India all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya proved to be the stand-out performers in the ongoing third ODI against England being played at the Old Trafford ground in Manchester on July 17, 2022.
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl first with Mohammed Siraj coming in for injured Jasprit Bumrah. England came into this deciding tie unchanged.
Siraj proved to be a triggering factor as in the second over of the England innings, he dismissed Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root for ducks.
After a short partnership between Jason Roy (41) and Ben Stokes (27), Hardik Pandya got into action, removing both the batters with terrific short balls, leaving England 74/4.
Then Moeen Ali (34) and captain Jos Buttler (60) added 75 crucial runs for the 5th wicket, but then Sir Jadeja wielded his magic wand.
He first had Moeen caught behind by Pant to break the crucial partnership and then combined with Hardik Pandya to get rid of dangerous Buttler and Livingstone.
The duo of Buttler and Livingstone had added 49 runs together before Livingstone tried to pull Hardik Pandya’s wide bouncer towards the mid-wicket boundary for a six. But he managed to find Ravindra Jadeja there, who took an excellent catch while leaping in the air and maintaining his balance to remain inside the boundary ropes.
Here is Jadeja’s catch of Livingstone:
A couple of deliveries later, Buttler, who had been already rattled twice by Mohammed Siraj on the head, tried to hit Hardik Pandya's bouncer in the mid-wicket region. Jadeja sprinted towards the ball and took the catch in both hands, sliding down on the surface to come up with an excellent catch.
Here is how Jadeja’s catch got Buttler out:
After these two wickets, England failed to recover and were bowled out for 259 runs in 45.5 overs with Craig Overton contributing 32 runs.
For India, Hardik Pandya picked his ODI career-best figures of 4/24, while Chahal took 3/60, and Siraj got two wickets as well.
