England crashed to a fourth successive ODI series loss after Rohit Sharma’s terrific 119 off 90 balls lifted India to a four-wicket win in Cuttack.
Rohit shrugged off a poor run of form that had seen him average 10.37 in his last 16 innings across formats to belt 12 fours and 7 sixes as India overhauled a goal of 305 with 33 balls to spare.
The India captain cashing in once he got in was a lesson to England, whose top six made scores between 26 and 69 but struggled against spin, with Ravindra Jadeja outstanding again in recording 10-1-35-3.
This was an improved batting display from Thursday’s defeat in Nagpur, with Ben Duckett getting England off to a flyer, bludgeoning 10 fours in his 65, and Joe Root making a typically busy 69, before the tourists collapsed from 248 for 4 within the forty third over to 304 all out with one ball unused.
Match Motion
India’s spinners took a combined 4 for 121 in 26 overs, compared with three for 181 from 24 off the pacers, before Rohit and Shubman Gill (60) placed on 136 in 16.4 overs.
Even a delay of around 40 minutes because of a malfunction in one among the eight floodlights within the Barabati Stadium couldn’t halt Rohit as India moved into an unassailable 2-0 lead within the three-match series.
Rohit feasted on a four-pronged pace attack who offered minimal variation in lengths or pace, with England resting Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse, while Jacob Bethell was injured, as they slipped to a fifteenth defeat of their last 22 ODIs despite winning the toss and making one other vivid start.
Duckett was initially streaky with fours off each edges but found rhythm together with his usual cuts and pulls to dominate an 81-run stand with Phil Salt, who contributed 26 then skied ODI debutant Varun Chakravarthy to Jadeja.
Duckett then undid his good work when he picked out long-on as Jadeja struck in his opening over.
England’s Batting
India burned each their reviews on Root, in between which they didn’t query an lbw decision when the Yorkshireman missed a sweep off Axar Patel on 16. Had they done so, Root would have been on his way.
The previous Test skipper shared stands of 66 with Harry Brook and 51 alongside Jos Buttler, finding the rope just six times but anchoring the center overs as he did so well between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.
Brook struggled to rotate the strike against India’s spinners and Jadeja especially, eventually perishing for 31 following an excellent running over-the-shoulder catch from Shubman Gill, who held on to a low probability when Buttler didn’t get the elevation off Hardik Pandya to depart for 34.
England’s innings unravelled after Root’s flighted cover drive ballooned gently to Virat Kohli off Jadeja, who finished by snaring Jamie Overton as Gill took a towering catch.
Liam Livingstone made sure the wheels didn’t come off, muscling Harshit Rana for a few sixes in his 32-ball 41 before being run out as England lost their last six wickets for 56 runs.
India’s Innings
India, though, flew out of the gates and Rohit took centre stage, with Saqib Mahmood, twice, and Gus Atkinson, once, taken the gap before a floodlight failure led to the players briefly going off.
The delay may need disrupted Rohit, who bludgeoned Mark Wood high over long-on for six having survived an lbw review the ball before, with the not-out decision upheld despite the delivery clipping the stumps.
Even Adil Rashid’s introduction within the powerplay didn’t stem the boundaries, swept and cut for fours as Rohit reached a 30-ball fifty, and the leg-spinner was slog-swept for six by Gill in his next over.
Gill had been within the shadow of Rohit but brought up a 45-ball fifty shortly after two lofted cover drives for 4 off Rashid before his off-stump was uprooted on 60 by Overton’s superb yorker.
Kohli lasted eight deliveries before nibbling at Rashid, the not-out decision overturned on review to pin-drop silence.
The group were celebrating again when Rohit danced right down to Rashid and planted him over long-off for his seventh six and a 76-ball hundred, although the opener was dismissed with 85 needed when he toe-ended a Livingstone full toss to midwicket.
As in Nagpur, India stumbled fairly than steamed to victory, Shreyas Iyer chipping in with 44 and Axar surviving a run-out probability on six when Salt failed to assemble cleanly to make 41 not out.
But a dramatic finale never appeared to be within the offing and England now head to Ahmedabad for his or her final outing before the Champions Trophy in Pakistan this month.
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