Rishabh's maiden ODI ton, Hardik's all-round show help visitors clinch third ODI and the series 2-1
It's a win which will be cherished by Team India fans for ages. It's a century which will be celebrated for years to come. It's a partnership which will be rated amongst the best in Indian ODI cricket history.
Rishabh Pant ended India's 2022 England tour like he began. Except that while his 146 & 57 failed to prevent India from defeat in the fifth Test at Edgbaston, the 24-year-old's brilliant, unfinished 125 (113b, 16x4, 2x6), along with Hardik Pandya's outstanding allround show (71, 55b, 10x4, and 4-24 in seven overs) helped the Men-in-Blue pull off a heist, as they beat England by five wickets, with 47 balls to spare, in the third and deciding ODI at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday.
Pant and Pandya's magic enabled India to win the ODI series 2-1, which meant that after losing the Test, they bounced back superbly to beat England in the white ball leg of the tour-having won the T20Is 2-1 too. India's fabulous win on Sunday ended their horror run against England in ODIs at Old Trafford in Manchester - this is now their first win over the hosts here since the 1983 World Cup semifinal.
1/10:India beat England
<p>Rishabh Pant's maiden ODI century guided India to a five-wicket win and a 2-1 series victory over England at Old Trafford on Sunday. (Getty Images)</p>
2/10:Rishabh Pant
<p>Pant made 125 not out, winning the game with a reverse-swept four off Joe Root as India finished on 261-5 after chasing down a target of 260 with 7.5 overs to spare. (Reuters Photo)</p>
3/10:Match-winning stand
<p>Pant received excellent support in a partnership of 133 in 19 overs with all-rounder Hardik Pandya after India had been faltering at 72-4. (AP Photo)</p>
4/10:Hardik Pandya
<p>Hardik made 71 after taking career-best figures of 4-24 in England's 259 all out built on captain Jos Buttler's 60 on his Lancashire home ground. (AP Photo)</p>
5/10:Reece Topley
<p>Earlier, Reece Topley removed the India top three of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in a superb opening spell of 3-15 in five overs. (Getty Images)</p>
6/10:Virat Kohli
<p>Kohli's exit, caught behind for 17, meant the star batsman had now gone 78 innings across all formats without an international hundred. (AP Photo)</p>
7/10:Brilliant knock
<p>Hardik, though greeted Topley's first ball back with a resounding straight drive for four before his 55-ball innings, featuring 10 boundaries, ended when he holed out off Brydon Carse. (Reuters Photo)</p>
8/10:No nervous 90s
<p>But Pant went into the 90s by hoisting David Willey for a six over mid-wicket into the crowd. (Reuters Photo)</p>
9/10:Maiden ODI ton
<p>Pant then completed a 106-ball century including 10 fours and two sixes before winning the game to the delight of the massed ranks of India fans at Old Trafford. (Getty Images)</p>
10/10:Victory for Team India
<p>Victory meant India had become just the third side to win an ODI series away to England since 2015, having already claimed the preceding Twenty20 series 2-1. (AP Photo)</p>Few would have given India a chance when they suffered another top-order collapse and slipped to 38 for three in the ninth over as Shikhar Dhawan (1), skipper Rohit Sharma (17) and the terribly out-of-form Virat Kohli (17) all succumbed to England left-arm pacer Recce Topley. While Dhawan sliced the ball to point, Rohit edged Topley to first slip, and Kohli rounded off a career-threatening tour for him by nicking behind a typical left-arm seamer's ball angled across him.
It was 72 for four in the 16th over when Pant and Pandya joined forces and the duo led the team's unbelievable fightback.
The match-winning 133-run partnership in just 115 balls for the fifth wicket between the two completely changed the course of the game in the visitors' favour.
In the end, Pant was a man in a hurry, as he smashed 75 of his last 42 balls, including five consecutive fours off David Willey in the 42nd over.
England skipper Jos Buttler would find it hard to forgive himself after missing a simple chance off a sharply turning Moeen Ali delivery to stump Pant when the batsman was on just 18, in the 16th over. The mistake cost England both the game and the series.
Pandya joined a rare group of five players who've taken four wickets and scored a fifty in an ODI for India. Thriving on the hard length, Pandya took an career-best haul with his incisive medium-pace bowling, before leggie Yuzvendra Chahal (3-60) mopped up the tail, but England still clawed their way to a decent 259 all out in 45.5 overs.
Finding generous bounce on a hard pitch, India's pacers, missing their 'leader' Jasprit Bumrah due to back spasms the world No 1 bowler suffered just before the game, unleashed the barrage of short-pitched deliveries. Pandya used the angle of the ground well to dismiss Liam Livingstone and Buttler. He also used the short ball to get rid off Jason Roy and Ben Stokes.
