Player of the Match
Player of the Match

10.10pm Rohit has hit form in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy and India have wrapped up this series, with one game to go. As for England, they have a few questions to answer. Can they end this tour with a win in Ahmedabad? Do join us for the third - and final - ODI on February 12. Until then, this is Al Muthu signing off on the behalf of Vithushan Ehantharajah and Chandan Duorah. Goodbye for now

Rohit Sharma, India captain and Player of the Match: It was good and really enjoyed being out there, scoring some runs for the team. Important game with the series on the line but I broke it down to pieces about how I wanted to bat. Longer than T20s and shorter than Tests and I wanted to break it down. I wanted to bat as deep as possible and that was my focus. Looking at the pitch - when you play on black soil, it tends to skid on a bit and you have to show the full face of the bat initially. Then they bowled into the body and kept it on the stumps and that's where I prepared my plan and tried to access the gaps. Got very good support from Gill and Shreyas as well. Enjoy batting with Gill. Very classy player and doesn't seem to get overawed by the situation and the numbers are there as well, if I'm not wrong, for Gill. The middle overs are quite important and that's where the game can go either side. If you squeeze the middle overs, you need not worry much about the death. The middle overs is very crucial and even in Nagpur, we squeezed them and got wickets. When you keep taking wickets, the run-scoring is not easy. We want to keep getting better as well. Nothing specific we want to work on but overall we want to keep getting better as a player and team. That is what we want to do. As long as guys are clear about what they are supposed to do, if they keep doing that not much to think about.

Jos Buttler, England captain: We got into some nice positions with the bat but we need a few of us to catch fire and push us to 350. Another great innings from Rohit; he's been doing it in ODI cricket for a while. Maybe it skidded on a bit and played well but the opposition played well. We tried to get to 330-350, maybe that would have been defendable. Just keep taking steps in the right direction though results are not there but we need to keep going.

Shubman Gill says he was feeling good when he was batting out there. And that batting with Rohit was fun. Today he took on the bowlers. This is how he's been batting in ODIs in the past couple of years. The way he dominated the fast bowlers was a treat to watch. The pitch was good to bat on, the odd ball was skidding (low). The chat between Rohit and me was simple, just play according the ball and once set, try to dominate.

Nachiket: "The other thing India would be really happy with is Jadeja's bowling form in ODIs. He has regained some of his consistency wrt length"

Russ : "England would do well to take a cue from India and be flexible with their batting line up.. There's no way Jos should be batting that low after such a positive start"

Samrat Ahuja: "Jadeja managing to hit the boundary to finish off both the matches in successful run chase in the series!!"

Mustafa Moudi : "Steve Smith in the Morning and Rohit in the Evening - My Day Begins and Ends with a Skipper Winning the Player of the Match !!"

Nazir ahamed : "Has anyone noticed that Axar patel is getting one of the finest all-rounder in all formats."

9.44pm A century for Rohit Sharma. Pretty much top of the pile for things that India needed going into the Champions Trophy. They've also been getting other good news, with Shreyas' form and Axar's versatility with the bat. But seeing their captain back to somewhere close to his best must have put a lot of smiles in a lot of important people's faces. Virat Kohli still needs runs. Jasprit Bumrah's fitness status still needs clearing up. Varun Chakravarthy has put his name up for CT selection. More things going right than wrong for this team.

England, meanwhile, will be wondering whether they're cut out to handle conditions like this. They were strongly placed to score 330-plus with Joe Root scoring a fifty and Jos Buttler looking set. Then Buttler wasn't able to execute his lofted drive and from there the team sunk. The bowling looked ordinary at best. Occasionally Adil Rashid threatened. Occasionally Mark Wood's pace put India on the back foot. The only time India's batters weren't having it their way was during a 30-minute floodlight failure

44.3
4
Root to Jadeja, FOUR, smashes it inside out through cover to seal the series. A hop skip and thump from Jadeja ends the game and becomes the cue for fireworks over the Cuttack stadium
44.2
0
Root to Jadeja, no run, defends a flighted delivery to mid-on
44.2
1w
Root to Jadeja, 1 wide, slides down leg
44.1
1
Root to Patel, 1 run, looks like a seam up short ball, which Axar pulls to deep square leg

END OF OVER:
44 | 7 Runs | IND: 302/6 (3 runs required from 36 balls, RR: 6.86, RRR: 0.50)

  • Axar Patel40 (42b)
  • Ravindra Jadeja7 (5b)
  • Gus Atkinson7-0-65-1
  • Joe Root1-0-9-0
43.6
1
Atkinson to Patel, 1 run, very nearly takes Jadeja's head off with a flat-batted swipe down the ground. Jadeja's got quick reflexes though and ducks underneath the strike. Overthrow from mid-on, largely because the bowler isn't able to gather it right
43.5
0
Atkinson to Patel, no run, shapes to ramp the short ball outside off but can't make contact

Samarth: "It's so surprising that Saqib Mahmood and Overton have fared much better in this tour than the experienced Wood, Archer and Atkinson. "

43.4
1
Atkinson to Jadeja, 1 run, pulls the short ball down to deep fine
43.3
0
Atkinson to Jadeja, no run, lets a short ball outside off go and then practices an upper cut
43.2
4
Atkinson to Jadeja, FOUR, drills it down the ground for four. That's basically a mirror image of a Kohli on-drive. All timing. No follow-through
43.1
1
Atkinson to Patel, 1 run, length ball comes slower off the pitch than Axar thinks, meaning his on the up drive through the off side becomes more of an away from the body flick through midwicket

END OF OVER:
43 | 9 Runs | IND: 295/6 (10 runs required from 42 balls, RR: 6.86, RRR: 1.42)

  • Axar Patel38 (39b)
  • Ravindra Jadeja2 (2b)
  • Joe Root1-0-9-0
  • Gus Atkinson6-0-58-1
42.6
1
Root to Patel, 1 run, hits in the air... one-bounce to long-off. India need 10 now
42.5
4
Root to Patel, FOUR, quicker, flatter but with room on offer Axar is able to rock back and cut it away to the point boundary
42.4
1
Root to Jadeja, 1 run, clips it past midwicket's right

Bharat: "This chase isn't over yet. Wood could come on and wreak havoc with his pace. India making an unnecessary meal of this chase. Kinda like second breakfast. "

42.3
1
Root to Patel, 1 run, flighted delivery outside off, Axar rolls his wrists over the ball because he isn't to the pitch of it and gets a single to long-off
42.2
1
Root to Jadeja, 1 run, tossed up on middle and leg, Jadeja taps it down to long-on
42.1
1
Root to Patel, 1 run, round-arms it into leg stump, Axar works it behind square leg

England have gone to Joe Root with two left-handers in the middle. Life in this yet?

END OF OVER:
42 | 10 Runs 1 Wkt | IND: 286/6 (19 runs required from 48 balls, RR: 6.80, RRR: 2.37)

  • Axar Patel31 (35b)
  • Gus Atkinson6-0-58-1
  • Jamie Overton5-0-27-2
41.6
W
Atkinson to Pandya, OUT, taken at deep square leg. India had a weird collapse in the last game as well just as they were nearing a win. They're still 19 runs away here as they lose Hardik who pulls this ball away but can't clear Overton

HH Pandya c Overton b Atkinson 10 (6m 6b 2x4 0x6) SR: 166.66

41.5
4
Atkinson to Pandya, FOUR, oookay.. he's just straight driven a short ball by using his wrists. Straight drive is probably not the right description. It's more a flick, that imparted all the rotation this outside-off-stump delivery needed to travel down the ground and to the boundary

abhishek: "What is the reason England's record has been the poorest of all countries ( they have been even poorer than Zimbabwe, Ireland etc) in ODI in India - In last 20 years (Since 2005) they have just won 5 and lost 25. While they have been good in T20 and won Test series. What has gone wrong in 50 overs. India have absolutely bashed them, This includes golden era of English ODI cricket (2015-2023)" --- Spin.

41.4
1
Atkinson to Patel, 1 run, shortish and outside off, Axar late cuts it down to deep third
41.3
0
Atkinson to Patel, no run, drives to mid-off
41.2
1
Atkinson to Pandya, 1 run, plenty of wrist behind this flick - in fact nothing but wrist because he doesn't even move his feet. He's just dead still, with just the hands doing all the work against this back of a length ball that holds in the pitch
41.1
4
Atkinson to Pandya, FOUR, comes down the track, Atkinson cramps him, the batter swings because otherwise he's going to get hit, gets an outside edge over the keeper

END OF OVER:
41 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | IND: 276/5 (29 runs required from 54 balls, RR: 6.73, RRR: 3.22)

  • Hardik Pandya1 (2b)
  • Axar Patel30 (33b)
  • Jamie Overton5-0-27-2
  • Liam Livingstone7-0-29-1

Muntashir Razza: "Thank you Ian Barcelona, for spurring Overton on!"

40.6
1
Overton to Pandya, 1 run, defends a good length ball outside off and it scurries away past vacant point
40.5
0
Overton to Pandya, no run, pushes at a back of a length delivery outside off and is beaten. Keeps getting good bounce off a pitch that isn't really conducive for it

Videos

India 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st136RG SharmaShubman Gill
2nd14RG SharmaV Kohli
3rd70RG SharmaSS Iyer
4th38AR PatelSS Iyer
5th17KL RahulAR Patel
6th11AR PatelHH Pandya
7th22RA JadejaAR Patel