Adil Rashid and David Willey took three wickets each before a mammoth partnership between Joe Root and Eoin Morgan sealed victory with ease.
England won the toss and elected to chase, something they have seemed less sure of than batting first recently. Twice against Australia they came close to losing after fielding first, while against Scotland they went one worse, falling just short of chasing 372 against the team north of the border.
Read: Dominant England reassert themselves in battle royale
This then will be a performance to savour, a consummate performance against the other main contenders for next year’s Cricket World Cup, coming under pressure in a series decider, and in conditions which should have favoured their opponents.
There was turn to exploit, but it was England who utilised it better, Rashid taking three wickets to curb a promising India start, the early wicket of Rohit Sharma, who smashed Willey down deep square’s throat for 2, and Shikhar Dhawan’s dismissal, briiliantly run out by Ben Stokes, not preventing them from marching inexorably to 125/2.
The leg-spinner bowled Virat Kohli for 71 and Dinesh Karthik for 22 before having Suresh Raina caught behind for 1, and in quick time India were 158/5; they never recovered. That dismissal of Kohli, pitching leg, gripping, and hitting off, deserves to be replayed over and over, as does Kohli’s stunned reaction.
MS Dhoni attempted a rescue act but could only manage a slow 42 before edging an excellent ball from the enterprising David Willey behind, and though Bhuvneshwar Kumar blocked diligently, and Shardul Thakur thwacked two sixes, India’s 256/8 looked a long way under-par.
How they started with the ball didn’t help their cause. James Vince, playing in place of Jason Roy, ruled out with a cut finger, caressed the first ball of the chase, a long hop, to the fence, and much else followed that was too long or too short as Jonny Bairstow raced to 30 from 12 deliveries. From his 13th he fell, chipping tamely to midwicket, while Vince’s dismissal was tamer still, a lazy second run seeing him run out, yet another caught out by the speed at which Dhoni brings the ball back to the stumps.
At that stage England were 74/2, and India still needed a few more wickets to truly stake a claim. But none were forthcoming, Root and Morgan adding 186 to see their side home without further loss. India’s wrist-spinners toiled without reward, the pair playing them as well as perhaps anyone has since their emergence. They underlined their importance to the side, as did the stat that in the course of their partnership they overtook Ian Bell and Alastair Cook as the pair who had added the most runs for England together in ODI cricket.
By the end, the only question was whether Joe Root would reach a richly deserved second hundred in succession, which he duly did with a boundary from the last ball of the innings, followed by a bat drop. He and England couldn’t have planned it any better.
