Twitter Reactions: Shubman Gill ton, bowlers propel India to ODI series whitewash of England

The roles were reversed in comparison to the past couple of games as England bowled first on winning the toss. There were three changes made in the Indian setup in the third and final ODI of the series; Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami had been rested while Varun Chakravarthy missed out due to a sore right calf. Mark Wood struck immediately, sending Rohit Sharma back to the pavilion on the former's first delivery of the second over. Out came Virat Kohli, greeted to the crease by an electrifying reception.

Apart from the eighth over, the entire powerplay belonged to India. 24 of Shubman Gill's 28 runs inside the first 10 overs were through boundaries. Kohli seemed to have found his footing as well. India were placed at 52/1. Joe Root was treated with disdain by Kohli in his first couple of overs. The first maximum of the game came off Gill's bat, when he created enough room to launch the ball over the long-on fence. An over after Gill brought up his third successive half-century in the series, Kohli brought up his off the same number of deliveries.   

Adil Rashid's dominance over Kohli in ODIs showed no signs of fading after the wily leg-spinner got rid of the latter for the fifth time in a total of 10 innings against the former Indian skipper. Aside from the 25th over, each over since Kohli's dismissal on the final delivery of the 19th saw a boundary being hit, as the hosts cantered along to 161 at the halfway stage. Gill's seventh ODI ton was brought up in 95 deliveries. Unfortunately, he could not carry on further. A stunning innings that hinted at greater things, came to an end. 

Rashid finished his spell with a four-fer to his name. The dismissal of Hardik Pandya off the final delivery of his spell were in many ways similar to the shock-and-awe leg-break which got the better of Kohli in 2018. KL Rahul looked good during his time at the crease, before he was trapped in front for 40. A cluster of wickets falling after Rahul was dismissed led to India ending up with their joint third-highest total against England in ODIs. The previous instance India scored those many was in Pune in 2017, albeit while chasing the tourists' 351-run target.

England came out hell for leather to kickstart their run-chase in blistering fashion. Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh were on the receiving end of 14 and 16-run overs in the fourth and fifth overs, respectively. However, a couple of slower deliveries proved to be the undoing of first Ben Duckett and then Phil Salt. Despite the 10th over going for a maiden, England had stacked up 84; their highest score in the batting powerplay this series.

Tom Banton and Joe Root aimed to bring stability to the English innings via their partnership in the middle. Banton, who was making his comeback to the ODI setup after previously playing in August 2020, looked quite assured with the bat. He did not look one bit hesitant while taking the charge to the Indian bowlers, dispatching the loose deliveries with maximum efficiency. Root proved to be just the partner Banton would have hoped for on his England return.     

However, both of them departed after looking quite set within a short space of time. Jos Buttler and Harry Brook did not add much to the scoreboard too. A late onslaught by Gus Atkinson, who pummeled an aggressive 19-ball 38-run knock, was dismissed by Axar Patel to end England's misery on 214 at the end of 34.2 overs. This was the sixth time on eight occurrences during the tour where England were bundled out in their innings. India convincingly emerged victors of the ODI series via a 142-run margin in the game, clinching the series by a 3-0 scoreline.  

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