Twitter Reactions: India deny spirited Sam Curran in the last over thriller to win the ODI series

Sam Curran's unbeaten 95-run knock went in vain in the end.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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4 Min Read

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India. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Wow! The decider of the series between India and England had it all. Drama, Dropped catches, 22-year-old helping his team make a comeback, and a last-over thriller! It took the penultimate delivery of the series to decide the winner between the top two ODI sides and the credit of it has to go to Sam Curran who never gave up during his unbeaten 95-run knock and gave India a run for their money.

Earlier, after being invited to bat first, India got off to a very good start courtesy of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. There was urgency in their approach after the way the visitors batted in the last game and particularly, the latter took the aggressive route as they notched up yet another century partnership for the opening wicket. But just when Rohit was opening up, he failed to read the googly from Adil Rashid and ended up losing his stumps.

However, England hit back again with back-to-back wickets dismissing Dhawan, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Dhawan scored a very good half-century before being hitting one straight back to Rashid. Moeen Ali turned one drastically to castle the Indian skipper while Rahul got out off a harmless full-toss.

From 103/0, India were reeling at 157/4 and this is where Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya got together. The duo displayed some fearless batting catching England by surprise. Their approach made sure that India kept up with the run-rate the openers started with. Pant played some outrageous shots while Hardik showed off his amazing power during the 99-run stand.

Unfortunately, both of them got out after getting to their respective half-centuries. India lost wickets at the wrong time throughout their innings and they could never accelerate. Though Shardul Thakur added valuable 30 runs with three sixes while Krunal Pandya crawled his way 25. By 45.5 overs, the hosts were 321/6 and this is where they lost Thakur which triggered another collapse.

India lost their last four wickets for just 8 runs to get bundled out for 329 runs in the 49th over. Mark Wood was the most successful bowler for the visitors returning with the figures of 3/34 in his 7 overs.

Sam Curran’s knock makes it a thrilling game

Having restricted India to 329, England camp must have been upbeat given they chased down 337 with utter ease in the last game. Jason Roy also started in the same fashion smacking 14 runs off the first five balls off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. But the experienced pacer came back with a stunning inswinger to disturb Roy’s timber. In his next over, Bhuvi pinned Jonny Bairstow in front of the stumps to leave England reeling at 28/2.

Ben Stokes would’ve also gone back to the hut in the fifth over if not for Hardik Pandya who dropped an absolute sitter. The southpaw went on to score 35 runs before being holed out to deep mid-wicket off a full toss facing T Natarajan. Jos Buttler’s poor run in the series continued then as the tourists were left struggling at 95/4 in the 16th over.

A 59-run stand between Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone then kept England in the hunt. But that wasn’t enough as they lost wickets at regular intervals since then. In the 31st over, England were 200/7 and many felt the end is nigh for them. But it wasn’t to be. Sam Curran kept the fight going for his team and he got some excellent support from Adil Rashid first and then Mark Wood.

Curran reached his half-century and going into the final four overs, kept England in the hunt with 40 runs needed for victory. The southpaw took the attack to Thakur churning out a whopping 17 runs in the 47th over to bring the equation down to 23 off the last three overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered a perfect 48th over conceding only four runs and it was all drama as Mark Wood got the lbw call overturned.

Well, more drama followed in the 49th over bowled by Hardik. India dropped both Wood and Curran sensationally as the equation came down to 14 off the last over. England had Sam Curran on strike but the outcome on the first ball off the last over was worse for them. Curran slipped while returning for the second run and it led to Wood getting run-out.

Natarajan landed his deliveries in the right areas for the rest of the over as India clinched the series winning the game by just 7 runs.

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