Pant, Hardik power India to ODI series win over England

TIL Desk Sports/ Rishabh Pant’s maiden ODI century and Hardik Pandya’s all-round heroics fired India to an emphatic five-wicket win over England in the series-deciding third match, in Manchester, on Sunday.

The visitors claimed the three-match rubber 2-1. After India were in a spot of bother at 72 for four in a chase of 260, the crack team of Pant (125 not out off 113 balls) and Hardik (71 off 55 and 4/24) engaged in a battle to outdo each other, as the tourists completed the task with 47 balls to spare.

Hardik grabbed a career-best 4/24 as a disciplined India bowled out England for 259 with more than four overs left in the innings. Skipper Jos Buttler top-scored for England with an 80-ball 60, but it was the flamboyant all-rounder from Gujarat, who dominated the first half of the match with his excellent bowling, sending out a warning to the opponents in the year of the T20 World Cup. In the company of Hardik, Pant then showed his extraordinary skills with the bat as he smashed 16 fours and two sixes in his sublime knock at Old Trafford.