Manchester: Indian bowlers had a great day as fantastic bowling spells from Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal restricted England to just 259 in 45.5 overs in the third and final ODI of the series here at Manchester on Sunday, though solid knocks from came from the willow of Jos Buttler, Jason Roy and Moeen Ali.
England had two good partnerships, with one being a 66-run stand between Jason Roy (41) and Ben Stokes (27) and a 75-run stand between Moeen Ali (34) and Jos Buttler (60). Otherwise, Indians took wickets at regular intervals and did not really allow the English batters to go all out on them. Hardik Pandya finished with a fantastic spell of 4/24.
Put to bat first by India, England was off to a horrific start. Pacer Mohammed Siraj sent packing both Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root back to the pavilion for a duck in the second over within a span of four balls. England was two down at 12 runs. Shreyas Iyer caught Bairstow at mid-off while skipper Rohit Sharma caught Root at slips.
This brought Ben Stokes to the crease. The duo started scoring some runs for England with some delightful boundaries. The duo crossed the 50-run partnership mark in the ninth over of the match. Shortly, Roy was dismissed by Hardik Pandya for 41 off 31 balls after the ball hit the top edge of his bat and landed in hands of wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. England was 66/3 at this stage. At the end of 1st powerplay in ten overs, England was at 66/3, with Jos Buttler (0*) and Stokes (24*).
India did some tight bowling for the next few overs, making pressure on England without conceding heavy runs. Ben Stokes was the next wicket in the 14th over as he was caught and bowled by Pandya for 27 off 29 balls. All-rounder Moeen Ali was next up on the crease. England was 74/4 and needed a partnership. The duo of Buttler and Ali did just that. They both got settled by focussing on strike rotation first. At the end of 20 overs, England was at 91/4, with Buttler (14*) and Moeen Ali (5*).
