Ahmedabad, Feb 12: England batters once again failed to impress as Harshit Rana, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya claimed two wickets each to seal an emphatic 142-run victory for India in the third ODI at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Wednesday. Despite getting off to a great start, England failed to capitalise on the solid start, and inconsistency through their batting order once again raised many red flags for the side heading into the 2025 Champions Trophy.

Openers Ben Duckett (34) and Phil Salt (23) flew straight out of the floodgates scoring at 10 runs an over in the Power-play. The duo recorded a fifty-plus partnership for the fourth time in their last five games in the format but the story remained the same. Duckett started the onslaught early hitting Arshdeep Singh for four consecutive boundaries in the fifth over. However, it was the left-arm pacer who had the last laugh dismissing the left-hander in his next over.

A slower ball by Arshdeep saw Duckett slash the ball straight down the ground but could not time it well enough. The ball which travelled high, failed to clear the 30-yard circle making for a simple catch for Rohit Sharma at mid-off.

Tom Banton (38), who replaced Jamie Overton in the side on the day, started strongly hitting a six in the next over off Washington Sundar. He received a lifeline two deliveries later as a thin edge saw the ball zip past wicketkeeper KL Rahul and race away for a four.

Arshdeep, on the other hand, continued to wreak havoc from the end removing Salt in the next over. A slower short delivery did the trick for the right-handed batter as an attempted uppercut saw Axar Patel take the simplest of catches at point. Having reached 84-2 by the end of the Power-play, Joe Root (24) and Banton tried to build a steady partnership but faced difficulty in taking on the spinners, which has been the case throughout the three-match ODI and five-match T20I series.

It was Kuldeep Yadav who struck first to remove Banton with a slighted delivery aimed at the middle stump. The ball zipped towards off catching Banton by surprise and brushing past the outside edge to reduce England to three wickets down. Root soon followed when an inside edge, off Axar’s bowling, saw the ball castle into the stumps in the 22nd over.

Rohit’s decision paid off to bring in Harshit Rana for his second spell of the day. The pacer struck with his first delivery when a good length ball just outside off stump saw Jos Buttler attempt to punch it through the covers but a thick inside edge guided the ball onto the stumps.

Harry Brook (19) soon followed his skipper as Rana bowled the 25-year-old in his next over. An unfortunate dismissal for the right-handed batter as he attempted to defend but the ball hit the face of his bat and rolled backward onto the stumps.

Sundar soon joined the party as a quicker delivery outside the off stump baited Liam Livingstone (9) to move down the pitch in hopes of hitting but ended up missing the ball and with the all-rounder already way outside the crease, it made for an easy stumping for Rahul.

With wickets of lower batters Adil Rashid (0) and Mark Wood (9) falling from one end, Gus Atkinson certainly put on a show for the crowd in Ahmedabad notching 38 runs at a strike rate of 200, in an innings with six boundaries and one six, before being bowled over by Axar to seal the 142-run victory.

Brief scores:

India 356 all out in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 112, Shreyas Iyer 78, Virat Kohli 52, K.L Rahul 40; Adil Rashid 4-64, Mark Wood 2-45) beat England 214 all out in 34.2 overs (Ben Duckett 34, Tom Baton 38, Gus Atkinson 38; Axar Patel 2-22, Arshdeep Singh 2-33, Harshit Rana 2-31, Hardik Pandya 2-38) by 142 runs.

--IANS

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