India survive Sam Curran scare to win series

Everything in this match happened in fifth gear. Be it the run-scoring or wickets falling in heaps, the proceedings of this match were fast paced right from the first ball. The run-rate in both innings never went below 6 post the ninth over. As it happens to a car constantly moving at high speeds, tumbles and the steering going haywire are imminent. Similarly, the match also turned both ways. 

When it looked like India had sealed it, England’s batting depth took them close, to the doorstep of their destination. However, Sam Curran, unbeaten at 95, had too much to do by himself and England fell short by 7 runs, conceding the ODI series 1-2. India, on the other hand, learnt their lesson from the previous game by making necessary changes. The move to field a four-man pace attack, bringing in T Natarajan, paid rich dividends. The left-arm seamer defended 15 runs in the last over.

Sensational Sam

Curran arrived to the crease with England only halfway past their chase in terms of runs scored but with the top six batsmen back in the hut. He added 32 runs for the seventh wicket, but when Moeen Ali got out, England were still 130 runs behind. The asking rate was in control, but the resources left in batsmen available were limited. 

Curran proceeded with calculated aggression in a partnership of 57 runs from 53 balls with Adil Rashid. Rashid’s contribution was exactly one-third of the partnership (19 runs from 22 balls). Rashid fell to a one-handed catch by Virat Kohli at short-cover off the bowling of Shardul Thakur with 64 balls left in the innings. While Rashid has 10 First-Class hundreds to his name, Curran’s next batting partner Mark Wood has none. It was evident that Curran, a bowling all-rounder himself, had to do all the scoring by himself. 

That is what he did. Curran kept nibbling at the deficit, by rejecting singles to keep the strike and banking on occasional boundaries to inch closer. With three overs remaining, England were 23 away from the target, with two wickets still in hand. An apt batting partner at the other end would have definitely helped England’s case, but Curran still had to do it all by himself. The experience of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya alongside Natarajan's impeccable ability of landing yorkers did not allow Curran to find a boundary until the penultimate ball of the match, by when the game was already in India's pocket. Curran stayed unbeaten on 95, the joint-highest individual score at number 8 alongside his countryman Chris Woakes. 

Bhuvi and Shardul’s mayhem with the ball

India shed their bowling shortcomings, both early on and during the middle-overs, on the back of two individuals -- Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the new ball and Shardul Thakur in the middle-overs. 

Kumar cleaned up Jason Roy in the first over and then dismissed Jonny Bairstow in his second, both through tight in-swingers. Ben Stokes gave a brief throwback of his 52-ball 99 two nights ago, but a harmless full toss from Natarajan restricted the southpaw to 35 . 

It was then Thakur who wrecked an already dwindling England. He began with the crucial wicket of Jos Buttler. On the first ball of his second over, Thakur wrapped Buttler on the pads in a manner akin to his dismissal in the previous ODI. Liam Livingstone and Dawid Malan added 60 runs for the fifth wicket, but Thakur returned for a second spell to dismiss them in consecutive overs. Livingstone handed Thakur catching practice off a full toss while Malan pulled him straight to Rohit at mid-wicket, which brought Curran to the crease. Kumar later dismissed Moeen for 29. 

The Pant-Pandya show and England’s comeback

When Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya got together, India had lost four wickets for 54 runs. The usual carriers of India in the middle-overs -- Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli -- were all dismissed. At this critical juncture, Pant and Hardik opted to reply to England in their language -- counter-attack. 

In the 27th over, Pant smashed Livingstone over cover for his trademark one-handed six. Next ball, he pumped him along the carpet through the same area for four. The aggression rubbed on Hardik, who smashed Moeen for three sixes in the next over. 30 runs off those two overs set the rhythm for a ballistic partnership. 

The duo added 99 runs for the fifth wicket off 70 balls. Pant was particularly severe on Adil Rashid, whom he carted for 44 runs in 24 balls. 

But their fast-paced car had to go out of control at some point. Both Pant and Pandya were out at the wrong time -- 36th and the 39th over respectively. Had they batted longer, India could have scored a lot more than 329.

For a while, Thakur seemed on course to take India over 350. He struck 30 off 21 balls, but once again, India’s progress was halted by an inopportune fall of wickets.

Wood, coming in to bowl in the 46th over, snared three wickets in two overs, despite being terribly short of energy in the sapping heat of Pune. India lost their last four wickets for 8 runs to be bundled out for 329, with 10 balls left in the innings. But their counter-attacking approach meant that they managed their highest-ever ODI total when having gotten bowled out.

Intent upfront and England’s spin twins

Aware of the batting abilities of their opponents, Rohit and Dhawan shed their cautious approach at the beginning. They racked up 11 boundaries, the joint-most in the first 10 overs by India in ODIs since 2019. 

England seamers either bowled too short or too full to Dhawan which allowed him to notch up his fifty in 44 balls. Rohit, meanwhile, was more steady as the duo notched up a 100-run stand in 14 overs. A 350-plus total was on cards before Rashid pushed the home side back. 

Rashid, in his second and third over, dismissed both openers with brilliant googlies. Rohit was castled through the gap between his bat and pad while Dhawan handed a tumbling catch back to Rashid. 

Six balls later, Kohli underestimated Moeen’s turn and saw the ball hit his leg-stump off a miscued back-foot punch. From losing three key wickets for 18 runs, India did well to reach 329. It was a total England would have taken happily at the toss, but ultimately, they fell short by 7 runs.