Rishabh Pant cracked his maiden ODI century as India routed England by five wickets in the decisive third ODI which also meant the Men in Blue sealed the three-match series 2-1.
The star southpaw smashed an unbeaten 125 off 113 which was fuelled with 16 boundaries and two maximums. With this Pant has achieved an exceptional feat as he became the first Asian wicketkeeper-batter to clobber centuries in both formats of the game (Tests and ODIs) in England.
Pant's blitzkrieg continued as he struck a ton in the Edgbaston Test against England too to break the legendary MS Dhoni's 17-year-old record of hitting a fastest century by an Indian in the longest format of the game.
While Dhoni had smashed the century in 93 ball, the 23-year-old took just 89 balls to do the same and became the fastest to do so.
Pant is been riding on an outstanding form which has certainly towered his stature in the Indian fold.
Talking about the match, As former India players celebrated 20 years of the team’s magnificent win over England in the Natwest Trophy final back in 2002, the Men in Blue lifted the ODI series championship cup in style just a few days later by replicating some similar heroics. A massive 326-run goal was chased down by India 20 years ago thanks in large part to the outstanding batting performances of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.
Meanwhile, talking about the India-England 3rd ODI, beside Pant's panther knock, Hardik grabbed a career-best 4/24 as a disciplined India bowled out England for 259 with more than four overs left in the innings.
Skipper Jos Buttler top-scored for England with an 80-ball 60, but it was the flamboyant all-rounder from Gujarat, who dominated the first half of the match with his excellent bowling, sending out a warning to the opponents in the year of the T20 World Cup.
In the company of Hardik, Pant then showed his extraordinary skills with the bat as he smashed 16 fours and two sixes in his sublime knock at Old Trafford.
This was after lanky seamer Reece Topley (3/35) again proved to be the wrecker-in-chief by removing the trio of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in quick succession.
Even though the target wasn’t as large, India found themselves in trouble at 72/4 when Pant and Hardik Pandya teamed up. With Pandya adding a quick 71 off 55 balls, after picking up four wickets in the first innings, the dynamic pair contributed 133 runs for the fifth wicket to put the Indian innings in momentum as they chased 260.
