Jos Buttler pinned the blame for England 's one-day series defeat on his misfiring batsmen after they were brutalised by Rishabh Pant's swashbuckling hundred.
As India raced home by five wickets with 7.5 overs to spare to take the coveted Royal London trophy on a steamy sabbath at Emirates Old Trafford, Pant unfurled a glorious unbeaten 125 off just 113 balls.
In a winner-takes-all contest, it was an innings worthy of the top floor in any five-star hotel – straight from the Panthouse. But if England's Test revival under coach Brendon McCullum has been fuelled by 'Bazball' audacity, under new white-ball supremo Matthew Mott they have now lost both the T20 and one-day series 2-1 against India.
Skipper Buttler did not exonerate himself from criticism after the missed stumping which gave Pant a life on 18, saying: “If you give good players a second chance, they will probably hurt you. But we were were a bit light with the bat and we need to be better. We haven't played our best by a long stretch.
“We need to reflect – and reflect quickly – because there's another series coming up, but we're talking about some of the best players we've ever seen in English cricket who are usually fantastic at playing this format.
“As captain, I've found my first week busy because there have been a lot of games in a short space of time, which has been a challenge. I don't want to try and run before I can walk, but it would be nice to have a day where you can reflect a bit.”
After two years of being cooped up in Covid-secure bubbles, the blazers at Lord's have resorted to a tried and trusted method to frazzle our best cricketers: Flogging them to death. It is sheer lunacy that, after playing six Twenty20 and one-day internationals against India in 11 days, they are starting another series – against South Africa – at Durham on Tuesday
Having said that, England were masters of their own downfall here - 259 all out, with 25 balls going to waste, was a masterpiece of excess hubris, brain cells fried in the heat and at least 40 runs short of par on a true pitch.
After losing Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root – who have filled their boots this summer – to ducks in second over, the rest all perished when well-set. Buttler, twice 'sconned' on the helmet by Mohammed Siraj, mixed responsibility with violence in his 60 off 80 balls.
Just when he was threatening to convert his first half-century as white-ball captain into something substantial, he holed out to Ravindra Jadeja in the deep – just as Liam Livingstone had done three balls earlier.
Livingstone's first six was a torpedo that punched a hole in the building site wall where the Red Rose suite used to rise above Warwick Road, and his second sailed 30 yards into the diggers' playground.
But when Hardik Pandya, whose 4-24 was his one-day best analysis, set the trap, Livingstone could resist another swish and picked out Jadeja. Asked whether that double whammy was India executing a game plan to perfection, Buttler replied: “No, that's just poor batting.”
When Reece Topley ripped out India's top three, the tourists had slumped to 38-3 and, briefly, those blasted vuvuzela toys in the crowd fell silent. After his new-ball spell, Topley had taken 9-35 off 14 overs in one-and-a-half 50-overs games, and his rebirth after serious back injuries has been a blessing.
But this was a day when everything man of the series Pandya touched turned to gold, and his 71 off 55 balls, after coming in at 72-4, was simply exquisite. His 133-run stand with Pant took the game away from England at a gallop.
When Pandya miscued Brydon Carse to midwicket, Pant simply stepped on the gas to take the chequered flag with his maiden one-day international ton, launching Craig Overton into the old pavilion's pit of hate and carting Willey disdainfully over cow corner. And as we all know, in Indian culture cow corner is sacred.
