Watch: Rohit Sharma's wonderful reaction to Rishabh Pant's match-winning knock

India won the third ODI of the England tour in a memorable fashion as Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya took the game from the jaws of defeat. The two batters showed composure and character beyond their years to not only steady India’s batting innings, but also win the match for the Men in Blue. Both Pandya and Pant made impressive knocks of 71 and 125* respectively to hand over the defeat to the home side.

Pant primarily wowed everyone with his mindset and brought up his first ever century in ODIs. He won the game with a flurry of boundaries, when he smashed as many as five boundaries to David Willey. India’s winning runs also came with a boundary by the southpaw. Understandably, the whole dressing room was ecstatic by Rishabh Pant’s performance but what grabbed everyone’s attention was Rohit Sharma’s thumbs-up gesture from the stands after Pant hit the winning four off of Joe Root’s bowl. The wicket-keeper batter responded to his captain by giving a thumbs up of his own.

What an outstanding innings by #RishabhPant looked unstoppable.

Congratulations team India moments to cherish forever.#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/GYZNh0XM4m

— @iammp (@maheshspawar1) July 17, 2022

Bowlers shine, top order needs rethink

This series was a great exemplar of the beauty of ODI. The ebbs and flows of a format that is going through an identity crisis of sorts, were on full display in this three-match ODI series. India outclassed the England batters in the first match on the back of a Jasprit Bumrah masterclass. He took six wickets and restricted the English scoreboard to a mere 110. India won the match comprehensively by 10 wickets. England, however, had an answer of their own in the second match in Reece Topley who with his six-wicket haul helped the home team beat India by a massive 100 runs.

With the series hanging in balance, the third ODI came out as a final. Hardik’s four-wicket haul helped India restrict the England batting to 259 but the Indian top order struggled to get on with the run chase with India languishing at 72-4 at one point of time. This was when Pandya and Pant took the game by the scruff of the neck and won India the match. Hardik came up with a solid 71 off of 55 deliveries while Pant remained unbeaten on 125 off of 113.