So England leave India, or not in the case of the IPL stars, empty-handed. They lost the Tests 3-1, the T20s 3-2, and the ODIs 2-1. But they took all of those series deep, as the players say, and they have emerged with some credit from all three. India had to play fantastically well to beat them. “You’ve got to remember,” says Nasser Hussain, “India is a blooming hard place to tour.” And they had all the trouble of the bubble to deal with too. If we were in the stadium in Pune, they’d be doing a lap of honour, and we’d be giving them a big round of applause. Honour feels like the right word.
Time to wrap things up. Thanks for reading, for writing in if you did so, and for being excellent company. It’s been a treat. We’ll be back in May for England’s home internationals. And guess who’s coming over later in the summer? Yes, it’s India. By then, we may even be able to go to a game.
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And the winning captain, as we know, is Virat Kohli. “When the top two teams battle against each other,” he says, “you’re going to get very exciting games, and that was the case again tonight. We knew it was going to be a tough game, England’s not going to throw in the towel at any stage. Sam played a really good innings to keep them in the hunt, but our bowlers kept taking wickets and made sure that we put enough pressure on them, to make sure they got over the line. The mindset shifted very quickly in the last couple of overs, and I think Hardik and Natu [Natarajan] did brilliant to finish it off.” And the dropped catches? “It’s part of cricket. There’s no lack of intent, and that’s all you want as a captain.”
Kohli is “quite surprised” that Shardul Thakur wasn’t the Man of the Match. His consolation prize is finishing with the most wickets in the series – seven, one more than his mates Bhuvi and Prasidh, and two more than Mark Wood.
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Man of the Series – possibly just for England, I’m not sure – goes to Jonny Bairstow. It was so good to see him back on form after the nightmare he went through in the Tests.
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Man of the Match goes not to Shardul Thakur, who made the difference, but to Sam Curran, who made a game of it. That’s nice.
The awards in this series are never easy to fathom, but I think Virat Kohli has been given one for the catch that removed Adil Rashid, which was (a) superb and (b) crucial. And (c) vengeful, as more often it’s Rashid who is getting rid of Kohli.
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“Fantastic game,” says Jos Buttler, captaining England in the absence of Eoin Morgan. “Both sides made some mistakes and played some brilliant cricket as well, and we’re indebted to an unbelievable innings from Sam Curran, almost getting us over the line.”
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Catching up on some correspondence, I find James Robinson quoting me back at myself. Apparently I said this: “England need 23 from the last three overs. Game on?”
“Gulp!” James splutters. “I preferred it when you were saying ‘game over’ at the fall of every wicket since Buttler departed...” Ha, yes, I may have to be held responsible. But that was the moment when the goddess Victory, who had been giving England the cold shoulder, suddenly beckoned to them across the dance floor. Eight an over from the last three should be feasible. My hunch is that Sam would have managed it if he’d had his brother out there with him – not because they’re brothers, but because Tom has the same nerve, and a fair amount of skill, and would have sorted out whether to take the singles or not.
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“However this ends,” Julian Menz wrote at some point in the chaos, “Curran has taken a huge step forwards today. Taking responsibility and hopefully pointing the way to a stellar future. Fresh-faced maybe, but no Bambi.”
“It’s my birthday,” wrote Janet in France, as the denouement unfolded. “I was hoping for the best possible present in this decider and ??” Ha. “Even if they don’t quite make it, ‘it has been exciting, hasn’t it?’ (Jerry Colonna in the last reel of The Road To Rio.) Thanks, as always, for being there for us.” It’s been a pleasure, as always, though I seem to be shaking. How about you?
When Curran came to the crease, England were 168 for 6. He added 32 with Moeen Ali, 57 with Adil Rashid and 60 with Mark Wood, showing a magnificent temperament and bags of skill. He turned down what felt like a hundred singles, and that may have been a mistake. But his mission was to take the game deep and that’s exactly what he did. He has an IPL head on young shoulders.
England end up losing all three series on this tour, but they can console themselves with one thought: India won today by abandoning their usual game plan and playing the England way – going hard early on. They took risks, lost wickets, and ended up not using the last ten balls of their innings. They then bowled well, grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck and never quite letting go, for all Sam Curran’s heroics.
England finish on 322-9, with Curran 95 not out. Before today, he had only ever made 37 runs in one-day internationals, at an average of seven. So he deserves a not-out. And he would not have been flattered by a hundred.
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INDIA WIN! By 7 runs
Curran hits a four off the fifth ball, but can’t find the sixes required. He finishes on 95, and that’s a heroic effort. India win the series, and both teams can be satisfied with the entertainment they’ve laid on. It’s been a banquet, albeit with no spectators there to tuck in.
49.4 overs: England 318-9 (S Curran 91, Topley 1) Same again! So he has to hit two sixes.
49.3 overs: England 317-9 (S Curran 91, Topley 1) A dot! Curran, digging out a yorker, turns down a single. England need 12 off three balls.
49.2 overs: England 317-9 (S Curran 91, Topley 1) Reece Topley does well, easing a single. Curran has to go big now.
Wicket! Wood run out 14 (England 317-9)
49.1 overs: England 317-9 (S Curran 91) Is this a run-out? It is! A great throw from the deep by Hardik, who redeems himself after his two dropped catches. And Curran has lost the strike! The game is surely up.
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49th over: England 316-8 (S Curran 90, Wood 14) Curran nudges a single to backward point, so he keeps the strike, but they only got five off the over. The second culprit, by the way, was Natarajan, who now has to forget allabout that and bowl the final over. Can Curran do a Stokes here? I doubt it, but you never know.
48.5 overs: England 315-8 (S Curran 89, Wood 14) A dot! Curran moves over to off stump but can’t get the flick he’s after. Well bowled Hardik.
Another drop!
48.4 overs: England 315-8 (S Curran 89, Wood 14) Curran this time, swinging a slower ball somewhere over the keeper. This is astonishing
Dropped!
48.3 overs: England 313-8 (S Curran 87, Wood 14) Wood skies it ... and Thakur spills it! That was a dolly.
48.2 overs: England 312-8 (S Curran 87, Wood 13) A misfield at short third man, and Curran takes the single, for once.
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48.1 overs: England 311-8 (S Curran 86, Wood 13) This is so tense. One of those moments that make you wonder why the players don’t have heart attacks. Hardik is bowling, he follows Curran and gets a dot. England need 19 off 11. Wanted: a big shot.
48th over: England 311-8 (S Curran 86, Wood 13) Bhuvi so nearly did the trick, but now he’s finished his spell. The bad news for England was that they lost a leg-bye as it was dead ball after the review. England need 19 off 12 balls. WinViz gives them a 41pc chance. TimViz gives them about 20pc.
Not out! England 311-8
Yes, too high. Great review!
Wicket? Wood LBW b Kumar 13 (England 311-9?)
Given! Not the loudest shout ever... is it too high? England review, of course.
Mid-48th over: England 309-8 (S Curran 85, Wood 13) Kumar returns. Wood plays the Woakes shot again, an effortless force for a single, and then Bhuvi gets away with one down the leg side to Curran as it’s flicked the pad. Next, a wide! England need 21 off 16 balls.
47th over: England 307-8 (S Curran 85, Wood 12) Where’s the accelerator? Sam Curran finds it, cutting Thakur for two, then driving for four past extra cover, and then pulling for six over long-on! That’s a nice way to bring up 300, if nothing else. Then a cut for two. This is the big over! And he goes big, a skyer, and gets four! Eighteen off the over. England need 23 from the last three overs. Game on?
46th over: England 289-8 (S Curran 67, Wood 12) Curran, drenched in sweat despite that towel, turns down another single. I’m thinking, is that wise, but he then manages to loft Hardik back over his head for two. Next, another single turned down. Brave, minister, very brave. And another! A pull for nothing, other than a broken bat. He takes a new one. Hardik looks cool and calm, and bowls a yorker – but Curran whips it for four! Lovely shot. And there’s a high full toss, surely a no-ball? Not given, and Curran, finally, does take the single. England need 41 off four overs.
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45th over: England 282-8 (S Curran 60, Wood 12) These two are now threatening a run-out, because they’re not quite sure whether to run the singles or not. Take them! Wood has found his feet, and Curran can’t get all these runs himself. Wood, sensing this, sparks into life and spanks a two off Thakur. That was inches away from a catch to Kohli at short extra. Good over, only three from it, and England need 48 off 30 balls, which looks nigh-on impossible. They send for the very thing they haven’t thrown in: a towel.
“I’m really tempted to turn on the TV,” says Richard from Chichester, “and watch Sam and Woody bring it home, but every time I do someone gets out (usually Buttler). We only won the last ODI because I left the room and went back to the OBO. What do I do? Great coverage BTW.” Thanks! Stay put and admire your own work.
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44th over: England 279-8 (S Curran 59, Wood 10) Curran, sensing the moment, wallops Natarajan’s first ball down the ground for six. Natarajan retorts with a fine yorker, and another, and Curran turns down a single. A third yorker, and this time Curran takes the run on offer. Wood, offered a length ball, belts it, though only for a single. And the fourth yorker of the over is blocked for a single by Curran, who keeps the strike. Not the huge over England wanted, but they’re still there. Taking it deep, as the players say. They need 51 off 36, and on a sweaty evening in Pune India remain hot favourites.
43rd over: England 270-8 (S Curran 51, Wood 9) One of the things standing in England’s way is Bhuvi Kumar, who’s been the bowler of the series. He reels off four dots to Curran by bowling a Test-match line and length. One from the over, and suddenly the rate is a problem as well as the wickets column. England need 60 off 42 balls, so they have to have a big over now.
42nd over: England 269-8 (S Curran 50, Wood 9) Talking of fresh-faced kids, Sam Curran clips a single to reach fifty, his first in ODIs. He’s chosen the right moment for it, showing an excellent eye and some calm nerves. Although he’s been playing for England for three years, he’s still only 22. Wood celebrates with a handsome cover drive, Woakes-style, for two, and a top-edged pull for four. England need 61 from 48 balls. They can’t afford to let anything go wrong.
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41st over: England 261-8 (S Curran 49, Wood 2) Rashid was superb at whipping the ball to leg for a single to give the strike back to Curran. Wood doesn’t have that wristy fluency, so England get becalmed. They’re not quite as stuck as that ship in the Suez Canal: more like a little sailing boat running aground on the Suffolk coast, with a fresh-faced kid at the helm.
40th over: England 259-8 (S Curran 48, Wood 1) So that’s the end of a fine defiant partnership, which added 57 in nine overs. And in comes Mark Wood, who bowled superbly earlier while giving every impression of suffering from a nasty case of Delhi belly. He can’t be too bad now, or he would be down at No.11. But he’ll be hoping Curran gets the last 70 runs in boundaries.
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Wicket! Rashid c Kohli b Thakur 19 (England 257-8)
Kohli redeems himself! With a flying catch, away to his left at short extra, as Rashid plays a wafty chip. These two did very well but that, surely, is that.
39th over: England 256-7 (S Curran 46, Rashid 19) Kohli, who does love a last-second decision to review, goes for it with an LBW shout by Kumar against Sam Curran. It’s certainly hitting the stumps but the ump reckons it pitched outside leg... and he’s right! So India lose their last review. Could that be crucial? K
38th over: England 253-7 (S Curran 44, Rashid 18) Yet another bowling change as Kohli summons Prasidh, who has had a good series but not a great day. He produces a tight over, conceding only two singles, without finding the breakthrough.
37th over: England 251-7 (S Curran 43, Rashid 17) Kohli goes back to Hardik, perhaps in a bid to stop him being anywhere near the next chance in the outfield. Sam Curran pulls for four, handsomely, and that’s the fifty partnership – 51 off 6.3 overs. Lovely stuff.
36th over: England 242-7 (S Curran 36, Rashid 15) Thakur is back at last, searching for the five-for he deserves. The batsmen are respectful for four balls, and then Rashid chips over mid-on for an airy two. England need 88 to win off 84 balls.
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35th over: England 235-7 (S Curran 34, Rashid 10) Curran pinches two with a tuck to mid-on’s left, and then Adil plays another dreamy stroke, a pull over midwicket that his mate Moeen would be proud of. Curran sees that and raises it a straight thump for four more. The required rate, which I don’t think has ever hit seven, is now 6.33. But it’s the wickets that matter more, for once.
“Going back a few seasons,” says Peter Rowntree, “when Yorkshire top order kept collapsing it was Ballance and Rashid in the lower middle order who provided their runs that year. After seven county matches, so midway through the season, because of a couple of centuries and some not outs, ‘Rash’ actually headed the county batting averages with a stonking average of 140!”
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34th over: England 223-7 (S Curran 27, Rashid 5) Prasidh, who’s been pretty pricey, gives Curran a nice friendly bouncer to help round the corner for four. And then Curran is dropped, skying a slower ball to the long-off boundary. It’s Hardik again. He squirts it for four and kicks the Toblerone in frustration, but, just like his earlier gaffe, it’s unlikely to cost much.
33rd over: England 214-7 (S Curran 18, Rashid 5) Adil Rashid would like to remind us that he can wield a bat too, so he plays a lovely wristy on-drive for four off Kumar. We had a 99 from England on Friday, and now we have a touch of Mr Whippy.
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32nd over: England 209-7 (S Curran 17, Rashid 1) England have one card left in their hand, and what a card he is. Sam Curran sees a long hop from Hardik and pulls it for six. If there was a crowd in, he’d be getting some sympathetic applause.
31st over: England 200-7 (S Curran 9, Rashid 0) So Bhuvi does the trick. Moeen had flirted with danger off the first ball of his over, playing a loose pull rather too close to long leg. But he carried on playing that way, living by the sword and dying by it too. Once upon a time, that would have been frowned upon; now it’s the official team policy.
Wicket! Moeen Ali c Hardik b Kumar 29 (England 200-7)
There it is! Moeen toe-ends a slower ball to mid-off, where Hardik takes a good tumbling catch. He wanders disconsolately off stage, knowing the game is up.
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30th over: England 196-6 (Moeen 25, S Curran 9) Kohli keeps Hardik on, when you’d think it was time for Bhuvi Kumar to come back and apply the coup de grace. Hardik, to be fair, isn’t giving much away – he has none for 16 off four overs.
29th over: England 192-6 (Moeen 23, S Curran 7) Moeen, who can waft for England, proves it by flapping just over the man at extra cover, to pick up a streaky two. And Sam Curran, after an uncharacteristically shy start, comes to the party with a cut for four. The mountain they have to climb is surely too steep, but these two won’t die wondering.
“Tongue in cheek?” wonders Garry Sharp. “Was Mr Perry (17th over) being ironic? This has been a superb tour from both sides, (apart from the third Test which felt like a failed experiment). England kept fighting despite the discomforts so expertly recounted by Ebony. Whatever the outcome of this game, they can hold their heads high, I feel. But India have also been great. Top class sport.
“And your OBO also, of course! (Once Tanya gets her number typing skills up to speed that is, ha ha.)” We’ve all done it.
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28th over: England 184-6 (Moeen 20, S Curran 2) Kohli takes Thakur off, as if he feels he may need a safety net later. Moeen encourages that defensive mindset by swinging Natarajan for six over midwicket. He’s a man with a plan: get ’em in sixes. But then he slightly spoils it by swishing for four past fine leg. Fifteen off the over! The counter-attack has begun – it’s just hard to see it lasting. Time for some more drinks, with India ruling the roost, thanks to Thakur.
27th over: England 169-6 (Moeen 9, S Curran 0) Krunal Pandya is taken off, probably for good as the seamers are doing the business. He’s replaced by his brother, who peppers Sam Curran and concedes only a single. England need 161, or, in other words, a miracle.
26th over: England 168-6 (Moeen 8, S Curran 0) So India have one hand on the trophy and Shardul Thakur has one hand on the Player of the Match award: three big wickets – Buttler, Livingstone, Malan – to go with his sparky cameo earlier.
Meanwhile, in New Zealand...
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Malan c Rohit b Thakur 50 (England 168-6)
Noooooo! Malan pulls Thakur’s short ball straight to midwicket, and that, surely, is the game.
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25th over: England 164-5 (Malan 46, Moeen 8) Moeen’s getting straight down to business, tucking into Krunal and slog-sweeping for six. That’s the fearless cricket that Eoin Morgan demands.
24th over: England 156-5 (Malan 45, Moeen 1) Cometh the hour, cometh the Mo. His batting tends to be all or nothing: which is it to be today, at the end of a very strange winter for him?
While we’re on the subject of WinViz, here’s its biggest fan, writing before that wicket. “Excellent test of England’s (lower) middle-order credentials here,” says Brian Withington. “Moeen warming up by gripping and swinging two bats together by the dugout – looks like he means business. This could yet be a cracker.”
Wicket! Livingstone c&b Thakur 36 (England 155-5)
Just when it was going so well! Livingstone gets a slower ball that’s also a full toss and pats it straight back to the bowler. England are dying the death of a thousand full bungers. Well, a couple anyway.
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23rd over: England 152-4 (Malan 43, Livingstone 35) Krunal finds the edge of Livingstone’s bat with his slow left-arm– but Kohli still hasn’t got a slip in, and India pay for it as Livingstone survives and takes two. England’s current run rate is 6.60, which is exactly what they needed when their innings began. But their chance of winning is only 20 per cent on WinViz, because of those lost wickets.
22nd over: England 145-4 (Malan 40, Livingstone 31) Thakur, back on track, ties Livingstone down, but that’s OK because the rate is still under seven. Malan, who’s taking singles at will now, helps himself to another one to bring up the fifty partnership off only 6.5 overs. Fifty more, please.
21st over: England 142-4 (Malan 38, Livingstone 30) Krunal continues, Livingstone’s eyes light up, and although he doesn’t quite reach the pitch, he still muscles this one for six. He laughs at the fact that’s got away with one. He looks like a star.
“I get Guy Perry’s frustration,” says Colum Fordham, “probably exacerbated by his proximity to Indian supporters who he fears are about to rib him mercilessly, but England have played some good cricket on this tour in all three formats, winning the first Test comprehensively, coming almightily close in the T20 series and are still even-stevens in the ODIs. Malan is the number one batsman in T20 cricket and Livingstone is an exciting prospect and both are playing well. I wouldn’t be so downbeat.”
20th over: England 132-4 (Malan 36, Livingstone 22) Livingstone, facing Prasidh, does what Jonny Bairstow tried and failed to do – walking across his stumps and flicking a straight one over square leg for four. Next ball, he plays a gorgeous straight drive for four more. Then he plays a false stroke, hooking, edging or forearming the ball, but getting away with it as it loops into the mysterious vacant slips. Malan adds a beautiful glide for four. Someone needs to make a hundred here and, realistically, it has to be him.
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19th over: England 119-4 (Malan 32, Livingstone 13) Time for the spinner. Amazing that India have only one of them, when England fielded three: it’s like the third Test in reverse. On comes Krunal Pandya and he thinks he’s got Malan LBW. He persuades Kohli to review and this time it’s a bad one, as the ball is sliding down leg, not even umpire’s call. India have only one review left.
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18th over: England 115-4 (Malan 31, Livingstone 11) Thakur, who did so well to defeat Buttler, takes some hammer now as Malan upper-cuts for four and Livingstone joins in with successive fours – an elegant on-drive and a violent hook. Fourteen off the over, getting the required rate back to 6.7 or so. England need 215 from 32 overs – but mainly they need to survive.
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17th over: England 101-4 (Malan 26, Livingstone 2) Liam Livingstone has something in common with those Indian understudies: he looks the part, oozing confidence. For now, though, he’s playing himself in.
“Watching the latest collapse on TV in KERALA,” says Guy Perry. “Embarrassing tour from a crap team. What a joke. Heartbreaking disappointment.” You what? They’re the No.1 team in the world in ODIs, and right now they’re missing Morgan, Root, Archer and Woakes – the captain, the Test captain and both the opening bowlers.
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16th over: England 98-4 (Malan 24, Livingstone 1) India celebrated that wicket as if they’d won the match, with howls of delight. Kohli took off vertically, the way his daughter will be doing on the trampoline in a couple of years’ time. England’s batting stars have all gone, and it’s now down to two men who weren’t even in the XI when this series started. India have been winning trophies this year with starring roles for their understudies – can England do that too?
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Wicket! Buttler LBW b Thakur 15 (England 95-4)
The big one! Not given, as there were two noises, but Kohli reviews, and it wasn’t an inside edge. Three reds, and Buttler has gone, taking most of England’s hopes with him.
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15th over: England 95-3 (Malan 23, Buttler 15) Kohli, who picked four seamers, brings on a fifth - Hardik, who had been presumed unfit to bowl. His first ball is a long hop, flayed over point by Buttler, and then there are a few singles, one of which would have been the end of Malan if there had been a direct hit. Nine off the over and the required rate is 6.71. If England bat through, they will almost certainly win – but that’s a big if.
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14th over: England 86-3 (Malan 21, Buttler 9) Thakur comes on and Buttler shows his class for the first time with that cover push of his, inside out, threaded through a narrow gap. It’s his go-to shot in Tests and he does seem to be treating this like a Test innings, building not blasting. Time for drinks, with India well on top. England need 244 from 36 overs – but mainly they need a long partnership.
13th over: England 78-3 (Malan 18, Buttler 4) Natarajan, fortified by his first wicket of the series, is bowling faster. He smuggles a full toss past Buttler, which wouldn’t happen in Twenty20. Or Tests. Buttler has four off ten balls, pooling along like his opposite number, Kohli. He will surely have to produce a captain’s innings if England are going to get the 252 they need.
12th over: England 76-3 (Malan 17, Buttler 3) Malan’s not bothered about losing Stokes – in fact he probably prefers batting with a right-hander. Prasidh generously offers him two wide long-hops, one cut for four, the other for a single. Buttler gets off the mark, and equals his top score of the series, with a comfy tuck for two, the easiest shot in the book. The required rate has yet to reach seven, but one more wicket would put England in deep trouble. Kohli should be setting three slips and a gully.
11th over: England 68-3 (Malan 12, Buttler 0) So here is Jos Buttler, who has made precisely two runs in the series, for twice out. In fact his scores in ODIs in the past 18 months read like this: 1, 3, 8, 2, 0, and now 0*. And yet he’s been in commanding form in Tests. Red-ball specialist, if you ask me.
Wicket! Stokes c Dhawan b Natarajan 35 (England 68-3)
Caught off a full toss, in the deep – was the ball too high? No, say the umps. Stokes had come down the track, and that does for him. Huge wicket!
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10th over: England 66-2 (Stokes 33, Malan 12) Prasidh’s bouncer bothers Stokes again – and he top-edges it for six! Over the keeper, via the helmet. And Malan finally comes to the party with that signature shot of his, the cover drive hit on the up, followed by a nice easy glide for four more. Broad thinks it’s a good decision from India to play the extra seamer. I’m not so sure: England’s spinners found some turn and took four wickets, and Stokes, after making that delicious 99, described Krunal Pandya as “my match-up”.
So the PowerPlay ends with India still on top, but ruing the moment when Hardik dropped Stokes. Is it going to be a case of “Mate, you dropped the PayTM Trophy”?
9th over: England 51-2 (Stokes 26, Malan 4) Pant has retreated now, so Stokes gives Bhuvi the charge and has a thump, but he can’t get it past mid-off. England haven’t been great at taking singles, though when they tried one at the end of the previous over, Stokes would have been run out if the shy from the covers had hit. Bhuvi has two for 25 off five overs, setting the standard as usual.
8th over: England 50-2 (Stokes 25, Malan 4) On comes Prasidh Krishna, the leading wicket-taker in the series, with six, one more than Bhuvi or Wood. Right away he rattles Stokes with a short one, fended off uncertainly, but then there’s a length ball and Stokes plays a cut for four, back past the bowler! Then he adds another two with a more orthodox cut.
“This is a beautiful pitch,” says Stuart Broad, “and it’s only going to kiss on with the dew.” He’s a natural in the commentary box, and he’s come up with a new technical term there.
7th over: England 43-2 (Stokes 18, Malan 4) Just two runs off Kumar’s over. A brief tribute to the days of Boycott and Brearley.
6th over: England 41-2 (Stokes 17, Malan 3) Natarajan bowls two more wides, to take his tally for the innings to five. But the rest of the over is good – dots and a single or two. The silver lining for England is that Dawid Malan, who prefers to play himself in, has time to do so here.
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5th over: England 37-2 (Stokes 16, Malan 2) Stokes should be out for 15, and England should be reeling. Instead, their main match winner lives to biff another ball.The commentators reckon Hardik might have been put off by the nearest fielder – his brother, “hanging about,” David Lloyd says, “like a smell of gas.” You don’t get that on the BCCI feed.
Stokes dropped!
Hardik Pandya, who batted so handsomely, makes an ugly mess of the first chance offered by England. It’s a chip to mid-off from Stokes off Kumar, a real sitter, and Hardik fumbles it.
4th over: England 35-2 (Stokes 15, Malan 1) A slash for four from Stokes off Natarajan, as Pant stands up to the stumps for him too.
On Friday, Bairstow and Stokes added 175; today, just 14. But the crumb of comfort for England is that Bairstow and Roy didn’t waste any time. They made their 15 runs off only ten balls, whereas India’s two top-order flops, Kohli and Rahul, ate up 28 balls for their 14.
3rd over: England 28-2 (Stokes 10, Malan 0) Rishabh Pant, not content with blasting the top score of the day so far, was standing up to Kumar, to keep Stokes in his crease. Unruffled, Stokes did an Adam Ant: stand and deliver, swing it over mid-on for four. But then Bairstow fell, shuffling across his stumps rather than opening up the off side as he usually does. Advantage India!
Wicket! Bairstow lbw b Kumar 1 (England 28-2)
Hit on the pad in front of middle and leg. Given out, but he reviews... “Only height can save him,” says Mike Atherton, and it doesn’t – umpire’s call. Both England’s master blasters have gone!
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2nd over: England 22-1 (Bairstow 1, Stokes 5) It’s Natarajan at the other end, with his left-arm seam, and he gets off to a rather mixed start: two wides, but a fine ball in the channel to beat Bairstow, and a good yorker to Stokes, who retorts with a cut for four. If England get set against the seamers, Kohli will have a problem as he only has one spinner, Krunal Pandya, who has been less than incisive so far.
1st over: England 14-1 (Bairstow 0, Stokes 0) Roy stroked the first two balls of the innings for four, but Kumar struck back superbly. So Bairstow and Stokes, so dominant on Friday, are thrust together very early – and neither has faced a ball.
Wicket! Roy b Kumar 14 (England 14-1)
Bhuvi strikes! Roy had taken him on, blasting 14 off five balls, but he couldn’t keep the gate shut when the ball came back in.
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Virat Kohli has the Indians in a huddle, and is addressing them intensely. Mind you, he’s probably intense when he’s just sitting at home playing with his baby daughter.
Afternoon everyone and thanks Adam. He’s an Aussie but he writes the way this England team bat – all action, high speed. And that’s the way India played today, in a shift from their usual style. It made for a fascinating innings of four distinct phases: carnage, collapse, carnage, collapse. For all the fireworks from Pant and Hardik, they’ve ended up with their usual score. As Adam says, it’s still a stiff target, but England will be the happier side as they eat their supper.
Or avoid it, in the case of poor Mark Wood. He was heroic, taking 3 for 34 on the sort of pitch where he used to go for 70. If the spinners caused India’s first collapse, the second was down to Wood. Time for a sandwich before we see whether Roy and Bairstow can put together another hundred partnership. Somehow it seems improbable.
329 is still a serious score. Just not quite so daunting when you consider that after 35.5 overs, India were 256-4 with Pant 78 and Hardik 49 - both flying. From there, 400 was for the taking. But the three wickets in four overs England’s spinners took earlier meant they were in a position to drag it back if they could break the key stand and test the host’s lower order, which is precisely how it played out. Pant’s edge to Buttler, smartly taken, changed the energy of the final stretch with Stokes, Wood and Topley all able to make life tough with accurate cutters. A final ten that promised so much fell ten balls short, bringing just 46 runs. In turn, England are chasing a score well within their range: after running down 337 on Friday, they require 330 after the interval to take the trophy home.
For that, I’ll hand over to Tim de Lisle. Thanks for your company!
INDIA ALL-OUT 329! WICKET! Bhuvneshwar c Curran b Topley 3.
Another miscue, Topley’s slower ball doing the trick with Curran taking the chance to complete the Indian innings. They’re all out ten balls short of their allotted overs, well short of where it looked like they might end up when Pant and Hardik were motoring along.
WICKET! Prasidh b Wood 0 (India 329-9)
According to Dinesh Karthik, Prasidh can’t bat. So, with Wood full and straight, he didn’t stand much chance. Stumps everywhere. He has 3/34 from his seven and Topley a chance to finish it off.
48th over: India 329-9 (Bhuvneshwar 3)
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WICKET! Krunal Pandya c Roy b Wood 25 (India 328-8)
Full, miscued, taken by Roy running back with the flight from cover! That’s a fine take with a high degree of difficulty, the ball arriving just over his right shoulder. What a shift this has been from Wood.
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47th over: India 326-7 (Krunal 23, Bhuvneshwar 2) Topley is swung around to follow Stokes, preparing to send down overs 47 and 49. And it’s another positive set for the visitors with five singles and no boundaries - they’re having an excellent final ten so far. Has Wood got the energy to now take after 48 and 50? He looked very ginger following his wicket. Stokes is Buttler’s best alternative.
Stick the Woody Spew Cam on the red button for the sickos #IndvEng
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) March 28, 2021
WICKET! Thakur c Buttler b Wood 30 (India 321-7)
An outstanding effort from Wood, who is clearly unwell. Bowling with men behind square, he was too quick for Pandya’s pull. Then to Thakur, a huge swing and a miss was followed by a thick edge through to Buttler. England have conceded just 38 runs in the last six overs, picking up a couple of wickets along the way.
46th over: India 321-7 (Krunal 20)
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45th over: India 318-6 (Krunal 18, Thakur 29) Thakur again! So much to like about this all-rounder, positive footwork down to Stokes before muscling him over long-off for SIX! Bowler and batsmen exchange a laugh and a fist bump, Stokes taking a look at the bat that did the damage. He’s now 29 from 18 with three sixes.
Interesting conversation between Mike Atherton and Stuart Broad on television about his workload, noting that because he didn’t bowl too many overs in India, he’s actually needing to send down quite a few early in the county championship season for Notts. Quite different to how it would be if he toured South Africa or Australia.
44th over: India 308-6 (Krunal 16, Thakur 21) Top edge in the direction of Mark Wood... and over his head! SIX RUNS for Thakur off Topley. But as Stuart Broad says on Sky, there’s nothing wrong with that bouncer with fine leg back. A swing and a miss to finish.
43rd over: India 297-6 (Krunal 13, Thakur 13) Rashid puts Krunal down! Running back with the flight at cover but he got a good look at it and both hands to the ball. Stokes is landing cutter after cutter here, making it difficult to time through the field, and only three singles are added as a result. Just 30 runs in the last five overs.
Going to be plenty of rubbish "ODI is in favour of the batsmen too much" takes after this series, don't let a unique combination of seriously flat pitches, two quality batting units and two below par bowling attacks fool you, the format is fine.
— Kieran (@BerbaSpinCric) March 28, 2021
42nd over: India 294-6 (Krunal 11, Thakur 12) Wood doesn’t continue, Topley back for a third spell instead. A big part of his return from injury was developing his game in T20 cricket, so he has plenty of slower balls and varieties to select from. Thakur is up to this challenge though, clipping a knuckle ball through midwicket into a gap for four. That’s wonderfully timed.
41st over: India 286-6 (Krunal 8, Thakur 7) Stokes to Krunal as we enter the final stretch. On debut in game one, the left-hander was able to make a mark at the death, striking five sixes. Stokes doesn’t give him that opportunity here, only singles only on offer, just three of them. Super stuff. The TV pans to Wood, who is in a lot of strife down at fine leg. He’s clearly unwell. Can he keep bowling?
Happy birthday to @nassercricket who is currently on comms with his old buddy @Athersmike - they go back to when Nasser actually had hair! pic.twitter.com/GdumyJ9dMl
— Benedict Bermange (@Benedict_B) March 28, 2021
40th over: India 283-6 (Krunal 6, Thakur 6) Shardul Thakur is a very impressive cricketer. He’s been called upon to perform a variety of roles in 2021, across the formats, and has almost always delivered for his captain. Here, facing Wood, he has the compusure and skill to pull his short ball over backward square for SIX. Go you good thing.
WICKET! Hardik b Stokeds 64 (India 276-6)
When you need a job done, call Ben Stokes! He’s bowled Hardik around his legs, after he jumped across to the off-side and missed. What a huge moment in the game, getting rid of the big man just before happy hour. And as a result, 400 is virtually off the cards.
39th over: India 276-6 (Krunal 5)
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38th over: India 267-5 (Hardik 58, Krunal 2) Mark Wood returns with seven overs left for him to bowl, which, of course, is now mathetmatically impossible. The change does the trick though, just a couple of runs off him here, culminating in a shout for caught behind off Hardik. It’s turned down and they don’t review - the noise is ball on pocket. Wood doesn’t look to be in good shape walking to fine leg. It’s a hot day - maybe that’s all it is? Hope so.
Hardik Pandya passes 50
37th over: India 265-5 (Hardik 57, Krunal 1) Another fine contribution from the younger Pandya, to his 50 with a rare single after 36 balls in the middle. He returns to his usual mode by the end of Rashid’s over, launching a shorter ball over the midwicket for SIX. You cannot drop short to this man. And that’s the end of Rashid for today, finishing with 2/81 for his ten. Far from his best day at the office but he did pick up both set openers, Rohit with a beauty.
WICKET! Pant c Buttler b Curran 78 (India 256-5)
What a catch! Pant edges a full ball he’s trying to flick to midwicket, Buttler having to change course, sticking out his left glove and it sticks! Entirely against the flow of play, ending an over where three wides were followed by two boundaries, but all that matters to England is seeing the back of the Little Blaster. He made 78 from 62.
36th over: India 256-5 (Hardik 44)
Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP
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35th over: India 243-4 (Pant 73, Hardik 44) Magnificent from the Little Blaster, down to Rashid and striking him with a straight bat over his head for SIX of the best. Industrious running either side of the big blow makes 13 from the over. And there’s still 15 over to go.
“India could get a proper cricket score here,” suggests Phillip Haran. “450 anyone?” Well, they doubled their score from 35-odd overs on Friday. In saying that, it was from a far slower start. But 400 is on if these two are still batting in an over, no doubt about that.
34th over: India 230-4 (Pant 61, Hardik 43) Slammin’ Sammy Curran returns to the attack having bowled three overs (0/19) off the top of the innings. And it only takes Rishabh two balls to find a route to the rope, clipping with supreme timing to midwicket from a delivery that was on about off-stump. Not much a seamer can do about that. He’s around the wicket to Hardik later in the over who is right to assume a short ball is coming, makes an early move across his stumps and hooks with ease for four with fine leg inside the circle. They’ve put on 73 from 59. Mark Wood is on the field, by the way, the team media manager confirming that in the WhatsApp group.
33rd over: India 221-4 (Pant 56, Hardik 39) Back-to-back quiet overs for England after the onslaught of 30 runs in the two before it. Just a couple of singles off Rashid, who has two still to bowl. As for Mark Wood, it remains unclear from the TV whether he’s on the field.
“Adam.” Hello, John Starbuck. “Hi. ‘The little blaster’! Love it. Your own coinage?” It is! Can we, the OBO crew, make it stick?
In the women’s T20 we were looking at in Hamilton earlier, an Ash Gardner masterclass proved the difference, Australia victorious.
32nd over: India 219-4 (Pant 55, Hardik 38) Topley was the one England bowler able to stem the flow of boundaries in the final stanza on Friday and he does the same here, just three singles from his varied collection of well-directed slower balls. Drinks!
“Pondering Abhijato Sensarma’s ponderings I would suggest the wonderful thing about sport is that by its nature it takes us out of realism anyway,” writes Ian Copestake. “To speculate is to try and get it back within a box by imposing prediction.”
Pant passes 50
31st over: India 216-4 (Pant 54, Hardik 36) Rashid replaces Livingstone, which makes sense - they’ve got to get these two out with skill, and their legspinner has plenty of it. And the respect is there early in the over, especially in response to the wrong’un, but as soon as Rashid gives it some air Pant gets that back knee of his on the ground to slog sweep him for SIX! That’s a 44-ball half-century for the little blaster, the last blow his third trip over the ropes.
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30th over: India 206-4 (Pant 46, Hardik 34) Topley is back and isn’t getting a chance to settle, Hardik jumping across his stumps before cutting hard past point. A fine combination of premeditation and execution. A handy fightback from the left-armer follows, culminating in a back-of-the-hand slower ball, leaping at Hardik’s glove.
“Hi Adam.” Hello, Colum. “I was just pondering how these months of cricket have come full circle with bowlers dominating the tests and now batsmen having the upper hand in the ODIs. Clearly, it’s partly pitch dependent but it’s so refereshing to see Adil Rashid fox the batsmen on what is a fantastic batting wicket. If spin bowlers have the skills, as Rashid or Ashwin clearly do, to move the ball both ways with googlies and carrom balls in their armoury, even supreme batsmen like Rohit, Darwan or even the mighty Kohli can be outdone.”
Yep, I’m all in on spinners dictating terms in white-ball cricket.
English fatalism alert: this is all very exciting @collinsadam but I can't be there only one thinking that we still have to bat on this pitch. If the ball turns for us.... Still, it's fascinating seeing India try something different. And it's also great to see Livingston play.
— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) March 28, 2021
But remember, Guy, India only have Krunal Pandya, having left out Kuldeep Yadav in favour of an extra seamer, T Natarajan.
29th over: India 198-4 (Pant 44, Hardik 28) Buttler backs Livingstone to go again - might that be related to Wood’s fitness? It’s legspin at Hardik, so he uses the crease again to cut a four. Fine batting. Oh, half a chance to finish? He went to his left, Pant’s miscue went right. In the end, the best the spinner could manage was getting a boot to it, but it didn’t subsequently go to hand.
“This mini-collapse has given Pant, Hardik and Krunal the opportunity to bat more than a collective 25 overs,” says Abhijato Sensarma. “Given that they aren’t the sort who die wondering - and this pitch doesn’t assist a lot of batsmen-related deaths - has England shot itself in the foot? And I’m being over-optimistic, perhaps, but what is sporting speculation if not an escape from the constrains of realism?” A mixed blessing, that’s for sure.
28th over: India 190-4 (Pant 43, Hardik 21) Ignore what I said about these two having hard work to do before exploding, they’re having none of that! Hardik Pandya, perhaps the cleanest striker in the game, jumps at Moeen and plonks him over his head for SIX. Roar power. Later in the over, he jumps back and pulls with the spin over midwicket for SIX MORE. And why not make it THREE SIXES? Yup, Hardik rides the wave and nails the perfect slog sweep - 20 rows back and 20 from the over! The pressure transfers back to England: how to dislodge these ridiculously talented hitters?
27th over: India 170-4 (Pant 42, Hardik 2) Rishabh Pant isn’t going to let a third-spinner pin him down - absolutely no chance. Down the track, he’s given it the kitchen sink, clearing the long-of rope. He didn’t get all of it, but with his hands and muscle, it still goes the journey. Next: another dance before creaming him more conventionally through cover for four. Into the 40s with a bullet.
26th over: India 160-4 (Pant 32, Hardik 2) Another ideal over from Moeen, set and forget for his captain. He now has 1/19 from six.
25th over: India 158-4 (Pant 31, Hardik 1) Two runs and a wicket from Livingstone’s first over in international cricket - what a handy introduction, well played Jos Buttler. In a game where India have dropped a spinner for a seamer, England have used three in the first half of the innings. At this stage on Friday, they were 112-2 and ended up piling on exactly double that, 224, in the second 25. A major difference then being that these two, India’s best hitters, were coming in for happy hour with the foundation laid and they’re a fair way off that point in this innings. Work to do.
“Morning Adam.” Hello, Stephen Brown. “One might have thought that after the last match, India might have been trying to take inspiration from England’s performance. Instead they appear to be imitating their performance from the first match of the series. Interesting tactic.” I don’t think the plan was to lose those wickets, to be fair! But anything is possible with Pant in the game for longer.
WICKET! Rahul c Moeen b Livingstone 7 (India 157-4)
Oh dear, what’s Rahul done there? A full toss from Livingstone, fresh into the attack, and he’s been helped in the direction of Moeen on the fielding circle at short fine leg, dragging in a fine diving catch.
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24th over: India 156-3 (Pant 30, Rahul 7) India’s third 50 was their slowest so far, coming in 52 deliveries. And some news from TV: Mark Wood is off the field. I’ll keep my eye on Whatsapp for an update from the England camp. Moeen again now and Pant is again going through the air into the legside but doesn’t middle it, landing just in front of Sam Curran running in off the rope. Five singles.
I’m coming but I’m stuck behind this bloody cargo ship https://t.co/ILqK42Yzjg
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) March 28, 2021
23rd over: India 151-3 (Pant 27, Rahul 5) Goodness me, Rishabh Pant! How to descibe that boundary. Okay. He triggered forward at Rashid’s full delivery before returning to his original stance by the time the ball arrived. When he did, he elected to flick, off balance, behind square. Somehow, contact was sweet enough to make it all the way, bouncing just a foot inside the rope. We saw him do something similar to that in the T20s - he’s something else, this guy. Later in the over, the scoop! Executed perfectly, four more.
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22nd over: India 141-3 (Pant 18, Rahul 5) Moeen has 1/12 from his four, yet to concede a boundary. Spin to win, and all that.
21st over: India 137-3 (Pant 16, Rahul 3) Rishbh Pant was never going to allow terms to be dictated at him for long, getting that back pad down to the turf before smacking Rashid for SIX over long-on. That’s gone a long way, the first big’un of the day. Supreme confidence.
20th over: India 128-3 (Pant 8, Rahul 2) Moeen again doing his job, racing through his set, just two singles off it. “Morning Adam.” Hello, @AndyInBrum. “At what point do we suggest that Kohli has a problem against spin?” I’m sure that will be debated in the aftermath of this series. However, I wouldn’t call it a problem - I’ve seen him play some masterful innings against high-class spin - it might be that this is in his head a bit at the moment, though?
19th over: India 126-3 (Pant 7, Rahul 1) How this game is changing by the over, just five risk-free runs here. The boundaries are no longer the target for India as they enter a brief rebuilding period. This is why I like 50-over cricket. Meanwhile, Tim de Lisle has been crunching the numbers - he’ll be with you later on for England’s chase. “Spinners in this series, at the fall of Kohli’s wicket: before today 2 for 489, average 244; today 3 for 29, average 9. And India have left one of theirs out.” And here’s that Kohli dismissal.
BOWLED! 💥
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) March 28, 2021
Kohli gone now! Moeen Ali strikes in his second over, bowling the India captain for seven.#INDvENG 🇮🇳🏴
📺 Watch 👉 https://t.co/bT0CP9Q8No
📱 Live blog 👉 https://t.co/ynibgoziEz
📋 Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/N31cMygvYQ pic.twitter.com/zAdQIdOU9M
18th over: India 121-3 (Pant 3, Rahul 0) A long time between ODI breakthroughs for Moeen - 340 deliveries, twitter tells me - but he did a job for England in the middle overs on Friday, going for just 47 in that spell of ten overs, and he’s made a massive contribution here skittling Kohli. England have taken three wickets in four overs.
Moeen Ali started his tour by clean bowling Virat Kohli & he’s ended it by clean bowling Virat Kohli, who still can’t believe it’s possible for him to do so #IndvEng pic.twitter.com/pQJeNfwFVX
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) March 28, 2021
WICKET! Kohli b Moeen 8 (India 121-3)
Moeen skittles Kohli! That’s turned big - he was looking to carve it out through cover off the back foot but it’s hit his leg stump! Sure enough, he stares at the pitch for a while but it makes no difference.
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17th over: India 118-2 (Kohli 6, Pant 1) Pant has been elevated above KL Rahul, presumably to maintain the left/right combination. It’s also a luxury India have after their brisk start. And based on what we saw from the little superstar on Friday, this could be a lot of fun.
WICKET! Dhawan c & b Rashid 67 (India 117-2)
Rashid has both of the openers in a couple of overs! Dhawan was down the track and planning to whip but it dipped just enough on him to alter his stroke, ending in a chip back to the bowler.
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16th over: India 113-1 (Dhawan 64, Kohli 5) Moeen is on and through his first over in the space of 90 seconds, giving up just three singles. Just what England need in support of the attacking Rashid.
“Morning Adam.” Morning to you, Brian Withington. “With surfaces like these for the ODIs I am wondering whether we might have seen three five day test matches earlier on this tour? With the depth of India’s spin and batting I expect they might still have prevailed, but it would have been good to have had more cricket to watch and, of course, OBO to follow. In passing, a friend asks whether you are any relation to the lucky guy who features with the brilliant Geoff Lemon in an unmissable podcast called The Final Word? Rumour has it that there might be a new YouTube channel too.”
Pune for a Test Match is a very different proposition to Pune in a white-ball game, it must be said. And I’ll take your friend’s kind words (and your links!) as a comment. Thank them, though.
15th over: India 110-1 (Dhawan 62, Kohli 4) And after all that love, Rashid drops short to Kohli first up and he slots it away for four through midwicket. Gosh, and he makes it two stinkers in a row to finish the over, down the legside. Did Kohli glove it for a couple? Nope, it’s called a wide so he has to rebowl it. Better to finish. Nevertheless, a successful over, which England so badly needed.
And here’s that Rohit dismissal. Drink it in.
BOWLED! 💥
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) March 28, 2021
Rashid bowls Rohit for 38 with an absolute ripper of a googly!
India 103-1 (14.4ov) #INDvENG 🇮🇳🏴
📺 Watch 👉 https://t.co/bT0CP9Q8No
📱 Live blog 👉 https://t.co/ynibgoziEz
📋 Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/N31cMygvYQ pic.twitter.com/aVEc6X2OaX
They’re taken drinks. I hope there will be a social media video of that wicket to share with you soon. Very special bowling.
WICKET! Rohit b Rashid (India 103-1)
What a gem! The perfect googly, skipping between Rohit’s bat and pad before hitting off-stump. The stuff wrist spinners dream of.
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BIG SHOUT FOR LBW! Rashid believes he has Dhawan with the wrong’un. Buttler agrees - it’s sent upstairs. But the on-field decision is correct, the ball was (just) pitching outside leg. NOT OUT!
14th over: India 100-0 (Rohit 37, Dhawan 59) Just what India needed after being sent in: a 100-run stand from their experienced opening pair. The request from captain Kohli was for more runs in the first half of the innings after tallying 112 on Friday to the 25-over mark (before smacking double that, 224, in the second half) and this is exactly what these two are doing. Dhawan added to his boundary count here, cutting Stokes away for behind point. Super batting.
I’m enjoying the wide shots of the stadium between overs. Takes me back to a most eventful three-day Test I covered at Pune in 2017, Steve O’Keefe taking 6/35 in both innings to stun the hosts in the first match of what turned into a classic series. Happy times.
Dhawan passes 50
13th over: India 92-0 (Rohit 35, Dhawan 53) Buttler needs a breakthrough so he turns to Adil Rashid - sound logic, he’s been fantastic on this tour. Ooh, and an appeal for leg before first up when Dhawan misses the googly, but it pitched outside leg. He doesn’t get away with a shorter ball later in the over though, Dhawan leaping back to pull hard through midwicket for four to bring up his half century in 42 balls. He’s hit nine boundaries - going beautifully.
12th over: India 84-0 (Rohit 33, Dhawan 47) Stokes didn’t have a lot of work to do with the ball on Friday but he will do here with Curran and Topley both going around in the power play and neither spinner seen as yet. He starts well, singles only, but then his bouncer is called for a wide - again, too high. Stump mic would suggest the all-rounder isn’t thrilled with the decision of the square leg umpire. And sure enough, it is the seventh delivery when the boundary ball arrives, Rohit carving a wider offering square of third man for four.
11th over: India 76-0 (Rohit 28, Dhawan 45) The field is back but Dhawan doesn’t mind, pulling Wood’s short ball through midwicket into the gap for four. He’s at his best today. Ooh, and another boundary to finish, albeit straight off Rohit’s outside edge through third slip. It completes another bulky over, 11 coming from it.
10th over: India 65-0 (Rohit 24, Dhawan 38) Buttler turns to Stokes for the final over of the power play, immediately banging it in short of a length - his happy place. Just four singles - they’ll take that. After adding 39 and 42 with the field up in games one and two, they’ve done a nice job turning it up a notch or two in the decider.
It's Nasser Hussain's birthday today 🎂
— Vithushan Ehantharajah (@Vitu_E) March 28, 2021
Worth revisiting the time Alastair Cook gave him a quick elocution lesson at a toss 🔉pic.twitter.com/YkuuUGtcaN
9th over: India 61-0 (Rohit 22, Dhawan 36) Wood gets the treatment now too, Dhawan timing him past point, racing away to the rope. It prompts a change of direction from the England quick and it does the trick until the final ball, when Dhawan is back on the attack out to deep midwicket, kept to two by a diving Liam Livingstone.
When Dhawan is going well, one extra thing he is good at is getting his share of the strike and making the most of it. #INDvENG
— Anand Vasu (@anandvasu) March 28, 2021
8th over: India 53-0 (Rohit 21, Dhawan 29) Topley stays on and it doesn’t pay off for Buttler, Dhawan over cover for one boundary (albeit without much control), then clipping a straight ball for another. Ohhh, make that a third - a delightful cover drive, tasty batting. And a fourth boundary to finish, Rohit tucking into a low full toss, flicking it away with ease. 17 off the over. They’re away.
7th over: India 36-0 (Rohit 17, Dhawan 16) Yup, Wood it is. And he’s straight up to 140kph - indeed, he hits that very mark on the radar with his first three deliveries. That can’t be easy to do, bowling at precisely the same speed three balls in a row? Anyway, that point of fascination acknowledged, Rohit deals with the full and straight approach with a straight blade of his own - a maiden. Good cricket.
“Such an interesting collection of series,” says Phil Withall of England’s two months in India. “Both sides have players capable of changing the outcome of a game, nothing is certain. Love it.”
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6th over: India 36-0 (Rohit 17, Dhawan 16) Short, wide, cut, four - Topley can’t bowl there to Dhawan. That makes four boundaries from the last seven deliveries. The left-armer misses outside the tram-tracks next, a second wide in quick succession. But he bounces back well, stringing together five dots at the left-hander. Stating the obvious, but England need a spark here. Mark Wood, anyone?
“Morning Adam!” Hello, Michael Robinson. “Cheers as ever for the OBO. But got to say I was annoyed this morning by flipping British summer time. Looked at my clock, thought to myself “got ages of lying in bed before the action starts”, check the Guardian and they’re already going!”
I arrived at the same realisation last night at 11:30pm as I polished off an episode of This Is Us (my guilty pleasure), realising that it was, in effect, half past 12. But, as we know, it’s short term pain for considerable long-term gain - bring on those long summer nights.
5th over: India 31-0 (Rohit 17, Dhawan 12) Curran undoes his good work so far, giving Rohit one right in his swinging zone, over long-off for four. Stand and deliver. He overcorrects next up, on the pads and flicked away - two boundaries in a row. A bouncer later in the over is called a wide - too high. And Dhawan gets in on the fun to finish, lifting a very wide ball over point for four. It wasn’t a pretty shot - no footwork, coming off the end of the bat and just clearing the diving Malan at point - but it makes 15 from the over.
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4th over: India 16-0 (Rohit 8, Dhawan 7) Encouraged by this bit of early swing, Topley misses the mark with a full ball to Dhawan that doesn’t hoop, helped away to the fine leg rope. But the left-armer bounces back with a beauty to finish his over, beating the outside of the blade. Almost the identical delivery that he dismissed the left-hander with on Friday, come to think of it.
3rd over: India 11-0 (Rohit 8, Dhawan 3) Good start this from Sam Curran, drawing a false stroke from Rohit in his first over and now getting through his second at the cost of just one run. A skiddy, accurate bumper at Dhawan to finish, which he leaves alone.
2nd over: India 10-0 (Rohit 7, Dhawan 3) The classic Rohit cover drive: barely a backswing, all timing - that’s our first boundary of the day. Other than that, Topley maintains a disciplined length at the Indian superstar opener, just back of a length. He goes a fraction fuller later in the over, making a fine diving stop in his follow through. Some movement to finish, back at the right-hander. A lot to like about the way Topley has returned to this England team.
1st over: India 5-0 (Rohit 2, Dhawan 3) A sharp single to midwicket first up, but Dhawan was safe even if the Bairstow throw was on song. The left-hander is off the mark from his first ball too, easing a misdirected delivery to fine leg. “A belting surface,” says Rob Key as we get a look on spidercam. Kohli hinted that they would go harder in the power play compared to the approach in the first two games - we’ll see. Ooh, a leading edge from Rohit, but he gets a single to cover for it. Now back to Dhawan, who pushes a couple past point.
The players are on the field. Sam Curran has the new ball in his hand, Rohit Sharma taking the strike to begin. Here we go! PLAY!
“Why do England always win the toss?” asks Tejal Joshi. That I can’t tell you, but Kohli’s 2/12 record during this tour is quite the run. If you’re interested, he won the flip for the second Test at Chennai and the second T20 at Ahmedabad. I wonder where this ranks? Is there a list floating around detailing the worst run a captain has had?
Fascinating discussion on Sky about the pressure on India’s players. Dinesh Karthik is telling a few tales from his time in the team. During the 2007 World Cup, when they were bundled out in the group stage, some players were so worried about their safety that they flew to England for a couple of weeks before returning home. DK has been outstanding on commentary throughout the white-ball leg of this tour - genuine insight to this Indian team. “The only privacy you get is after you retire. It doesn’t exist when you play. It is a luxury in India. But the other way you look at it, the amount of love you get everywhere you go, you can feel that.”
A long trip for Matt Parkinson. As noted by my press box colleague Matt Roller, who has been pushing his case for inclusion.
12 weeks in a bubble for Matt Parkinson, 0 appearances
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) March 28, 2021
Sure he’ll have got plenty out of being with the squad but I can’t understand why he stayed on for the ODIs if he wasn’t going to play, especially given England’s lack of spin depth
We have two OBOs going right now. New Zealand’s women have set Australia 131 in their first T20 at Hamilton, Amy Satterthwaite top scoring with 40. Join Geoff Lemon (in a second tab!) for the chase.
The teams as named
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (capt), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan.
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
As expected, Mark Wood returns for Tom Curran. No change to the batting list, so Sam Billings must still be managing that collarbone injury. Kohli - who has won just two of 12 tosses while England have been in the country - says he would have bowled too. He likes the pitch, says it is hard. T Natarajan for Kuldeep Yadav is India’s one change. So, just one spinner with the left-arm quick coming in.
Jos Buttler wins the toss
England are fielding first.
Preamble
So England have arrived at the final day of their winter campaign, from Galle to Chennai to Ahmedabad and finally Pune. Some momentous highs and chastening lows along the way; tours that won’t be forgotten, not least due to the bio-bubbles they have been played in, and the rest-and-rotation policy that’s necessitated.
But if they can get up today in this third one-dayer, Jos Buttler’s understaffed side will leave the subcontinent with a trophy in the hand luggage and their number one ranking secured in the format. All told, not a bad effort after taking after taking the T20 series to a decider last week - especially after the last three Tests.
It’s hard to imagine Mark Wood won’t return after resting in Friday’s frenetic victory, Tom Curran the man most likely to make way in that scenario. It’s not entirely whether Sam Billings will be fit enough to play, but if he does, England will need to pick between the battle-hardened Dawid Malan and excitement machine Liam Livingstone, the latter doing his reputation no harm when twice boshing Bhuvneshwar over the rope to seal the deal on debut.
As for India, the main decision they have to make is whether they shake up their spin ranks after Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav went for a combined 0/156 from 16 overs on game two. In fairness, they ran head first into Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, who weren’t yielding to anyone on a flat pitch in that kind of brutal form.
When England were defeated in the opener, losing a couple of players to injury along the way - including captain Eoin Morgan - the message was clear: they weren’t going to change their tactics. Going after the bowling from the get-go had taken them to the top of the world and it would keep them there - something like that. It’s now India who have their gameplan under the microscope. Will they again go with their steady-as-she-goes build before exploding in the final ten overs? Something to think about as we near the toss.
Strap yourselves in (or drop me a line): this promises to be a beauty.
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