Pant, Pandya Power India

Rishabh’s Maiden ODI Ton, Hardik’s All-Round Show Help Visitors Clinch Third One-Dayer And The Series 2-1

- Gaurav Gupta

It’s a win which will be cherished by Team India fans for ages. It’s a century which will be celebrated for years to come. It’s a partnership which will be rated amongst the best in Indian ODI cricket history.

Rishabh Pant ended India’s 2022 England tour like he began. Except that while his 146 & 57 failed to prevent India from defeat in the fifth Test at Edgbaston, the 24-year-old’s brilliant, unfinished 125 (113b, 16x4, 2x6), along with Hardik Pandya’s outstanding all-round show (71, 55b, 10x4, and 4-24 in seven overs) helped the Men-in-Blue pull off a heist, as they beat England by five wickets, with 47 balls to spare, in the third and deciding ODI at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday.

Pant and Pandya’s magic enabled India to win the ODI series 2-1, which meant that after losing the Test, they bounced back superbly to beat England in the white ball leg of the tour-having won the T20Is 2-1 too. India’s fabulous win on Sunday ended their horror run against England in ODIs at Old Trafford in Manchester – this is now their first win over the hosts here since the 1983 World Cup semifinal.

Few would have given India a chance when they suffered another top-order collapse and slipped to 38 for three in the ninth over as Shikhar Dhawan (1), skipper Rohit Sharma (17) and the terribly out-of-form Virat Kohli (17) all succumbed to England left-arm pacer Recce Topley. While Dhawan sliced the ball to point, Rohit edged Topley to first slip, and Kohli rounded off a career-threatening tour for him by nicking behind a typical left-arm seamer’s ball angled across him.