India beat England by 7 runs in 3rd ODI to clinch series 2-1
Pune: India held their nerve in face of Sam Curran's resolve to beat England by seven runs in a dramatic third and final ODI to clinch the series 2-1 here on Sunday.
Put in to bat, India were all out for 329 in 48.2 overs with Shikhar Dhawan (67), Rishabh Pant (78) and Hardik Pandya (64) hitting half centuries.
Curran (95 not out off 83 balls) India single-handedly kept England in the hunt as he shepherded number 10 Mark Wood (14) for a 60-run stand for the ninth wicket but in the end could not score 13 runs needed in the final over.
England ended at 322 for 9 in 50 overs.
India dropped at least four catches, including that of Curran, at crucial junctures as they were kept frustrated till the end.
The Indian innings was built on two big partnerships -- 103 for the opening wicket between Rohit Sharma (37) and Dhawan and 99 for the fifth wicket between Pant and Pandya.
Pant's sparkling knock came off 62 balls while Pandya needed 44 for his blistering innings but India lost their last four wickets for a mere eight runs.
Pant, during his career-best knock, plundered four maximums and five boundaries, while pandya smashed five fours and four sixes.
For England, Mark Wood was the most successful bowler with figures of 3 for 34 while Adil Rashid took two wickets.
Chasing the target, England lost wickets at regular intervals and could not stitch any substantial partnership on a flat pitch before Curran's heroic effort.
Shardul Thakur returned with figures of 4/67 while Bhuvneshwar Kumar got three. India had won the preceding four-match Test series 3-1 and the five-match T20 International contest 3-2.
Brief Scores:
India: 329 all out in 48.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 78, Shikhar Dhawan 67, Hardik Pandya 64; Mark Wood 3/34).
England: 322 for 9 in 50 overs (Sam Curran 95 not out; Shardul Thakur 4/67, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/42).
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
