Sam Curran’s sparkling knock of 95 went in vain as India defeated England by 7 runs in the third and the final one day international on Sunday.
The hosts included pacer T.Natarajan in place of Kuldeep Yadav, while for the visitors Mark Wood came in place of Tom Curran.
After being sent in by England stand in skipper Jos Buttler, the openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma got their team off to a fantastic start by adding 103 runs for the opening stand.
Both the openers were dismissed by Rashid for 37 & 67 respectively. Indian skipper Virat Kohli and KL Rahul also departed cheaply leaving the home side in a spot of bother at 157/4.
Rishabh Pant along with Hardik Pandya brought the innings back on track with a valuable 99 run stand for the fifth wicket before the former fell to a brilliant one handed catch by Buttler off Sam Curran for 78.
Hardik scored a 44 ball 64, before being bowled by Ben Stokes. Shardul Thakur smashed three sixes in his knock of 30 before he fell to Mark Wood. The CSK pacer’s dismissal triggered a collapse of sorts as India failed to play their full quota of 50 overs and were bowled out for 329 in 48.2 overs.
Wood was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors with figures of 3/34.
Chasing 330, England lost both Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow to Bhuvneshwar Kumar cheaply. The pair of Ben Stokes and Dawid Malan put on 40 runs for the third wicket. The former despite getting a reprieve from Hardik Pandya early on in his innings, failed to make it count and fell for 35 runs after he hit a full-toss from Natarajan straight into the hands of Shikhar Dhawan at square leg.
Buttler’s poor run with the bat continued as he was trapped leg before wicket by Thakur.
Malan and Liam Livingstone kept England in the contest with a fighting 60 run stand for the fifth wicket before the latter was caught and bowled by Thakur for a well made 36.
The 33 year old Malan reached his maiden fifty, but perished as he mistimed an attempted pull to Rohit Sharma at short midwicket.
Kumar claimed his third wicket by dismissing Moeen Ali caught at mid off by Hardik for 29. Sam Curran along with Adil Rashid kept the home side at bay with a superb 57 run stand for the eight wicket. The latter eventually fell to a brilliant one handed catch at cover by Kohli.
With 14 required off the final over, Mark Wood was run out by a superb piece of fielding by Hardik Pandya at long on. Natarajan held his nerve and conceded just one boundary as the hosts won by 7 runs. The death bowling ability of both Natarajan and Bhuvi is one of the main reasons why their IPL team (SRH) are favourites in the eyes of many to make the playoffs.
The left-handed Curran, who was dropped twice scored an unbeaten 95 off 83 balls. His knock comprised of nine fours and three sixes.
Curran was declared the Man of the Match while Jonny Bairstow won the Player of the series award.