23 January,2017 06:53 AM IST | | Arup Chatterjee
England's Jason top scores with 65 in side's total of 321 before Chris Woakes' last over seals five-run win for visitors in dead rubber of 3-match ODI series
England players celebrate the wicket of India skipper Kohli in Kolkata. Pic/AP/PTI
Kolkata: England pulled one back to earn the respectability of a 2-1 scoreline in a series they had lost three days ago in Cuttack. Yesterday's five-run victory at the Eden Gardens came only after India threatened to deny them again.
Having put up 321 for 8 in their 50 overs, the visitors had silenced most of the big guns in an ominous batting line-up before Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav brought second wind to the chase. A rollicking sixth-wicket partnership, that would fetch 104 runs from just 83 deliveries, was a push that brought them to the threshold of a clean sweep of the ODI series.
Jason Roy plays a cover drive. Pic/AP/PTI
Stokes does most damage
Once Pandya was bowled by Ben Stokes in the 46th over, for a career-best 56 that came off 43 deliveries, Jadhav kept dreams alive. Needing 16 in the last over, Jadhav hit Chris Woakes' first two deliveries deliveries for a six and a four to bring the crowd on their feet. Two dot balls later, he was gone for a 75-ball 90 that had 12 boundaries and a six. It was the death knell for India.
India had won a good toss, the early life in the wicket having the bowlers loom large and, later, avoiding the discomfort of bowling with a wet ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, finding both movement off the pitch and bounce, set the tone with a miserly first over and Pandya did one better with a maiden in the next. Pandya would go on to grab three wickets in his 10 at less than five-an-over.
England's form-man Jason Roy, batting with a new partner in Sam Billings, took the initiative to break free and ensure the power-play didn't go abegging. Ravindra Jadeja removed them in quick succession and it was rebuilding time for the visitors. Jonathan Bairstow and skipper Eoin Morgan put the boat back on even keel with a before a seven-wicket partnership of 73 at nearly 11 runs-an-over between Ben Stokes and Woakes.
No luck for Jinx
England then did what they needed - early wickets. Ajinkya Rahane, playing his first match of the series, and KL Rahul didn't last long. Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni presented a daunting prospect before Kohli, having got to another fifty, perished chasing one outside off as he tried to push the run-rate. Yuvraj Singh survived a close scrutiny from Jake Ball, including a painful thud into his ribcage when on three. He left for 45. When Dhoni too left in the 32nd over with the target still 150 runs away, it looked like England would get their win at last. Pandya and Jadhav managed to make them sweat for it.
