India overcome Sam Curran 95* in nerve-racking series win

In a game where the pendulum oscillated to and fro, India just about held their nerve to seal a humdinger against England in the third and final ODI in Pune. Sam Curran essayed a valiant, unbeaten hand of 95 but the visitors fell short by a mere seven runs to lose the series 1-2.

With England struggling at 200 for 7, India were clearly in the ascendancy. However, on a very good batting surface, where the bounce remained mostly true through the course of the match, Curran gave England renewed hope of pulling off a heist. He collected a string of boundaries off Hardik Pandya, Prasidh Krishna and T Natarajan to put some pressure back on the Indian team. He also found an able ally in Adil Rashid who also cracked a couple of boundaries to ensure the required run-rate would remain under seven. India didn't help their cause with Hardik grassing his second chance of the game. Curran was the batsman who had the close shave.

At that juncture, in the 40th over, Virat Kohli plucked a stunning catch at short cover to send Rashid back to the hut. Mark Wood, batting at No.10, then gave Curran company as England whittled away at the target. With a lower order batsman at the other end, Curran farmed the strike quite well and even landed the big hit, thumping Natarajan over long-on for a six in the 44th over. He then proceeded to club Thakur for two boundaries and a six in the 47th over to bring the equation down to 23 off three overs.

Virat Kohli turned to his main man, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled a tight over to keep the pressure on England. He also won an LBW appeal against Wood but the Durham fast bowler got it reversed via the review. The next over bowled by Hardik had its share of errors with Shardul Thakur and Natarjan dropping a catch each. After every catch was dropped, Kohli's expressions were enough to indicate that India were under the pump. Eventually, the equation came down to 14 off one over. Wood was run out off the first ball as he attempted to pinch the second run. Curran then couldn't clear the boundary rope as England slipped to a gut-wrenching defeat, with Thakur and Bhuvneshwar finishing the match with seven wickets between them.

For large parts of the innings, India had controlled the game. Bhuvneshwar found a hint of movement in the air and off the deck to send the dangerous opening duo of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy back to the pavilion. Ben Stokes, who was given a reprieve, played a flurry of shots before losing his wicket to a full toss from Natarajan. Buttler couldn't make much of an impression. Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone tried to prop up the innings with an alliance of 60. However, England were pegged further with Thakur dismissing both the set batters. Bhuvneshwar followed it up by prising Moeen Ali out. At that stage, India would have felt they were inching closer to a series win, but Curran made them work hard to eke out a tense win.

Earlier, Hardik, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant had composed breezy fifties to power the home side to a sizeable score. After India were once again inserted into bat, the opening duo of Dhawan and Rohit Sharma played with positive intent. The hosts reached the 100-run mark in just the 14th over. However, against the run of play, Rohit couldn't read the googly from Adil Rashid and was castled. Dhawan then chipped one back to Rashid and got out to a soft dismissal. To make matters worse, Moeen Ali cleaned up Kohli, who was looking to force the ball against the turn, for just 7 to leave India three down.

With India in a spot of bother, Pant once again took the centrestage, landing hefty blows. Despite losing his batting partner, KL Rahul, Pant continued to play with freedom and found an able ally in Pandya. The duo stitched a vital partnership of 99 in just over 11 overs to give the required impetus. Pant's bombastic knock included his trademark one-handed six off Liam Livingstone. On the other hand, Pandya collected three sixes in a single over bowled by Moeen.

At 256 for 4, in the 36th over, it seemed as India could even target 400. Just that Curran gave the tourists a lifeline by removing Pant, with Jos Buttler pouching a stunning catch. Pandya's quick-fire innings was ended by Stokes. Shardul then took the responsibility by crunching three sixes, including a pulled six off Wood. Wood, though, ran through the lower order as India were bundled out without playing their full quota of 50 overs, and losing their last four wickets for just 8 runs.

Brief Scores: India 329 in 48.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 78, Shikhar Dhawan 67; Mark Wood 3-34) beat England 322/9 in 50 overs (Sam Curran 95*; Shardul Thakur 4-67, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-42) by seven runs