Rishabh Pant's fiery century powers India seal England ODI series 2-1
Manchester/IBNS/UNI: Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant rescued India from the verge of losing the One Day International (ODI) series with a fiery unbeaten 125 off 113 balls that helped the men-in-blue to trample the English brigade in the contest 2-1.
Chasing a target of 260, India, who won the third ODI by five wickets in 42.1 overs, at one point were in a spot-of-bother losing four wickets for 72 with Shikhar Dhawan, skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav back in the hut.
Pant was joined in by in-form allrounder Hardik Pandya, whose counter-attack brought the pressure back on the English side.
While Pandya went all out against the bowlers, Pant remained comparatively low profile.
After Pandya was dismissed, who scored a vital 71 off just 55 balls (10 fours), Pant accelerated partnering another allrounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Finishing his maiden ODI century, Pant slammed five fours in the 42nd over to inch towards the victory in a hurry.
That Winning Feeling! 👏 🏆
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 17, 2022
Congratulations to #TeamIndia on winning the three-match ODI series. 👍 👍#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/fKV5MUuEn6
An excellent bowling performance by Indian bowlers led by Hardik Pandya's four-wicket haul enabled visitors to bowl out England for 259 runs in the series decider.
Pandya was outstanding as he finished with career-best figures in ODIs. He picked four wickets in his seven overs, frittering away just 24 runs with 3 maidens.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also was equally good as he grabbed three wickets, while Mohammad Siraj removed two top-order batsmen.
Left arm orthodox spinner Ravindra Jadeja too registered a wicket to his name.
For England, captain Jos Buttler was the top-scorer with 60 runs off 80 balls including three fours and two sixes.
Jason Roy too made a useful contribution with 41 runs in 31 balls, smashing seven boundaries.
However, lack of support from any other batters eventually caused the hosts to be bowled out in 45.5 overs.
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