For an hour or two on Sunday, India threatened to pull off a heist similar to the one in the 2002 Natwest series final when it chased down England’s 325.
But that fleeting promise withered away like autumnal leaves as Shubman Gill & Co. fell 28 runs short of the humongous 388-run target to lose the series 1-2.
India’s pursuit was built on a towering century from Rohit Sharma (138, 110b, 17×4, 5×6), which not just signalled the premier batter’s return to form but also marked the first ODI ton by an Indian at Lord’s.
The tourists were in the contest until the 42nd over, when they needed 93 more with eight wickets remaining and a well-set Virat Kohli (74, 60b, 4×4, 3×6) still batting.
But part-time left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell (7-0-49-1) – who had earlier dismissed Rohit by rattling his stumps – and medium-pacer Sam Curran (10-0-75-4) strangled India by taking the pace off and making run scoring incredibly hard.
And in substitute Rehan Ahmed, England had a stellar support actor, who pulled off two splendid catches in the outfield against the backdrop of a blinding sun to send back Ishan Kishan (14) and Shreyas Iyer (0).
Earlier, after England opted to bat, India’s bowlers resembled shipwrecked sailors stranded in the middle of an ocean.
Jasprit Bumrah sat out owing to “reactive swelling in his left knee” following an injury in the second ODI in Cardiff. Shivam Dube was also absent, and in came Prince Yadav and Arshdeep Singh.
Washington Sundar was replaced by K.L. Rahul, which meant India had just five specialist bowlers and very little variety without the wrist spin of Kuldeep Yadav.
The quicks were also largely unimaginative, dropping it short and mostly maintaining a leg-stump line. It no surprise that openers Ben Duckett and Bethell scored more than 70% of their runs on the on-side.
Duckett’s 141 (135b, 18×4, 1×6) was highest individual score in ODIs at this ground, bettering Viv Richards’ unbeaten 138 way back in the 1979 World Cup final.
The 192-run partnership between Duckett and Bethell (91, 93b, 11×4, 2×6) was also the highest for the opening wicket at Lord’s.
Bethell’s stay was highlighted by the two sixes off Prince and Axar Patel, over square-leg and long-off, respectively, as he got to his half-century in 51 balls.
Duckett was a tad slower, reaching the milestone in 64, but was more creative, scoring multiple boundaries behind square by employing the shuffle and the reverse sweep. His fourth ODI century came courtesy a four to the deep mid-wicket fence.
When the southpaw departed in the 44th over, he had laid the perfect foundation. In an ideal world, captain Harry Brook would have been the death-overs enforcer, but it was Joe Root who glinted like gold under the glorious afternoon sunshine as he pulled, reverse-swept and reverse-scooped his way to an unbeaten 74 (48b, 9×4).
Gill often stationed four men on the leg-side boundary and baited the English batters. But Root, the master craftsman, dissected the field with a surgeon’s precision while Jos Buttler was at his maverick best (41 n.o., 13b, 4×4, 3×6), cross-batting and heaving maximums.
The 63 runs Root and Buttler put on in just 19 balls carried England to the highest List-A total ever made at cricket’s most-prestigious piece of real estate. It came scarily close to losing the plot.
Published on Jul 19, 2026
