IND vs ENG | Statement-making Rohit ton in authoritative chase sees India take series with game to spare

‌Brief score: IND 308/6 (44.3) [Rohit 119(90), Gill 60(52); Overton 2/27(5) ] beat ENG 304 (49.5) [Root 69(72), Duckett 65(56); Jadeja 3/35 (10)] by 4 wickets

Opting to bat first, Ben Duckett and Phil Salt got England off to a flying start with the former playing aggressor. Rohit Sharma tried a variety of options from Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana to Hardik Pandya but none were able to stop the powerplay heroics as 11 boundaries and a maximum from the duo got the visitors to 75/0 after 10 overs. However, as soon as spin was injected into the attack, the breakthrough arrived as Salt skied a Varun Chakravarthy leg break to depart for 26. The introduction of Ravindra Jadeja soon after then brought the wicket of Duckett after and England suddenly found themselves staring at another possible collapse. Fortunately, Joe Root and Harry Brook threw the all-out ideology out of the window and instead dug in against the spinners, the later particularly finding it hard to get going. The two added 66 runs in 85 balls until Brook's patience finally ran-out and Gill's stunning over-the-shoulder catch sealed the deal for Harshit Rana. Jos Buttler, much more adept at rotating strike, proved to be a better foil for Root as their 61 runs came at quicker than run-a-ball while the latter brought up a 60-ball half-century. However, with the death overs beckoning, Pandya and Jadeja had Buttler and Root hole out respectively to leave England at 250/5 with seven overs to go. Jamie Overton and Gus Atkinson followed soon after, thus handing Liam Livingstone the responsibility of providing the final boost. While the batter did end up contributing two boundaries and as many maximums in his quick 42, it was Adil Rashid who stole the show with three straight boundaries off Mohammed Shami. Eventually, two run-outs in the last over saw them fold out for a competitive 304 with a ball to spare.

In response, the Men in Blue raced off the blocks themselves with Rohit Sharma in the mood. The 37-year-old had already struck three glorious sixes by the time a floodlight failure forced a half-hour break in the seventh over, and brought up a 30-ball half-century upon resumption to post a powerplay score of 77/0 alongwith Shubman Gill. Even after the field spread out, the boundaries kept flowing, including two from Gill's bat in the 15h over to register his own fifty. It took a perfect yorker from Jamie Overton to finally dispatch the youngster and end a 136-run stand only for the crowd to get louder in anticipation of Virat Kohli's entry. Unfortunately for them, the veteran only lasted eight balls before succumbing to Rashid for the 10th time courtesy of a dream leg break. Nevertheless, Rohit kept going strong with Shreyas Iyer also picking his moments, and the former danced down the track to Rashid in the 26th over to bring up a 32nd ODI ton with his seventh maximum of the game. Ironically, it was ultimately a fulltoss that the skipper failed to dispatch when he fell to Livingstone but the equation already read a straightforward 80 runs from 20 overs for the visitors. Axar Patel and Iyer chipped away 38 of those together in 44 balls until a miscommunication saw the latter run-out for 44. Things began to feel hairy when KL Rahul departed cheaply, and Hardik Pandya holing out with 19 required meant England suddenly had a glimpse. However, Axar held his nerves and alongwith Jadeja guided the team to victory in the 45th over, ending unbeaten on 41 in the process. 

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