Pant, Pandya guide India to ODI series victory

Rishabh Pant smashed his maiden ODI century while Hardik Pandya starred with bat and ball, picking up career-best figures and scoring 71 off 55, as India registered a comfortable five-wicket victory over England at Old Trafford. After Hardik Pandya’s four-fer restricted England to 259 all-out, a sensational 133-run partnership between the all-rounder and Rishabh Pant took the Men in Blue over the line with 47 deliveries to spare and gave India a 2-1 victory in the ODI series.

Having produced a sensational bowling performance to bundle out England for 259, India suffered another top-order collapse in the run chase as Reece Topley removed each of the visitor’s top three in the powerplay. Shikhar Dhawan guided one to the fielder at backward point in the third over while both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli poked at deliveries outside off-stump, edging behind on 17.

Topley’s triple strike left India’s middle order with a mountain to climb, and the visitors were left reeling at 72 for 4 when Craig Overton got one to rise sharply and nick off Suryakumar Yadav in the 17th over. However, Hardik Pandya’s arrival at the crease changed the complexion of the chase as the all-rounder launched a swift counter-attack to put the pressure back on England.

Pandya took on Brydon Carse and Reece Topley on his way to a stellar 42-ball half-century, while Pant timed his knock to perfection, taking 71 balls to bring up his fifty before accelerating rapidly in the back half of his innings. England were powerless to stop the Pant onslaught once he kicked into full gear. The left-hander smashed 75 runs in his final 42 deliveries, bringing up his maiden ODI ton and smashing five fours in a single Willey over to take India home with nearly eight overs to spare.

Earlier, India managed to pick up all ten English wickets for the third time in the series despite missing the services of their star pacer Jasprit Bumrah. His replacement, Mohammed Siraj, started things off with a bang as he began with a double wicket maiden, removing Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root for a pair of ducks in his opening over. England counter-attacked through Ben Stokes and Jason Roy until Hardik Pandya removed both batters in his sublime opening four-over spell of short-pitched bowling that included three maidens and two wickets.

Jos Buttler led the host’s recovery alongside Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone from 74 for 4, but after the captain scored England’s only half-century of the series, Pandya returned to do the damage once again. The all-rounder removed Liam Livingstone and Buttler in the same over as both Lancashire batters picked out Ravindra Jadeja at deep square leg with the pull shot, reducing England to 199 for seven.

Craig Overton and David Willey scored some crucial runs at the death to give England something to bowl at, but Yuzvendra Chahal cleaned up the tail with his leg-spin to bundle the hosts out for 259 with 25 balls remaining.