Match Report: India beat England by 7 wickets, seal series 2-1
Bristol, July 8 - India rode on Rohit Sharma's unbeaten century and Hardik Pandya's four-wicket haul to breeze past England by seven wickets at the County Ground on Sunday to clinch the three-match T20I series 2-1 Chasing 199 for victory,
Kohli and Rohit then took India to 100/2 in 10 overs and were on course for a win with a 89-run stand for the third wicket. Jordan gave England a ray of hope when things looked dim for the hosts by picking up Kohli's wicket with a sharp catch off his own bowling.
With India still needing 48 runs for victory and five overs remaining, Pandya was promoted up the order. He smashed Willey for a six and two fours in the 18th over to take India to within touching distance of the target.
Rohit, in the next over, completed his hundred by dabbing the ball towards backward point while Pandya hit Jordan for a six to guide India over the line.
Earlier, it was Pandya who hauled the visitors back into the game after openers Jos Buttler (34; 21b; 7x4) and Roy gave England a flying start.
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Hardik returned with career best bowling figures (4/38) but England posted a challenging 198/9.
Pandya bowled 11 dot balls in the middle overs and accounted for the wickets of Alex Hales (30; 24b; 3x4; 2x6), skipper Eoin Morgan (6), comeback man Ben Stokes (14) and Jonny Bairstow (25; 14b, 2x4, 2x6).
Giving 22 runs in his first over with England's top-scorer Jason Roy (67; 31b; 4x4, 7x6) taking him to the cleaners, the all-rounder came roaring back to first remove Morgan and Hales in the same over and then repeating the same in the 18th over to send Stokes and Bairstow back on his fourth and sixth delivery.
Veteran M.S. Dhoni was also at his best behind the stumps, taking five catches and effecting one brilliant run out in the last ball of England's innings to get Jordan's wicket. Dhoni became the first glovesman to take five catches in a T20I, while also becoming the first man behind the stumps to pocket 50 catches in this format.
Buttler and Roy scored 73/0 in six overs with both in-form batters smacking 10 fours and four sixes in the process.
Deepak Chahar (1/43) -- making his international debut in place of injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- did not start off well, going for 13 runs with Buttler hitting him for three fours.
The 27-year-old Roy hit the first six of the match in the fourth over, a princely down the ground shot at long off before tonking Siddharth Kaul (2/35) for another maximum in the next over to show his intent.
