3rd ODI: Hardik, Chahal shine as India bowl out England for 259

Manchester, July 17 (IANS) All-rounder Hardik Pandya (4/24) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal's (3/60) superb bowling effort helped India bowl out England for 259 in the series-deciding third and final ODI at Old Trafford, here on Sunday.

Skipper Jos Buttler played a vital knock (60 off 80) for England, who were invited to bat first by India captain Rohit Sharma. Apart from Buttler, Jason Roy (41), Moeen Ali (34), and Craig Overton (32) were the other main contributors with the bat for the hosts. Besides Pandya and Chahal, Mohammed Siraj (2/66), and Ravindra Jadeja (1/21) were the other wicket-takers for India.

Right from the start, opener Jason Roy showed aggressive intent and fetched three fours right in the very first over but India struck at the other end just nine balls into the game.

Siraj, who returned to the playing XI in place of an unfit Jasprit Bumrah, made an impact straight away by getting rid of Jonny Bairstow (0), who got a leading edge while attempting to work one on the leg side and the substitute Shreyas Iyer took an easy catch.

Joe Root (0), who came to bat next, couldn't do anything as Siraj forced him to give an easy catch to the slip fielder, leaving England in trouble at 12/2 at the end of 2 overs. However, unfazed by the double strike, Roy and Ben Stokes decided to counterattack and got a flurry of boundaries. And in no time, they raced to their 50-run partnership.

With main bowlers not controlling the flow of runs, skipper Rohit Sharma introduced Hardik Pandya into the attack. The allrounder kept denying Roy the room, which the batter usually craves and that resulted in the wicket. On a short ball, Roy got a top edge in his attempt to smash it as Rishabh Pant took the catch and India got their third wicket.

After a few overs, Pandya struck again to remove Stokes, who came down the track but couldn'''t play the short ball with authority and the bowler himself took the catch, putting England in deep trouble at 74-4 after 13.2 overs.

From there on, the onus was on skipper Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali to bail England out of trouble. They bided their time but eventually got into their groove, stitching a crucial partnership and putting a bit of pressure back on India bowlers.

Just when it looked like their partnership was flourishing and leading England towards a decent total, Ravindra Jadeja struck in his very first over and gave India the much-needed wicket of Moeen, who edged the ball down the leg side and Pant took a brilliant catch.

However, skipper Buttler held the England innings together and hit a crucial fifty. With more than 17 overs left in the innings and England already half down, Buttler along with Liam Livingstone needed to bat deep but Pandya once again changed the course of the game on its head in a matter of three deliveries.

In the 37th over of the innings, both Livingstone and Buttler looked to take on Hardik on the short ball but were caught brilliantly by Jadeja in the deep on both occasions. David Willey, who had scored crucial runs for England in the previous game, looked in fine touch again and was beginning to find a boundary an over but Chahal returned to the attack and put an end to the cameo (18) with a slower one.

The lower-order batters hit the leg-spinner for few boundaries but Chahal picked up the final two wickets in the same over to polish off the tail and end England's innings at 259 in 45.5 overs.

Brief scores: England 259 all out in 45.5 overs (Jos Buttler 60, Jason Roy 41; Hardik Pandya 4/24, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/60) vs India