India vs England, 3rd ODI: A souvenir win for tourists, India fail to notch up clean sweep
Kedar Jadhav plays a shot during his knock of 90 runs off 75 balls at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. PTI Kedar Jadhav plays a shot during his knock of 90 runs off 75 balls at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. PTI
When Ben Stokes removed Virat Kohli in the 20th over during India’s chase, Jake Ball must have heaved the biggest sigh of relief. Seven overs previously, he had dropped a sitter at long leg off Liam Plunkett, when the India captain was on 35. The hosts were 61 for two, chasing 322 at a packed Eden Gardens. Kohli reached his half century, completed 1,000 ODI runs as captain (17 innings) and was looking good for another big knock. Ball had enough reasons to repent.
Stokes intervened. He tempted Kohli to play an expansive drive outside off. Just that he extracted some extra bounce to induce the outside edge. Buttler jumped behind the stumps and took the catch almost head high. It put Ball out of his misery and evened things out for Stokes. At the venue of his World T20 heartbreak last year, the England allrounder celebrated and gave Kohli a cheeky send-off.
Stokes made a serious impact as a bowler after changing the game as a batsman with his 39-ball 57 not out. But we would come to that later.
An Indian team of earlier vintage would have succumbed tamely after Kohli’s dismissal. But this side has a never-say-die attitude. Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni, the heroes of Barabati, didn’t flourish here. But Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya threw down the gauntlet to the opposition.
Jadhav’s batting at Eden provided ample evidence that his match-winning hundred in the series-opener in Pune was no fluke. Pune was his home turf, the pitch was like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the boundary ropes had been dragged in. The Eden surface was more akin to Old Trafford or The Oval, bounce-wise. The green tinge helped seam movement all through. Jadhav had Kohli to mother-hen him in the middle in Pune. Here, he was the senior partner in a sixth-wicket stand with Pandya.
The 31-year-old, in his 15th ODI, embraced the responsibility. There was nothing gung-ho about his batting today. He played five dot balls to start with before taking a single to open his account. Jadhav had set his sights on Moeen Ali and little wonder then that his first attacking shots came against the England off-spinner – consecutive boundaries.
Ball came, his tail up after removing Dhoni, and dug another one short. Jadhav pivoted on his back foot and pulled it to the fine leg fence. It was batting of the highest control, picking the right deliveries to hit with unerring accuracy.
Jadhav-Pandya tag-team
Jadhav also brilliantly handled Chris Woakes, England’s best limited-overs bowler, in his second spell. He laid into him at the slightest opportunity, hitting back-to-back fours. Pandya was more aggressive at the other end, ensuring that the required run rate wasn’t going beyond reach.
The Baroda batsman, too, played some scintillating shots. The six off Plunkett that took him to his maiden ODI fifty represented brute force. With Jadhav, he added 104 runs for the sixth wicket in 13.5 overs to get the Indian chase back on track. From the hosts’ point of view, however, Jadhav was the more important batsman because of his versatility.
Pandya left and Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin followed. The equation came down to 23 off 12. Jadhav failed to connect the first two balls of the penultimate over. The third ball from Ball took the bottom edge and went to the fine-leg boundary. Another dot ball followed and then a couple and a single.
Stokes had completed his quota. Once bitten, Eoin Morgan chose to be shy. Woakes had the final over, 16 runs to defend. England had failed to defend 19 in the World T20 final last year. Jadhav cleared the extra cover boundary first ball and then hit a four through the covers. But Woakes came back superbly, didn’t concede another run in his next four balls and dismissed Jadhav. England had the rub of the green this time and Stokes, particularly, would be pleased.
India shouldn’t be disappointed either, the five-run defeat notwithstanding. On the night, when Dhoni was felicitated by the Cricket Association of Bengal for his career and captaincy, India got a batsman in Jadhav who showed the potential to fill the great man’s shoes as a death-overs marauder.
“As captain, he is one of my biggest positives from the series,” Kohli said after Jadhav’s 75-ball 90. The Man of the Series award was richly deserved.
Earlier, Kohli won the toss and sent England in. Jason Roy made a hat-trick of half centuries in the series before perishing to Ravindra Jadeja yet again – third time on the bounce. Sam Billings’ scalp that came before Roy was Jadeja’s 150th in ODIs. Jonny Bairstow, in for Joe Root, played a good hand, although he rode his luck. But soft dismissals were pegging England back.
Stokes took up the cudgels, hit five gorgeous fours and a six, and together with Woakes (34 off 19) took his team to a match-winning total. They added 73 runs for the seventh wicket. England collected 58 from their last five overs.
India’s opening was once again sloppy. Ajinkya Rahane got a game but was unlucky to get a very good ball from David Willey upfront. It moved late and castled him. KL Rahul never looked at his best and was bounced out. Yuvraj showed grit and put on 65 runs with Kohli for the third wicket. Both, however, got out at the wrong time.
Maybe, destiny had set the script for England’s first ever ODI win at Eden Gardens with Stokes as its chief protagonist with a half century and three wickets. He walked away with the Man of the Match award. This game, indeed, is a great leveller.
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