England fall short in India despite Sam Curran 95

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England have lost their ODI series in India after a thrilling finale in Pune.

Sam Curran’s superb 95 took England to the verge of victory but T Natarajan held his nerve in the final over to ensure India won by just seven runs.

The result means that England have lost to India in all three formats, after losing the Test and T20 series earlier this year.

Half-centuries for Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya laid the foundations for an India attack which had reached 65 without loss in the first 10 overs.

The hosts lost four wickets within the next 15 overs though, and four more fell in the final 20 balls as India were bowled out for 329 with 10 balls remaining.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck early in the England innings. Jason Roy managed 14 runs before being bowled on the last ball of the first over, and a Jonny Bairstow lbw had England on 28 for 2 inside three overs.

Ben Stokes improved the England attack to 66 for 2 before being caught by Dhawan before Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone all fell to Shardul Thakur on the way to 168 for 6.

Moeen Ali was caught by Pandya for 29 before the introduction of Curran.

Curran’s previous high score in an ODI was 15 and he quickly broke that record before being dropped on 22 by Hardik. He made the most of that mistake with a superb 95 not out off 83 balls, including 18 in the 47th over, to set up a tense final over.

England needed 14 to win with the final six balls. Mark Wood was run out on the first ball and Reece Topley managed a single to get Curran on strike.

But two dot balls was enough for India to claim victory. With Curran needing 12 from the final two balls, a four through the covers was not enough as Natarajan delivered a dot on the final ball.

Cover Photo: Your Out by Graham Dean used under license by CC BY 2.0.

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