Top three England vs India ODI of the current decade
After an intriguing IT20 series, England and India are set to resume their ODI bilateral ties with a 3-match series due to start on July 12th at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
During the course of this decade, England and India have been in involved in five bilateral series. While the hosts won (3-0) at home in 2011, the Men in Blue won the remaining four occasions including a 5-0 whitewash at home in 2011 and a 3-1 win in England last time (2014) around.
As we look ahead to what is expected a riveting series given England's revival in white-ball cricket post-2015 World Cup, let us go down memory lane and relive three of the finest ODIs played by these two sides since 2010.
Also Read:- Top 4 ODI teams since 2015
Here's my compilation:-
#3 India vs England, 3rd ODI, England tour of India, 2016-17
Venue:- Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date:- 22 January 2017
The series had already been lost by England, having lost the first two games, but poms came out all guns blazing at the Eden Gardens.
England batted first and thanks to steady top-order contributions spearheaded by Jason Roy (65) and a late-order blitz by Ben Stokes (57 off 39 balls) posted a competitive 8-321 in 50 overs. Chasing 322, India lost KL Rahul (11) and Rahane (1) cheaply. Kohli (55), Dhoni (25) and Yuvraj Singh (45) failed to capitalize on the starts and suddenly India was reeling at 5-173 after 31.4 overs.
But it was the series that saw the making of Kedar Jadhav. After scoring a match-winning hundred in the first ODI which saw India chase down 350, Jadhav was at it again at the Eden Gardens. With Pandya (56), he stitched a crucial 104-run partnership, before Stokes with an incisive inswinging length beat Pandya's ambitious shot across the line.
Jadeja followed suit in the next over after hitting Woakes fullish length balls for two boundaries before Jadhav slaughtered him straight down the ground to bring the equation down to 27 off the finals three.
Skipper Morgan turned to Stokes for the 48th over, and the All-rounder whose death-bowling skills went for a toss at the same venue in the World T20 Final, responded by giving away just four runs. With 23 required off the last two, Ball gave away just seven in the penultimate over to leave Woakes with 16 to defend off the last six balls. Jadhav responded with an inside-out six over wide long-off and when he followed it with a boundary over extra-cover, Eden Gardens was ready to tee-off.
But Woakes maintained his demeanor to bowl four good balls and ultimately picked up Jadhav (90 off 75 balls) in the penultimate delivery to seal a thrilling 5-run win over the Men in Blue.
Result:- England won by five runs