England all-rounder Sam Curran handed India a mighty scare with his magnificent knock of unbeaten 95 runs in the third and final ODI in Pune on Sunday. In pursuit of the 330-run target, England were left reeling at 168/6 at one stage before Curran’s incredible fightback took the visitors close to victory. However, his knock eventually went in vain as India recorded a thrilling 7-run win.
England got off to a poor start in the chase as in-form openers Jonny Bairstow (1) and Jason Roy (14) were both dismissed cheaply before Ben Stokes (35) and Dawid Malan (50) steadied the ship for the visitors. England lost the wickets of Stokes and Jos Buttler (15) in quick succession while Liam Livingstone (36) and Moeen Ali (29) too couldn’t convert their starts into big scores.
Curran then produced a batting masterclass after coming out to bat at number eight and played one of the finest knocks at the position in ODI history as he almost single-handedly pulled off a miraculous run-chase for England. The left-hander scored a brilliant 85 off 83 deliveries laced with 9 fours and three sixes. He remained unbeaten till the end but England ended up falling short by seven runs at the end to concede the series 2-1.
Nonetheless, Curran achieved a personal milestone with his stupendous knock and equalled the world record for the highest individual score by a number 8 batsman in ODI history. Curran equalled the record of his England teammate Chris Woakes, who had scored 95 off 83 balls while batting against Sri Lanka in 2016.
