Virat Kohli’s Indian team beat England in a nail-biter to clinch ODI series 2-1

Team India defeated the England side in a nail-biter at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune by just seven runs in the final over to clinch the series 2-1. It didn’t seem like the England side will take the game that far as they were struggling at a couple of moments, however, all-rounder Sam Curran defied all odds as he stayed unbeaten on 95 off just 83 balls as he notched up his maiden ODI half-century in the third ODI.

India had a fabulous start in the second innings as pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed the two openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler early before Ben Stokes and Dawid Malan kept the Indian bowlers at the bay for a few overs. Stokes lived a charmed life as he was dropped once and was almost run-out once but his luck ran out as he tried to slog left-arm pacer T Natarajan’s full toss.

It didn’t take time for India to get England’s stand-in captain Jos Buttler as the breakthrough specialist Shardul Thakur got him trapped in front of the wickets and India got their fourth wicket in an inspiring review. After which, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone stitched a 60-run partnership to help England come back into the game. But losing two quick wickets pegged them back again and India were now on the top.

But Sam Curran stood like a wall and along with Adil Rashid kept the scorecard ticking as the run-rate was never out of England’s reach. Curran brought up his first half-century but a stunning catch by skipper Kohli meant, Thakur broke the partnership again. Then, Mark Wood joined the forces and the two continued to frustrate the Indian side. But in the end, it proved to be too much for him in the end even when he kept India at the bay staying unbeaten on 95.

Earlier, India were bundled out for 329 in 48.2 overs after England came back in the last  10 overs to take last six Indian wickets for just 73 runs. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan stitched a 103-run partnership after which they went through a mini collapse losing four wickets. The collapse was followed by a blitzkrieg from Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya as the hard-hitting dup forged a quick 99-run partnership but after that the lower order couldn’t offer much resistance as they kept losing wickets and eventually were all out.