IND VS ENG - 3rd ODI, England tour of India, 2021

India 2 - 1 England: Tests: India. T20Is: India. ODIs: India. Oh, how one-sided. Oh, how boring. Puh-lease. Numbers lie. The more you zoom out, the more they lie. ODI #1: A comprehensive Indian win, ODI #2: a brutal English win, ODI #3: A see-saw, until the very end, with India pulling their weight down at the right moment. India's rookies finally managed to redeem themselves after a reality check in the second ODI, and the lessons learnt from such games are priceless milestones in the growing stages of a young cricketer. No-context ODI series? Oh hush, speak for yourselves. As another special night of cricket comes to a close, this is Rishi Roy bidding you goodbye on behalf of Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Sriram AS and Mukesh Gowda. Until our beloved sport inevitably plucks on our unsuspecting heartstrings again, it's goodbye and good night...

Kohli receives the series trophy, and hands it over to the team, who pose with it, behind the board that says "Champions" in bold letters. They bathe in glory on this night, but it could well have been a lighter shade of blue behind that board, so close was the humdinger that we witnessed tonight.

Virat Kohli | India captain: When the top-two battle each other, we'll get exciting games. No one will throw in the towel, and Sam played a really good innings to keep them in the hunt. However, our bowlers picked up wickets, and it moved from us finishing it off to them getting over the line before Hardik and Nattu pulled it back. It's most disapponting for the guy who drops the catch, but as much as you get disappointed, catches get put down and sometimes they cost you. There's no lack of intent, and our body language was outstanding. Eventually we got over the line. I'm surprised Shardul wasn't the man of the match, and Bhuvi wasn't the man of the series. A lot of credit to them for bowling so well in adverse conditions. Prasidh and Krunal were impressive but death overs batting was extremely good, despite the early wickets, and if the top three can get a hundred, then we can get 370s and 380s later. This win has been sweet because it's against the top team in the world, and we're looking forward to the IPL. It's been an amazing season, series, and this was a great way to finish it off. Scheduling needs to be looked at in future, since playing in bubbles will be difficult, and everyone can't have the same mental capacity all the time, but I'm looking forward to the IPL for now.

Jonny Bairstow | Man of the series: I've been pleased with my striking, but we'd like to be on the winning side. Today, it just wasn't meant to be. I didn't score a lot in the Tests, but it was pleasing to come back and do well in the white-ball leg and I'll be taking the confidence into the IPL. We know Bhuvi's skills, and I think getting outside off is the way to counter it. We had a conversation about it and we played him in the Sunrisers' camp, so we'll have practice against him, don't worry about that. Curran was special wasn't he? He's played out of his skin, and we know the quality and talent he has, and the belief he had to take us over the line, but congratulations to Nattu and how he executed the yorkers at the death. There's not many people I would trust more than Sam to clear the short boundaries and he was absolutely fantastic today.

Sam Curran | Man of the Match: We didn't win the game, but happy with the way I played. I love winning, but it was a great experience. I haven't done that for England for a long time, but in the end we lost. I wanted to take the majority of the balls and take it deep. It was hard to defend, but Natarajan bowled really well in the end and shows why he's a really good bowler. I realized that one side was shorter and Bhuvi is a fantastic bowler so I played him out. Fantastic ground, great pitch and an amazing batting line-up for India, so it has been a great learning curve. Looking forward to the IPL in these conditions in a few weeks time.

Jos Buttler | England captain: A fantastic game, both sides made some mistakes but played some brilliant cricket. We witnessed an incredible knock from Curran to nearly get us over the line, but congratulations to India on winning. We've learnt a lot as a side and seen many guys stand up and take the lead. The white-ball leg was incredibly competitive. These are the conditions we will face in the near future in the World Cup. It's a great experience for the young guys to play a top-class side like India and they will be better cricketers for it. We didn't bowl that well at the top, gave away easy boundaries, but dragged it back only to be pegged back by Pant and Pandya, but we restricted them well enough. We didn't have those big partnerships to take us over the line. We've played excellent cricket for a number of years, the talent pool in white-ball cricket is growing and creates competition in the squad and drives us to do better. We bat deep as a side, it's one of our strengths, but Sam Curran did well to take responsibility, and take a lot of the strike and it took great character to play the way he did, and he has those amazing qualities in abundance. I know he will be disappointed he didn't get us over the line, but we are all very proud of him and his performance.

Highest individual score batting at 8 or below (ODI)
95* Sam Curran v Ind Pune, 2021
95* Chris Woakes v SL, Nottingham 2016
92* Andre Russell v Ind, North Sound 2011
92 Nathan Coulter-Nile v WI, Nottingham 2019
86* Ravi Rampaul v Ind, Vizag 2011

Most runs in an ODI without an individual 100
656 SA (326) v Aus (330) - Port Elizabeth 2002
651 Ind (329) v Eng (322) - Pune 2021
649 Ind (329) v Eng (320) - Bristol 2007
648 Eng (351) v Pak (297) - Leeds 2019

England tour of India, 2020-21
Tests: Lost 1-3
ODIs: Lost 1-2
T20Is: Lost 2-3

England in bilateral ODI series in India in the last 15 years
Lost 1-5 in 2006
Lost 0-5 in 2008
Lost 0-5 in 2011
Lost 2-3 in 2013
Lost 1-2 in 2017
Lost 1-2 in 2021

Shikhar Dhawan: I was always in the groove. Once I got the chance, I made the most of it. It's a good feeling to bat like this, I really enjoyed it. I was playing domestic cricket, I was preparing for it and that was the best match practice I could get coming into this series. The wicket was good for the last two matches and it stayed true today as well. I enjoy playing on bouncy tracks.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Yes, there was a bit of tension, the ground was small and there was a bit of dew, but yes, we're under some pressure. Personally, I wasn't under heavy stress with the ball, it was doing a bit and I knew I could execute well. Looking forward to the IPL, I'm just happy that I went through the entire series pretty well (talking about his recent injury issues), hopefully, will go on and do well in the upcoming series. 

22:18 IST: What did we just watch? How - on - earth? Wickets were lost in regular intervals, it was following the usual script of a chase gone wrong. Early wickets, poor shot selection, but it was the last bit that teams continue to take for granted - they're no longer tailenders. They're lower-order batsmen with more heart and belief than technique, which is also not half-bad. Sam Curran and Adil Rashid built it up. They didn't scare India at first, but eventually, when the slow knife started to pierce the vital organs, India were suddenly choking. Panicking. Dropping catches. Oh so many catches. It took a disaster of an over by Shardul Thakur to send India into panic mode, but eventually it was the Hardik over that cut them off. He choked them in the penultimate over, leaving 14 for Natarajan in the final over, which he did well to defend. But a doffed hat, to Mr. Sam Curran, who ensured that India didn't rest easy until the penultimate ball of the tour. In the end, India have swept all the formats, but it certainly wasn't as one-sided as that scoreline suggests. Presentations coming up soon. Go nowhere.

T Natarajan to Sam Curran, no run, very full, clubbed down the ground to Hardik at long-on, and what was going to be a comfortabe win for India has turned out to be a surprising win for India! What a phenomenal game we've witnessed today to seal off this series...

8 off 1. This is now the highest ODI score by a number 8.

T Natarajan to Sam Curran, FOUR, it's overpitched, wide, and that's drilled flat over the covers for four! No matter, India need to bowl a legal ball to win...

12 off 2. 2 sixes. It's happened before in the IPL. Dhoni, Axar, you know it...

T Natarajan to Sam Curran, no run, errs with a full-toss, slapped down the ground to Kohli at long-off, and he's denied the single.

T Natarajan to Sam Curran, no run, full, into the blockhole, Sam Curran squeezes this out towards long-on and denies the single. 12 off 3 now.

It's all Curran now. 12 off 4.

T Natarajan to Topley, 1 run, full and outside off, Topley pushes it away in front of square on the off-side for a single

Reece Topley, right handed bat, comes to the crease

They need to come up with an alternative to ebbs and flows. Just doesn't cut it. Topley on strike.