England defeated India by 27 runs in the third ODI and won the series 2-1. Captain Shubhman Gill said that the 62 runs given in the last 3 overs became the reason for the defeat. Rohit Sharma’s century (138) and Kohli-Gill’s half-centuries also could not help the team win.
London [यूके]July 20 (ANI): Indian captain Shubman Gill rued his team’s costly performance with the ball, saying the last three overs, in which England scored 62 runs, proved decisive in India’s 27-run defeat. This match was the third and last ODI played at Lord’s on Sunday. A last-over attack from Jos Buttler (41 off 13 balls) and Joe Root (74 off 48 balls) took England to a record-breaking 387/3, the highest ODI score at Lord’s. Subsequently, the Three Lions restricted India to 360/7 to take the three-match series 2-1.
India conceded 126 runs in 41-50 overs, with Gurnoor Brar and Prasidh Krishna giving away 23 runs each in the 48th and 49th overs, while Prince Yadav gave away 16 runs in the last over. Talking about the defeat after the match, Gill admitted that India were in the contest till the last moments of England’s innings, but felt that the explosive batting in the last overs took the match away from the visiting team. Gill said after the match, “We were completely in the match till the 45th over. We gave away a lot of runs in the last three overs. That’s where the match got away from us.”
Rohit Sharma’s century went in vain
During India’s chase, Rohit led India’s chase with a brilliant knock of 138 runs in 110 balls, his 34th ODI century and the highest individual ODI score by an Indian against England in England. He surpassed his own record of 137 not out made at Trent Bridge in 2018. Shubman Gill scored 77 runs, while Virat Kohli contributed 74 runs and shared a 113-run partnership with Rohit for the second wicket, their 21st century partnership in ODIs. At 304/2, India looked to be heading towards a record chase but then faltered, losing three wickets in the space of 12 runs. Sam Curran’s four wickets and Jofra Archer’s timely wicket helped England restrict India to 360/7 and seal a 27-run win.
The Indian captain revealed that the team’s plan during the chase was to conserve wickets while keeping the required run rate under control before launching the attack in the last 10 overs. He said, “We thought that if we have wickets in hand after 40 overs, we will be in the match. Also, we did not want to fall too far behind. After the powerplay, we tried to play 6-6.5 runs per over and planned to chase at 10 in the last ten overs.”
He also praised Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, saying that they have performed consistently around the world, while describing Rohit’s century on a slow pitch as a great experience to watch. Gill said, “Almost everyone scored runs. In this match especially, we did not bowl well in the first powerplay. The way they took advantage of it, they never gave us a chance to come back. They outstripped us a lot in the death overs. [रोहित और कोहली] They have performed well over the years in different parts of the world. Happy with the way Rohit batted today. The wicket got slow towards the end, it was not easy to bat, but it was a great experience to watch him.”
England’s record-breaking batting
In the first innings, Duckett made an excellent partnership of 192 runs with Jacob Bethel (91 runs, off 93 balls, 11 fours and two sixes). Duckett continued the havoc by building another century partnership with Root (74* runs, 48 balls, nine fours). Root has scored 496 runs at an average of 248.00 in six ODI matches this year, in which he has remained unbeaten four times and scored one century and five half-centuries. Root has scored half-centuries in all the matches of this series and has scored 249 runs without being out in this series (the most by a batsman in an ODI series), which included an unbeaten 76* in the first ODI and 99* in the second ODI to save his team from collapse.
Root-Butler broke records
A quick cameo from Jos Buttler (41* from 13 balls, four fours and three sixes) took England to 387/3, their highest ever score at Lord’s. He surpassed his own score of 334/4 against the same opponent in the 1975 World Cup edition. Root and Buttler scored runs at a run-rate of 19.89 in their quickfire partnership of 63 runs in just 19 balls – the highest ever run-rate for a 50+ partnership against India in ODIs. The previous highest was 15.85 (74 off 28 balls) between Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson in Hamilton in 2014.
It is also the fourth highest ODI score against India, with 438/4 made by South Africa in Mumbai in 2015 still being the highest, followed by 411/8 by Sri Lanka in Rajkot in 2009. India conceded 126 runs in 41-50 overs, their third-worst performance at this stage, as they clearly missed the injured Jasprit Bumrah. His worst death phase performance is 144 runs against South Africa in Mumbai in 2015.
Fast bowler Gurnoor Brar, who had been impressive since his debut in the Afghanistan series, failed to take a wicket in his 97-run spell from 10 overs, the third-worst performance by an Indian bowler. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s performance of 1/106 against South Africa in Mumbai in 2015 remains the worst ODI bowling figures by an Indian. However, Prasidh Krishna (2/69) was a positive as he completed 50 ODI wickets and became the third-fastest Indian to reach the 50-wicket milestone along with Bumrah. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianetnews Editorial staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)