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28 March 2024

England vs India 5th ODI: Root century spares England's blushes

(AFP)

Published
By Cricket Correspondent and Agencies

Joe Root's fine century saved England from the ignominy of a series whitewash on home soil as they beat India by 41 runs in the fifth and final one-dayer at Headingley on Friday.

After taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead following a thumping nine-wicket victory in the last match, world champions India struggled to adapt to the conditions and allowed England to score more than 230 runs for the first time in the series.

Root's well-judged 113 from 108 balls on his home ground, his highest ODI score, lifted England to 294 for seven off their 50 overs. Captain Alastair Cook chipped in with 46 and Jos Buttler fell for a breezy 49 after being run out by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Ravindra Jadeja played well to score a valiant 87 as India stuttered and stumbled during their run chase and were eventually all out for 253 with eight balls remaining.

"Joe Root played fantastically well. He went on and a couple of other guys supported him. That's what we've been trying to do. We've got a lot of 20s and 30s in this series and when one of our guys went on and scored a century, we showed we've got a bowling attack to defend it," Cook said at the presentation ceremony.

Man-of-the-match Root, who smashed 10 fours and three sixes, put on 108 runs with Buttler before Dhoni knocked off the bails to break the fifth-wicket partnership after Buttler set off for a non-existent run.

Mohammed Shami ended Root's entertaining innings in the 46th over when the right-hander flicked the ball straight to Ravichandran Ashwin.

India's hopes of completing a 4-0 rout got off to a rocky start when they lost Edgbaston centurion Ajinkya Rahane for a duck after he nonchalantly sliced a James Anderson delivery into the hands of Eoin Morgan in the first over.

SOFT DISMISSALS

From then on the visitors struggled to build momentum and they lost wickets at regular intervals, leaving all-rounder Jadeja frustrated as his swashbuckling knock of 87 off 68 balls turned out to be in vain.

The left-hander was last man out, clean bowled by Steven Finn in the penultimate over as he tried to score runs quickly in a bid to reach three figures in an international for the first time.

"We gave away too many wickets. There were quite a few soft dismissals and we were not able to score the number of runs we were supposed to. We are capable of getting 90-100 in the last 10 overs, but soft dismissals let us down," Dhoni said.

Despite the defeat, India will be buoyed by their 50-overs performances in England as they look to fine-tune their game before beginning the defence of their World Cup title in February.

England, however, face an uphill task if they are to get their hands on the 50-overs World Cup, a trophy they have never won.

They have won only one series against another Test-playing nation since 2012 and have lost their last four at home.

Their consolation victory has done little to paper over the cracks that run deep in England's approach to the limited-overs format which some former players have labelled as old-fashioned and out of date.

"We know what we can do and it's been really frustrating for the last few games that we've not been able to do it. One good game in four isn't good enough," Cook, who many pundits believe should step down as ODI captain because he is ill-equipped to prosper as a batsman in the limited-overs game, told the BBC.

"We now have a massive chunk of one-day cricket where we can concentrate on improving as players. The last time we had a focus like this we got to the Champions Trophy final (in 2013). The World Cup preparation will be perfect and hopefully we can all improve."

England won the fifth one-day international against India at Leeds by 41 runs on Saturday.

India won the series 3-1 after failing to chasing down a stiff target of 295 despite contrasting half centuries by Rayudu (53) and Jadeja (87).

After England made 294-7 riding on a century by Root (113), India were bowled out for 253 in 48.4 overs.

ENGLAND INNINGS

England finish with a flurry of boundaries to make 294 for seven after being put into bat.

Stokes was unbeaten on 33 off 23 which contained three boundaries and two sixes.

Skipper Cook (46) gave them a fine start but it was the century partnership between Root (113) and Buttler (49) which lifted England.

Shami strikes again castling Woakes. Eng 265-7 in 47.3 overs.

Chris Woakes b Mohammed Shami 9 (9b 2x4 0x6)

Root's magnificent knock comes to an end as he flicks Shami to short third man. Eng 2496 in 45.2 overs.

Joe Root c Ashwin b Mohammed Shami 113 (108b 10x4 3x6)

Root reaches his second ODI century in style by clobbering Jadeja for a six. Eng 248-5 in 45 overs.

Buttler survives being adjudged leg before attempting a reverse sweep off Jadeja but is run out by a mile after wandering out for a non-existent run. Eng 225-5 in 42.3 overs.

Jos Buttler run out 49 (40b 5x4 2x6)

Buttler is on fire slamming a couple of boundaries and a massive six off Ashwin as England turn it on in the Batting Powerplay. Eng 185-4 in 38 overs.

Good over for England as Buttler slams a boundary and cracks a six over third man off Yadav. Eng 165-4 in 36 overs.

Root completes his sixth ODI half century. Eng 134-4 in 32 overs.

Ashwin strikes luring Morgan out and Dhoni doing the rest. Eng 117-4  in 29 overs.

Eoin Morgan st Dhoni b Ashwin 14 (34b 1x4 0x6)

Raina strikes as Cook sweeps and only gets the toe end of the bat for Dhoni to pouch a cat. Eng 91-3 in 20 overs.

Alastair Cook c Dhoni b Raina 46 (64b 6x4 0x6)

The 50 partnership between Cook and Root comes up in 76 balls as England rebuild.

Root is in his element slamming Kumar for a couple of boundaries down the ground. Eng 75-2 in 15 overs.

Cook punches Shami down the ground for another delightful boundary. Eng 67-2 in 14 overs.

Cook eases Kumar through extra cover for a classic boundary. Eng 63-2 in 13 overs.

Root is showing great composure punching Kumar through the covers for his third boundary. Eng 55-2 in 11 overs.

Root finds the gap at square leg off Shami for another boundary. Eng 49-2 in 10 overs.

Root hammers Kumar through midwicket for a boundary. Eng 44-2 in 9 overs.

Kumar strikes as Moeen slices to third man. Eng 39-2 in 7 overs.

Moeen Ali c Yadav b Kumar 9 (8b 2x4 0x6)

Moeen Ali promoted up the order at No.3 cracks a couple of boundaries through point off Yadav. Eng 34-1 in 6 overs.

Yadav draws first blood with Hales attempting to pull is cramped for room and spoons a catch to midwicket. Eng 23-1 in 3.4 overs.

Alex Hales c Rahane b Yadav 4 (9b 0x4 0x6)

Cook gets another boundary edging Yadav through the slip cordon. Eng 16-0 in 2 overs.

Cook cracks two consecutive boundaries past point off Kumar. Eng 10-0 in 1 over.

India have won the toss and opted to bowl in the fifth and final one-day international against England at Leeds on Friday.

England are seeking to avoid a 4-0 whitewash after the first game was abandoned due to rain.

Umesh Yadav comes in for Kulkarni in the only change for India.

England have made two changes with Tredwell and Stokes replacing Gurney and Ballance

PLAYING XI


England:
Alastair Cook, Alex Hales, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, James Tredwell, Steven Finn, James Anderson

India
: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshewar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav