PUNE: India beat England by seven runs on Sunday to clinch the one-day series 2-1 despite a courageous unbeaten 95 from Sam Curran. England, who had already lost the Test and Twenty20 series, bowled out India for 329. Curran then equalled the biggest one-day innings by a batsman coming in at eight or lower but India held on to win.
Indian seamers Shardul Thakur and Bhuvneshwar Kumar shared seven wickets between them as England finished on 322 for nine. India were bowled out in 48.2 overs after Rishabh Pant (78) and Hardik Pandya (64) put on 99 for the fifth-wicket after being put into bat first.
England were in trouble at 200-7 when Curran came in and built key partnerships including a 60-run ninth-wicket stand with Mark Wood, who made 14 before being run out in the final over. Kumar admitted that his side were “tense” going into the finale.
But needing 14 to win off the final six balls, Curran came up against a disciplined effort from T. Natarajan who gave away just one boundary. The left-handed Curran, who was twice dropped, hit nine fours and three sixes in his 83-ball knock.
The effort was England’s second successive score of 300-plus after they chased 337 in the previous ODI to level the series. Virat Kohli’s India outplayed England in the four Tests 3-1 and then edged out the tourists 3-2 in the Twenty20 series.
==============================================Scoreboard==============================================India==============================================R. Sharma b Rashid 37S. Dhawan c and b Rashid 67V. Kohli b M. Ali 7R. Pant c Buttler b Curran 78KL Rahul c Moeen b Livingstone 7H. Pandya b Stokes 64K. Pandya c Roy b Wood 25S. Thakur c Buttler b Wood 30B. Kumar c Curran b Topley 3P. Krishna b Wood 0T. Natarajan not out 0----------------------------------------------Extras: (lb1, w10) 11----------------------------------------------Total: (48.2 overs, all out) 329----------------------------------------------
Fall of wickets: 1-103 (Sharma), 2-117 (Dhawan), 3-121 (Kohli), 4-157 (Rahul), 5-256 (Pant), 6-276 (H. Pandya), 7-321 (Thakur), 8-328 (K. Pandya), 9-329 (Krishna)
Bowling: Curran 5-0-43-1 (w4), Topley 9.2-0-66-1 (w1), Wood 7-1-34-3, Stokes 7-0-45-1 (w1), Rashid 10-0-81-2 (w4), Moeen 7-0-39-1, Livingstone 3-0-20-1
==============================================England (target 330)==============================================J. Roy b Kumar 14J. Bairstow lbw b Kumar 1B. Stokes c Dhawan b Natarajan 35D. Malan c Sharma b Thakur 50J. Buttler lbw b Thakur 15L. Livingstone c and b Thakur 36M. Ali c H. Pandya b Kumar 29S. Curran not out 95A. Rashid c Kohli b Thakur 19M. Wood run out (H. Pandya/Pant) 14R. Topley not out 1----------------------------------------------Extras: (lb1, w12) 13----------------------------------------------Total: (50 overs, 9 wkts) 322----------------------------------------------
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Roy), 2-28 (Bairstow), 3-68 (Stokes), 4-94 (Buttler), 5-155 (Livingstone), 6-168 (Malan), 7-200 (Moeen), 8-257 (Rashid), 9-317 (Wood)
Bowling: Kumar 10-0-42-3 (w3), Natarajan 10-0-73-1 (w7), Krishna 7-0-62-0, Thakur 10-0-67-4 (w1), H. Pandya 9-0-48-0, K. Pandya 4-0-29-0 (w1)
Toss: England
Result: India won by 7 runs
Series: India clinch the three-match series 2-1
Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (IND), Nitin Menon (IND)
TV umpire: Virender Sharma (IND)
Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND).