Chris Woakes showed nerves of steel in the final over in Kolkata to snatch victory for England in a thrilling clash at Eden Gardens.
With India needing 16 off the final over to complete a clean sweep of the ODI series, Kedar Jadhav smashed the first ball for a huge six to spark pandemonium inside Kolkata's famous stadium and feelings of deja vu.
Unlike when England suffered the ultimate hearbtreak in the final of the World T20 against the West Indies back here in April, Chris Woakes and not Ben Stokes was the bowler.
When the next ball disappeared for four, that sinking feeling deepened, and India now needed just six off six. But Woakes roared back, dimissing Jadhav for 90 in a decisive run of four dot balls.
That ensured England successfully defended their total of 321-8 to win their first match on their Test and ODI tour of India by five runs. And perhaps banish a few demons too.
Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl, with Sam Billings deputising for the injured Alex Hales and opening with Jason Roy. The pair had to be watchful against a moving ball on a pitch with a decent covering of grass. Roy utilised a heavy offside field by walking across his stumps and finding the leg side fence on several occasions.
The Surrey star increased the pace and launched Ravindra Jadeja for a huge six as he brought up a third consecutive half century, and his eighth in ODIs. But he would fall to the left-armer for the third time in the series, bowled trying to cut a ball of full length for 65.
By that stage Billings had departed too. After a successful sweep off Yuvraj Singh, the Kent man went for the reverse version off Jadeja, but picked out Jasprit Bumrah at short third man. England had lost both openers in the space of 14 balls.
Jonny Bairstow, replacing Joe Root at number three, swept well and bunted Jadeja for six over the top but was lucky to survive when he angled Bumrah down the throat of Ravichandran Ashwin at third man. But the bowler had overstepped and to add insult to injury, Eoin Morgan slapped the free hit for six.
He repeated the dose off Jadeja but then picked out Bumrah at short fine leg off a slower ball from Hardik Pandya. He and Bairstow had put on 84 in 14 overs. Bairstow successfully reviewed after being given out caught behind, replays showing the ball flicked the pocket of his trousers, but Jos Buttler could so no such thing after mistiming a drive to KL Rahul off Pandya for 11.
England’s Test wicketkeeper went to his third 50 in one-day internationals, off 58 balls, and Ben Stokes started the charge for the finish line with a big straight six off Ashwin. Bairstow’s luck ran out on 56 as he cut Pandya to Jadeja at point.
Moeen Ali was ruffled by a short ball first up and fell to another off Bumrah as he top edged onto his helmet and Jadeja took a simple catch. That was the signal for Stokes to tee off and he took 14 from a Bhuvneshwar Kumar over, the first ball travelling 91 metres. Woakes followed suit, taking 14 runs off the first three balls of a Bumrah over, the 48th. He sacrificed himself to get Stokes back on strike in the last over, and England got themselves up to 321-8.
Once again, England collected early wickets. Though England failed to appeal for a thin tickle off Ajinkya Rahane’s glove off Chris Woakes’ first ball, David Willey bowled him for one soon after. But the left-armer would have to go off with an injury after bowling just two overs.
His replacement was Jake Ball and the Nottinghamshire quick struck in his first over, KL Rahul’s attempted pull soaring into the night sky and landing in Buttler’s gloves. Virat Kohli was by this stage up and running, a picture book cover drive followed by wrist flick for four to square leg. Ball would drop a regulation chance to dismiss him on 35 as the skipper mistimed a hook shot but he fell for 55, chasing a wide one from Stokes and nicking behind.
Yuvraj was hit in the chest by a rising Ball delivery but it didn’t seem to put him off his stride, immaculate pull shots off Plunkett and Stokes accompanied by a big six when Moeen Ali dropped his length too short. The veteran was ticking nicely before he launched a Plunkett delivery straight to Sam Billings on the mid-wicket fence. And when Dhoni edged Ball behind to Buttler for 25, the hosts were 173-5 off 31.4 overs.
Stokes and Woakes tied Pandya and Kedar Jadhav down with a good spell of length bowling before the pair went on the counter-attack with the run rate climbing up towards 10 an over. Jadhav hammered Plunkett behind square for four to chalk up his half century.
England’s tactic of bowling short was proving hit and miss as both Jadhav and Pandya climbed into the pull and hook shot whenever the ball was banged in, a maximum off Plunkett bringing up the latter’s half century. Stokes put an end to his fun, bowling him for 56, before Jadeja smashed a pair of boundaries from the returning Woakes. When the left-hander went for another big shot he picked out Bairstow on the fence.
Ashwin came and went for one and with six balls left, India needed 16 to win, three less than the West Indies did in the World T20 final. Just like Stokes, Woakes went for six first ball, Jadhav all over an attempted wide yorker. When he lofted the next ball over extra cover for four, India were one blow away from a series whitewash.
But Woakes came storming back, sending down two dot balls before Jadhav thrashed at the penultiate ball to offer Billings a regulation catch on the cover fence. When Kumar failed to connect with a slower ball, England finally tasted success on Indian soil.
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