3RD ODI England v India July 17th

Neil Whitaker reports from Old Trafford

RISHABH Pant hit his first ODI fifty as India won the deciding third Royal London one day series at Emirates Old Trafford by six wickets with 7.1overs remaining as he made England pay for a missed stumping by Jos  Buttler off Moeen Ali when he was on 18.

England captain Buttler said: “If you give him a chance he’ll make you pay for it.  He’s a fantastically talented player, he;s a fantastically talented player and he’s great to watch.”

When Pant reached his century he blitzed India hitting 25 from seven balls and hitting a six off Joe Root to win the match.  When he came to the crease India had slumped to 38 for three in nine overs losing Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Darwin and Virat Kohli.  Much of the credit for India’s victory must also go to Hardik Pandya who shared  in a fifth wicket partnership 133 in 19 overs with Pant to go with his career best figures in ODI’S off four for 24 in seven overs.

Man of the series Pandya said: “It’s just great to contribute to the team in all departments. I just try to out smart the batters.  I thought that Pant paced his innings very well.”

England got an early breakthrough in the third over when Dhawin sliced a drive off Reece Topley and Jason Roy at backward point dove forward to take a low catch.  India found themselves two down in Topley’s next over.  After he was driven to the long on boundary by Rohit,  Topley angled the ball across him and Rohit followed it and edged him to Root at second slip.

Topley got his third wicket  when Kohli pushed tentatively at him and Buttler did the rest.

Butler said: “We bowled fantastically well to get three early wickets which gave  us a chance. We need to bat longer and get partnerships and we need to play  at our best.”

Pandya came in and made his intention from the start, on six got a thick inside edge to  Brendan Carse which beat Craig Overton on the third man boundary as he moved in but if he had stopped on the boundary Overton would have caught it easily.  He drove Carse to the long off boundary to get the Indian fans off their feet.

He drove Moeen Ali to the cover boundary and in the next over from Topley he drove him to the long off boundary with disdain to take their partnership one short off fifty.  He stood and delivered a straight drive off Topley for his shot of his innings.  

Pant drove Ben Stokes straight to bring up his fifty off 54 balls with five fours, his sixth ODI fifty and his third against  England.  

A pull by Pant off Overton to the mid wicket boundary brought up their hundred partnership off 16 overs. 

After the third drinks break England could not stop the pair from scoring runs as Pant cut  Overton to the backward point boundary and drove the next ball into the Pavilion for a straight six, at the other end Pandya hit consecutive fours off Carse until he tried for a third one and  found Stokes at mid wicket.  

With their victory in sight, Pant swept Moeen Ali to the fine leg boundary.  Then he swept Willey over the mid wicket boundary for the biggest six of the match to take the India target to 30.

After been put in on a humid day Buttler  top scored with 60 despite being hit on the head twice early in his innings which resulted in  him having two concussion tests.  But he carried on to feature in England’s two biggest partnership’s of the innings but for the third match of the series England failed to bat for the full 50 overs.

India skipper Rohit had immediate success  getting rid of both. Jonny Bairstow and Root for a pair of ducks. England got off to a brilliant start in the first over  Jason Roy hit three fours off the first over from  Mohammed Shami but in the second over Bairstow got a leading edge to Mohammed Siraz and was caught by substitute Shreyas Iyer at mid off.  Three balls later Mohammed Siraj squared Root up and took his outside edge to Rohit at second slip

We expected and got some fireworks from Roy and Stokes but not as many as the England supporters hoped for.  They added 54 in eight overs with 32 off them coming in boundaries until Roy edged a pull off  off Pandya and the ball went miles in the air and Pant took an easy catch.

Soon Stokes was back in the hutch when he tried to pull a short ball off Pandya but it didn’t rise as match and he ended up top edging to give Pandya a simple return catch in his follow through.

Buttler brought the England hundred up with a typical Buttler shot in the 22nd over  when he drilled Yuzvendra Chahal over long on for a six.

Moeen Ali hit two consecutive fours off Mohammed Siraj and then clipped the next ball off his legs over the fine leg boundary to bring up the fifty partnership with Buttler.  Moeen  Ali passed 2000 runs on odi cricket. With Buttler they added 75 in 14 overs before Moeen gloved a sweep off Chahal to Pant.  During his 34, Moeen Ali passed 2,000 odi runs.

The Lancashire crowd were expecting big things from  local hero Liam Livingstone after Lancashire’s defeat to T20 Blast final on Saturday night.  He pulled Pandya over mid wicket for a flat batted vicious six.  In Pandya’s next over Livingstone pulled him for a bigger six over mid wicket.  But Livingstone got carried away and tried his luck again but the third time he found the best fielder on the India side.  He had put on 49 with Buttler.

Buttler pushed Chahal out into the covers for a single to bring up his 32 ODI fifty from 65 balls with two sixes and five fours.  But three balls after Livingstone’s departure Buttler was joining him back in the hutch.  Like, Livingstone he pulled a short ball from Pandya but it got big on him and  Jadeja had run 10 yards on the mid wicket boundary to take a better catch.

Overton clubbed a free hit from Krishna over mid wicket for a four.  Two balls later Willey smashed Krishna over mid wicket for a huge six.  Their partnership ended when Willey went down the pitch to Chahal and toe ended it to  Suryakumar Yadav at long off who didn’t have to move an inch to take the catch.

Overton smashed Chahal down the pitch to Siraj at long off who parried the ball over but two balls later  Siraj made amends.  Two balls later Topley pushed forward at Chahal and was comprehensively bowled.






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July 18, 2022 9:27 am

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