In the India VS England match, England crushed India by 6 wickets in the second ODI to level the 3-match series 1-1. The opening pair of the England cricket team seemed to be in their best of forms and smashed Indian bowlers all across the ground to chase down a surmountable target of 337 runs comfortably. The visitors kept the series alive by achieving their target in the 44th overs with 6 wickets in hand. Here’s all that transpired in the 3rd India VS England ODI.

Team India inning highlight

England stand-in captain Jos Buttler elected to bowl first having won the crucial toss. The Indian team got off to a slippery start losing Shikhar Dhawan in the 4th over and Rohit Sharma in the 9th over. The hosts were whimpering for 37 for 2 when Captain Kohli came to the middle to steady the ship. Slowly but surely, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul got the Indian team back on the track and added 121 runs for the 3rd wicket partnership. Just when it looked like the Indian captain will be scoring his half century into ton, Adil Rashid once again trapped him and ended his 79-run inning. With Kohli’s wicket, his dry spell of century continues as he has not scored a one-day century since 2019.

Meanwhile, another 100+ partnership was stitched by KL Rahul and Rishabh ‘Spiderman’ Pant. The middle-order batsmen added quickfire 133 runs on the board in just 77 balls before KL Rahul was sent to the pavilion by Curran. KL Rahul scored a much needed 108 runs before being departed off 114 deliveries. Although it may seem that his strike rate was the reason India couldn’t add more runs to the board, one must remember that he was responsible to steady the rocky Indian ship.

Meanwhile, Indian gloveman Rishabh Pant started his assault on English bowlers and hit a 28-ball half century. Although he could have been sent to the dressing room, the short-heighted wicket-keeper took DRS on two occasions and stayed put on the crease. He scored 77 runs in his 40-ball innings and hit 3 fours and 7-huge sixes.

The left-handed batsman helped his team to race over the 300-run mark before Curran sent him packing. By the end of the innings, the Pandya brothers did their job and put India in a dominating position with 337 runs on the board.

Team England inning highlight

With a challenging total of 337 runs on board, England needed a great start without losing many wickets like their opponent in this game, which is exactly what happened. Just like the previous ODI, England opening pair Jason Roy and Johnny Bairstow initiated the assault on Indian bowlers. While Jason Roy played the aggressor, Bairstow gave him the much-needed support on the other hand. The England team finished its powerplay at 60 runs without the loss of any wicket.

The opening duo added another 50 runs in the next 6 overs and looked to be in the fine form. When all the efforts from the bowlers failed, it was Rohit Sharma’s fantastic fielding effort that brought India back to the game. Roy, who looked to be in quite a form having scored 55 runs, was runout thanks to Rohit Sharma’s fielding effort.

Unfortunately for the Indian team fans though, the England team continued decimating Indian bowling attack and it was the turn of Ben Stokes to launch an attack on the Indian bowlers. Both Stokes and Bairstow punished Indian bowlers, while reaching close to their respective centuries. Bairstow, who was unlucky in the last ODI, having missed his ton by 6 runs, completed his century in just 95 deliveries. Ben Stokes too looked like he would be taking his team to the victory singlehandedly scored 99 runs in just 52 deliveries. Stokes was the English equivalent of Rishabh Pant, hitting only 4-fours but 10 huge sixes in his inning. He looked especially ruthless against Krunal Pandya, scoring as much as 34 runs off the bowler in just 1 over.

The innings of both the batsmen were free of turbulence barring a couple of incidents. Bairstow could have been sent to back to the pavilion had he not survived a caught-and-bowl delivery against pacer Shardul Thakur. A true opportunist, Bairstow thanked his luck and hit a six on Kuldeep Yadav’s delivery and brought his century in style.

Just when it looked like India will completely be ousted from the game, young Prasidh Krishna took the wickets of Bairstow and Jos Buttler in just one over and showed Indian fans some glimmer of hope.

However, before Indian team could capitalize on the wickets, Livingstone and Malan came to the middle and did not give Indians any chance to steal the victory. By the end, Livingstone and Malan stitched together a 50-run-partnership and took their team across the finish line.

India VS England 3rd ODI Twitter reaction