India ended their tour of England on a high as they clinched the series-decider on Sunday (July 17) by five wickets at Old Trafford in Manchester to win the ODI series 2-1. India had earlier won the T20I series by the same margin.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and inserted England into bat despite sides batting first winning 8 of the previous 9 games at the venue. His decision was vindicated by the bowlers, despite the absence of Jasprit Bumrah due to a back spasm, as the hosts were bowled out for 259 in the 46th over, which was below par for a very good batting surface.
England captain Jos Buttler top scored with 60, while opener Jason Roy made 41 as Hardik Pandya with his ODI career-best of 4/24 and Yuzvendra Chahal (3/60) delivered crucial blows for the visitors after Mohammed Siraj sent Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root packing for ducks.
However, India did not get a good start with the bat as Rohit Sharma (17), Shikhar Dhawan (1), Virat Kohli (17) and Suryakumar Yadav (16) fell cheaply to leave the side tottering at 72/4 in the 17th over. Reece Topley was again in the wickets as he took the top three of the Indian batting line-up.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was joined by Hardik Pandya at the crease and the duo added a match-winning partnership of 133 runs to all but seal the deal before the latter was dismissed for 71. Pant, went on to score his maiden ODI hundred and remained unbeaten on 125 with Ravindra Jadeja (7*) providing valuable support as India won the match with 47 balls to spare.
Pant won the Player-of-the-Match award and Hardik was named the Player-of-the-Series for their outstanding performances.
After the match, Pant was seen walking over to former head coach Ravi Shastri who was part of the commentary team and handed him a bottle of champagne which he had won after being named the Player-of-the-Match. Shastri was only happy to accept the gift as the Indian fans at the venue enjoyed the heartening moment.
Here's a clip shared by one of the fans at Old Trafford:
