Watch cricket video highlights of England tour of India 2025. Third ODI between India and England. Venue of the match will be Ahmedabad.
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If India’s victories by four wickets over England in the initial two ODIs didn’t showcase the disparity between the teams, their 142-run triumph in the third match at the Narendra Modi Stadium certainly did. This result also confirmed a final series score of 3-0. The significant margin was largely due to Shubman Gill’s century of 112 runs in his 50th ODI appearance, marking his seventh hundred and helping India reach a total of 356 runs.
Without Adil Rashid’s impressive figures of 4 for 64, his best performance in India, the score could have been significantly higher. The difference in the match could have been even greater if not for Gus Atkinson’s aggressive 38 runs at the end from just 19 balls. However, this highlighted England’s disappointing batting display, as Atkinson ended up as one of the team’s top scorers alongside Tom Banton, who joined the squad on Monday as an injury replacement for Jacob Bethell.
England concluded this limited-overs tour with a disappointing tally of seven losses out of eight games, with this defeat marking their 16th in 23 ODIs since the 2023 World Cup. Initially, the tourists were making headway in their chase for the 357-run target, having reached 126 for 2 by the 18th over. However, the middle order once again collapsed, dropping to 175 for 8 in the 31st over.
This time, with Varun Chakravarthy (dealing with a sore calf), Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Shami rested, the spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, and Arshdeep Singh made a significant impact. Both teams entered Ahmedabad aiming to fine-tune their strategies in this final ODI before the Champions Trophy; for England, it was a chance to completely reset. India made three changes for the match, which were as much about experimentation as Jos Buttler’s choice to bowl first after England had batted in the initial matches in Nagpur and Cuttack.
Gill took full advantage of batting first this time. Following scores of 87 and 60 in the previous matches, he was flawless throughout his innings, breaking a “slump” of 14 matches without a century. He was well supported during his time at the crease, with Virat Kohli scoring 52 and Shreyas Iyer contributing a quickfire 78 off 64 balls, which helped establish partnerships of 116 and 104, respectively. A 29-ball 40 from KL Rahul, along with some late-order contributions, propelled India to their highest total at this venue and tied for the third-highest against England.
One could argue that England’s best moment on Wednesday came when Mark Wood dismissed Rohit Sharma with his opening delivery of the match. Coming off a remarkable 32nd ODI century, Rohit faced just two balls as Wood delivered a ball that angled into off stump, nipping off the surface and resulting in an edge to a diving Phil Salt. Gill and Kohli emerged from the powerplay eager to score, a momentum that was only somewhat slowed when Rashid was brought into the attack in the 15th over.
The legspinner’s capture of Kohli, who notched his 123rd fifty-plus ODI score in just 50 deliveries, foreshadowed what was to follow. Dip brought the right-handed batter forward, and grip and rip resulted in another edge for Salt. Shreyas came in and quickly found his rhythm, forming a century partnership with Gill in 85 balls, with both players contributing evenly. By that point, Gill had elegantly struck Wood through midwicket, bringing up his century in 95 balls.
After reaching the milestone, Gill played more freely, launching Rashid straight down the ground for six, but was ultimately bowled by the same bowler as he attempted an awkward swipe at a straight delivery. Rashid was also involved again when Shreyas, eager to accelerate after achieving a half-century from 43 balls, carelessly gloved a delivery down the leg side, leading to another excellent catch by Salt. Hardik Pandya was bowled by a beautiful leg break, but not before hitting Rashid for back-to-back sixes straight down the ground.
Having extended his arms during the stroke, the allrounder chose to play cautiously to navigate through the 41st over, only to be deceived by a slower delivery that spun sharply from a middle-and-leg line, bypassing the bat and striking the middle-and-off bail. India eventually got bowled out, losing three wickets for just three runs in the last seven balls of their innings. For what it’s worth, England kept up with the required run rate of 7.14 for a significant part of their chase.
The issue was the consistent downfall in the wicket column, as the last eight batsmen only managed 88 runs. Ben Duckett, who had exited the field with a thigh injury during the first innings, sprinted out of the blocks, hitting four fours against both Harshit Rana and Arshdeep. Duckett’s boundaries off the former came from consecutive balls, but the left-arm bowler had the last laugh, deceiving Duckett with a knuckleball that was caught high by Rohit at mid-off after he scored 34.
A solid start of 60 runs in just 6.2 overs gave England a good foundation, but Salt’s mishit off an Arshdeep slower ball to backward point meant neither opener survived the first ten overs. Joe Root and Tom Banton managed to build a partnership, with Banton making his first international appearance in over a year as he replaced Jamie Overton in the playing XI. Fresh from leading the ILT20 run charts with MI Emirates, Banton demonstrated his remarkable strokeplay, hitting reverse-swept sixes off both Washington and Axar Patel.
He was fortunate on two occasions, almost getting stumped after charging and edging Washington at 7, and narrowly escaping a run-out on 24 when Axar missed his overarm throw from just five yards, where an underarm throw would have been more effective. Kuldeep was responsible for dismissing Banton, who was caught behind off a wrong ‘un – the first of England’s last five established batters to go for only 48 runs.
Root fell victim to a yorker from Axar, then Rana returned for a second spell, dismissing both Buttler and Harry Brook, who were dismissed while batting. A frustrating stay of 23 balls for Liam Livingstone ended when he was deceived by a delivery from Washington, leading to Pandya demolishing Rashid’s off stump as the batter misjudged his pull shot. Heavy hitting from Wood and Atkinson barely made a dent in the devastation of this match and the white-ball series as a whole, as England ultimately crumbled with 94 balls remaining in their innings.
This leaves head coach Brendon McCullum with the challenge of motivating his team as they head to Pakistan for their Champions Trophy opener against Australia on February 22. In contrast, India will start their campaign two days earlier against Bangladesh in Dubai in much better shape, having demonstrated why they are clear favorites for a second ICC trophy in just a year.
