Rishabh Pant smashes century and guides India to ODI series victory over England

Batter cracks 125 off 113 balls as tourists seal five-wicket win at Old Trafford

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  Rishabh Pant celebrates reaching his century that helped India beat England at Old Trafford in the third ODI on Sunday, July 17, 2022. Getty

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  India's Rishabh Pant on the attack during his knock of 125 from 113 balls. AFP

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  India batsman Rishabh Pant is congratulated by teammates after hitting the winning runs at Old Trafford and sealing a 2-1 series victory for the tourists. Getty

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  India's Rishabh Pant hits out on his way to 125. PA

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  England's Craig Overton celebrates after taking the wicket of India batter Surya Yadav for 16. Getty

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  India's Hardik Pandya plays a shot on his way to his quickfire 71 off 55 balls. AFP

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  India batter Virat Kohli after being caught by England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler off the bowling of Reece Topley. Reuters

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  India's Virat Kohli walks back to the pavilion after losing his wicket for 17. AFP

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  England bowler Reece Topley celebrates after taking the wicket of India's Rohit Sharma for 17. Getty

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  England's Reece Topley celebrates after taking the wicket of India opener Shikhar Dhawan for one. Reuters

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  India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant catches out England's Moeen Ali for 34 off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. Getty

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  India's Ravindra Jadeja celebrates catching out England captain Jos Buttler for 60. AFP

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  England captain Jos Buttler hits a four off the bowling of India's Mohammed Siraj. Reuters

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  India fielder Virat Kohli weaves at the crowd after the wicket of England batter Moeen Ali. Getty

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  India's Hardik Pandya takes the catch off his own bowling to dismiss England batsman Ben Stokes. Getty

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  England batter Ben Stokes after losing his wicket for 27. Getty

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  England opener Jason Roy hit 41 off 31 balls. Reuters

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  India bowler Mohammed Siraj celebrates after taking the wicket of Joe Root. Getty

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  England batsman Joe Root leaves the field after being dismissed for a duck. Getty

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  England batter Jonny Bairstow lofts the ball into the air before being caught by Shreyas Iyer of India for a duck. Getty

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  India's Mohammed Siraj and Virat Kohli celebrate the wicket of England opener Jonny Bairstow. Reuters

Rishabh Pant cracked his maiden one-day international century for India as they defeated England by five-wickets at Old Trafford to seal a 2-1 series victory on Sunday.

Chasing 260 for victory – after captain Jos Buttler top-scored for England with 60 – India lost skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli early on to Reece Topley, before Hardik Pandya took charge with a rapid 71 off 55 balls in the company of Pant.

The pair stitched together 133 runs for the fifth wicket to set up a comfortable win, with Pant then stepping up the gears and going on to score his maiden ton in the format after Pandya fell to a spectacular catch by Ben Stokes off the bowling of Brydon Carse.

India's explosive wicketkeeper batsman took them home with 47 balls to spare by reverse-sweeping Joe Root for four, after he had smashed David Willey for five boundaries in the previous over.

Captain Rohit admitted he was “very pleased” with his team's performance over the T20 and ODI series. “We came here, wanted to achieve something as a group in white-ball, and we did,” he said.

“Moving forward there are things we need to improve but pleased with the effort. We were here last time and we were beaten I remember.

“It is not easy place to come and win games but the way we played entire white-ball leg was fantastic. Wanted to do it for a long period of time, to achieve it was brilliant.”

As for his England counterpart, it was a second 2-1 series defeat to India on in a row after losing the T20 series by the same margin.

“It was a good wicket once you got yourself in so we were a bit light with the bat. But the start we made with the ball gave us a chance and that missed stumping [of Pant when on 18] cost us,” said Buttler, who took over as captain from Eoin Morgan earlier in July.

“Pant is a really good player and you give a player like that a second chance they are going to hurt you.

“We are not quite hitting our straps as a batting unit but we are not far off. We are just not producing what we are capable of. So hopefully individually and collectively we can find a solution.

“These guys are fantastic to work and there is still a lot of enjoyment. Hopefully we will find our best cricket soon.”