series by an identical 2-1 margin after the setback in the rescheduled fifth Test which England won to make it 2-2.