Team India sealed the series 2-1 by winning the 3rd and decider ODI game against England. This was the last game of India’s tour of England. Rohit Sharma, after winning the toss, decided to put the hosts to bat first. The men in blue were able to restrict English players to 259. Mohammed Siraj, who had replaced Bumrah, provided the early breakthrough. Hardik Pandya registered his career-best bowling performance. In 7 overs he bowled, he gave 24 runs, and took 4 crucial wickets for the team.
Rohit Sharma, the first captain to win T20 and ODI series in England
Unfortunately, while chasing the target of 260, team India’s top order once again collapsed. Nonetheless, Hardik didn’t just shine with the ball, he alongside Rishabh Pant contributed runs that took team India to the win. The two had a partnership of 133 runs. Rishabh Pant made his first ODI century and remained unbeaten at 125 runs. Pant played a somewhat quiet inning by his standards for a large portion of it, but he made sure to end the job off in his aesthetic sense by slamming five consecutive fours off David Willey before capping it off with a reverse sweep off Joe Root for another boundary.
Adding another feather to Rohit Sharma’s hat, with the victory, Rohit’s team became just the third Indian team to triumph in an ODI series on English soil. He also became the first Indian captain to win the series in both the ODI and T20I series in England. Rohit has joined the exclusive club that also includes Azhar and Dhoni of winning in England.
“Very pleased. Came here, wanted to achieve something as a group in white ball. We were here last time and were beaten, I remember that. Not an easy place to come and win games. It was a good pitch, but we do understand it’s not going to be easy if we lose wickets upfront. Positive side of it, these guys haven’t batted much in the middle overs. Today we got to see that with Hardik and Rishabh. At no point we felt they were panicking,” Rohit said after the win at Manchester.
