In the third ODI match of India tour of England 2022, India beat England by five wickets at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and once again asked Englishmen to bat first. At halftime, the decision to bowl was correct or not was debatable as the home team did bat pretty good throughout the inning and posted a par score of 259. India still got them all out with the help of Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj who mostly bowled length deliveries, which turned out to be in India’s favour.
While chasing, India lost a few wickets upfront as both the openers, Sharma (17) and Shikhar Dhawan got exposed to Reece Topley. Finding his form, Virat Kohli (17) once again got out cheaply to the same left-arm fast-medium bowler. Kohli needs to reshape and reconsider his approach to outside off-stump deliveries, which have plagued him in recent years. Coming back to the match, after losing three wickets Rishabh Pant (125*) took control of the situation and hammered a century to seal the game for India. The southpaw’s courageous ton included 16 fours and two sixes. Along with him, Pandya (71) also scored a brilliant half-century which led to a smooth win over the World Cup champions.
For England, Jason Roy (41) gave a positive start in powerplay but got no helping hand from any other batter. Ben Stokes (27) was next in line to contribute a few runs but it was mainly captain Jos Buttler (60), who struck an amazing half-century which helped England to get out of middle overs run drought. In the end, Liam Livingstone (27) and Craig Overton (32) also produced valuable runs which took England to a decent score in the first innings.
While bowling in the first inning, Hardik Pandya grabbed four massive wickets in just seven overs. Yuzvendra Chahal also plucked three wickets. Mohammed Siraj managed to get two wickets as well along with Ravindra Jadeja, who picked one wicket.
Reece Topley was once again impressive for England with the ball as he claimed three wickets. Along with him, Brydon Carse and Craig Overton got one wicket each.
Rishabh Pant was awarded Man of the Match for his amazing batting display. Following this win, India clinched the ODI series by 2-1. The tour ended in India’s favour as the Men in Blue won both the limited over series whilst the Test Series was drawn out.
Scorecard:
England: 259/10, Overs 45.5, Jos Buttler 60, Hardik Pandya 4/24
India: 261/5, Overs 42.1, Rishabh Pant 125*, Reece Topley 3/35