Rishabh Pant brought up his very first ODI century in fine fashion, taking the team to a memorable 5-wicket win over England.
The series was locked at 1-1 going into the final ODI of the three-match series between India and England in July 2022. The match was played at Old Trafford in Manchester, and the stakes were high for both sides.
As it is, India hadn't been able to win a lot of white ball series in England and had lost the last ODI series they played in England after winning the T20 series.
With the series locked at 1-1, this was a great opportunity for the side to create history. England batted first and gave India a target of 260.
India was in trouble at 72 for 4 but it was the brilliant partnership between Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya which pulled them out of trouble. Pant remained unbeaten on 125 and received the player of the match award for his sublime batting.
Rishabh Pant, Player of the Match: Hopefully I remember this knock for the rest of my life. I was focusing on one ball at a time when I was batting. When your team is under pressure and you bat like that .. something I aspire to do. I always enjoy playing in England, at the same time enjoy the atmosphere and the situation. The more you play the more experience you gain. Nothing to take away from the bowlers, it was a good wicket to bat on and the bowlers did a commendable job to restrict them, they were brilliant not only today but for the entire series.
It was unusual to see that Pant played second fiddle in this partnership with Hardik Pandya batting at a strike rate of well below 100, but he kept accelerating as the team got into a more comfortable situation and finally finished with an unbeaten 125 off 130 deliveries with 16 boundaries and two sixes, with the strike rate of over 110.
He hit 6 boundaries of his last 7 deliveries and at one point had the golden opportunity of hitting 6 consecutive boundaries off the over of David Willey but mysteriously defended the last ball before duly finishing it off with a reverse sweep against Joe Root.
