England coasts to ODI series win over India behind Joe Root’s century

Billings will be available for Kent’s match with Surrey at The Spitfire Ground on Friday as this is the last white-ball match before the five-match Test series with India begins.

Now, with the series tied 1-1, Indian team would be looking forward to win its second consecutive ODI series in England when they take on the hosts in the final ODI.

WICKET! Adil Rashid is on a roll here, as he just dismisses Suresh Raina for one run. “Yes you will get an idea of what the bowler bowls by seeing videos but if you get help from wicket, it’s hard”.

New medium-pacer Shardul Thakur took the only bowler’s wicket, taking out Jonny Bairstow in the fifth over after a rapid 30.

Following an uncharacteristically slow 59-ball 37 in the second ODI at Lord’s, where he was jeered by Indian fans, MS Dhoni must be under some pressure going into the deciding ODI here tomorrow. The Delhi batsman played 27 balls and scored 40 runs, which includes eight boundaries. But by the time the spinners got into the attack, England had reached 74/1 in nine overs. Kohli’s also pushed his cover fielder to the fence and brought his third man up, in anticipation of more half-trackers.

But by then England were 2-74 inside 10 overs, well above the required run-rate. In the last two seasons, the trio have scored almost 60 percent of India’s ODI runs and became a cornerstone to the team’s repeated successes in this format.

India made light work of the chase as Rohit Sharma (137 not out) and Virat Kohli (75) eased the visitors past England’s total with nearly 10 overs to spare.

India, made to bat first, failed to fire. “However, it also provides us an opportunity to test our bench strength ahead of the World Cup”, Bangar said. Yuzvendra Chahal controlled the run flow, but that was purely because Morgan and Root didn’t need to try anything extravagant – no reverse sweeps, no flick shots against the turn to wiggle out of trouble and score briskly.

WICKET! David Willey removes Rohit Sharma for just two runs as Mark Wood takes a catch at deep square leg. This underlines India’s dependence on Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Shikhar Dhawan struck three fours in as many balls of Plunkett as the bowler’s first two overs cost an expensive 21 runs.

In the end, Kohli’s dismissal meant India only set a target of 257 – and Joe Root calmly scored a hundred to drive England home. If you’re turning the ball in England and they aren’t able to understand… there is not even a hand in bowling machine. With Joe Root back among runs and the remaining batsmen negotiating wrist spin to a greater degree, their only concern is the patchy form of all-rounder Ben Stokes.

Leg-spinner Rashid grabbed the prize scalp of Kohli who fell to a beauty that pitched on leg and clipped the top of off stump, leaving the prolific right-hander wide-eyed in disbelief.