India wrapped up the England series on a high, beating the hosts by five wickets in the third ODI at Manchester, which was also the final match of the tour. The contest saw Hardik Pandya bloom in both the departments of the game, and Rishabh Pant chipping in with a match-winning ton. After inviting England to bat first, Pandya made full use of short deliveries and finished 4/24 in 7 overs, which is also his career best figures in ODIs.
With the bat, Pandya walked out to bat at a tough position with India being reduced to 72/4 in a stiff 260-run chase. He then stitched a crucial 133-run partnership with Pant for the fifth wicket, who finished the match unbeaten on 125 off 113 balls.
The composure shown by Pant and Pandya impressed former India pacer Zaheer Khan, who called the innings an “example” for other batters in the lineup. “That partnership has been a match-winning partnership. You see, on the whole, the game has been superb. It was an even contest between the bat and ball. The way England started, there was a lot of pressure. What matters is the character shown by them (Pant and Pandya). To absorb pressure and to build a partnership and one of them going on to finish the game, that’s the example you would like to give to anyone who is in the lineup,” Khan noted during an interaction on Cricbuzz.
“What he is basically building a reputation of is that ‘when I am in, I am going to finish the game for you’. So that is the kind of character that he has shown not just in white-ball cricket but also in Test matches regularly, and this was his maiden century in ODIs, so this innings is certainly going to give him that boost to go on to make it a habit to get these kinds of runs. And if that happens, then the middle order firepower is going to get even more strengthened,” the ex-cricketer added.