3rd ODI: Team India clinch a cliffhanger to win the ODI series

Team India set England a target of 330 runs and the men in blue were in control of the game for most parts. But things changed quickly after Curran started playing his shots and kept putting team India’s bowlers under enormous pressure. He was ably supported by Mark Wood who held up one end, scoring 14 off 21.

Hardik Pandya’s brilliant 49th over which went for just 5 runs and that changed the tide in India’s favour. Mark Wood was run out on the very first ball of the 50th over and Natarajan held his nerve to spear in pacy yorkers for his next 4 deliveries. Malan(50) and Livingstone(36) got good starts but failed to capitalise on the same and perished in search of quick runs. Coming to the first innings, Pant was the top scorer with his brilliant 78 and Hardik Pandya batted exceptionally for his 64. The men in blue were bowled out for 329 in 48.2 overs, thus negating the chance to put on some extra runs in the last couple of overs. In response, England got off to a poor start as they were 95-4 at one stage. The visitors fought hard till the very end but it just wasn’t to be as India somehow managed to keep their noses in front. Incidentally, this is Virat Kohli‘s 200th match as the captain of India. India managed to clinch a cliffhanger despite bowing pretty poorly in the penultimate stages and putting down sitters while on the field. The host nation, which had already won the Test and T20I series now claim the ODI series 2-1 and end the international season on a high before the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League which will be commencing on the 9th of April.