England 387 for 3 (Duckett 141, Bethell 91, Root 74*, Buttler 41*) beat India 360 for 7 (Rohit 138, Gill 77, Kohli 74) by 27 runs
If this was to be the last time Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli grace English cricket, then so be it. For all who came to Lord's for this third ODI got to see their experienced stars show out.
Rohit blitzed 138, his 34th ODI century. Kohli with 74, a 133rd score of fifty or more, full of gear shifts up and down. The only thing missing? Victory.
That belonged, emphatically, to England by 27 runs. They batted spectacularly to set India a mammoth 388 in this series decider, and then refused to blink with the ball to secure a 2-1 series win - their first against India since 2018, only their eighth overall in 22 attempts.
England's 387 for 3 is now the highest List A total at Lord's, the foundations of which were a new highest individual ODI score at the venue, set by Ben Duckett's brutal 141, his fourth hundred in the format. That, too, in a highest partnership for any wicket against India, as he and Jacob Bethell opened up the innings with 192. It was also England's highest ODI total against India.
It was the first century stand between England's top two since Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow put on 115 against Bangladesh in the 2023 ODI World Cup. And in the hunt for an opening stand to mimic the glory years, Bethell's 91 in his third go opening the batting, after 14 and 4 in the first two matches of this series, underlined the faith behind his promotion.
But it was the assault at the death that proved just as crucial. Joe Root finished unbeaten on a classy unbeaten 74 off 48 - a sixth consecutive ODI fifty - while Jos Buttler brought some old-school bangers with 41* from 13 deliveries - his highest score in eight innings. They put on 63 of the 82 in the final five overs of the first innings, tipping the chase out of reach. For context, India required 74 from their final 30 deliveries.
It was two balls into that period that Sam Curran removed Kohli. To go by the departures from the stand after a rousing standing ovation, that was the moment India knew the game was up. The allrounder then made it four skied moonballs - all caught within 10 yards of the 30-yard circle - for 75 from his 10 overs. India eventually finished 360 for 7.
India were undoubtedly held back by the loss of Jasprit Bumrah through a knee injury sustained during the second ODI in Cardiff. But with Washington Sundar also out with a hamstring issue sustained during the same match, the India brains trust decided to bring in Arshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav - along with KL Rahul returning from illness for Shivam Dube.
That ended up being far from the truth. Axar was the most economical at 6.1 an over while the quicks were ransacked, particularly in a final flurry that saw the last 39 deliveries (upon the dismissal of Duckett) producing 94 runs.
If England were greedy, they would belie a hundred missed by Bethell. But what agony there may have been at missing out - he only has three of them across his professional career - was covered for in strokeplay and the timeliness of the 22-year old's seventh fifty-plus score.
The left-hander's grace, when driving down the ground twice among his 11 fours, and even in his two sixes, pulling Prince Yadav over backward square leg and depositing Axar in the second tier of the pavilion, felt like a nod to above. A tribute to Sir Garfield Sobers, who passed on Friday at the age of 89. Bethell came across Sobers' radar as a youngster growing up in Barbados. The immediate interest from the legendary allrounder extended to a reference letter that banked Bethell a place at Rugby School - the point when the wheels of a prospective England career began turning.
An innings full of crisp timing and accurate placement came to an end through too much of the former and not enough of the latter. Extra bounce from Prasidh Krishna was helped towards the square leg boundary, Rohit just needing a couple of paces to collect a comfortable catch.
Duckett and Root put on 101 for 80 balls, the former completing his century in a speed-run that saw the second fifty to three figures take just 44 balls compared to 64 for the first.
Sweep-heavy as part of a typical method that brought Duckett 90 runs behind square from 46 deliveries, and in full kitchen-sink mode by the end, he carved Arshdeep to the deep cover point. KL Rahul, having taken a smart catch, could not avoid stepping onto the sponge for Duckett's only six of the innings. That would be the last of 19 boundaries, dismissed an over later when he flapped a Prince slower bouncer back to the bowler.
A sequence of three sixes across four deliveries was part of an emphatic exclamation point from Buttler. The middle of them a stunning back-foot slap shot to a Prasidh short ball that landed just shy of the advertising boards at the Pavilion End. And he and Root found 39 from the final two overs, a target of 388 was laid at India's door.
And so it was Rohit who walked out of it first, with the eyes of the world watching, and perhaps just as many judging. He unfurled the only appropriate response to pressure upon his international future and his team.
Potentially his last innings outright as an Indian cricketer, Rohit dug deep into his bank of memory, experience and perhaps even emotion. And in doing so he emerged as the first Indian man to strike an ODI century at Lord's, his eighth in England.
It was more than 84 balls that took him to three figures, met with no more than a raise of the bat, helmet remaining on with more work to do. Among the 15 boundaries were pulls, drives and even a couple of deft dabs around the corner - consecutively against Gus Atkinson- that took him to a run-a-ball 50.
He dovetailed with Gill for a stand that looked odds on to match, if not better, England's openers. In the end, it was closed out on 147 when Gill, a crisp 77 to his name littered with immaculate stunning drives, was lbw to Adil Rashid.
Rohit cracked on in furious fashion, 88 coming from his last 60 deliveries. A chase of this magnitude needed someone to go big, and there were times, particularly in the afterglow of Rohit's six fence-clearing strikes - and certainly after two back-to-back off the returning Josh Tongue (for Saqib Mahmood) over long on and long off - that the game seemed to be bending India's way.
And yet in the face of destiny beholden to one of the true ODI greats, England stuck at it. Drying up first and then, after Bethell had been slog-swept for what proved to be the last of Rohit's 22 boundaries, finally removing the man commanding the moment. A dart from the left-arm spinner snuck past the pad as the 39-year old shuffled across. Stumps were shattered. Hearts, too.
Not all of them, certainly not Kohli's just yet. With 110 needed for the final 54 deliveries, and now Ishan Kishan for company, he found a brace of sixes off Will Jacks's off spin. Straight as a die down the ground - bringing up a first fifty at Lord's in any format - then audaciously behind square when full on his toes.
By then, however, the rate was above 12. Those strikes had to be repeated each over right through to the end, and then some. Kishan's attempt to find the midwicket fence was undone by a 50mph slower ball from Curran, nestling safely in the hands of sub-fielder Rehan Ahmed rushing in from the boundary. And then a repeat combination did for Shreyas Iyer three balls later - this time Rehan charging in from deep cover and diving forward to take a truly special catch.
Curran's persistence with his moon ball paid dividends. He might have also been rewarded with Rohit's wicket on 128; given not out lbw to a full one he failed to sweep, with the DRS review coming back with an umpire's call on the projected impact into off stump. The allrounder would get a big name to keep as Kohli, into the final five overs, skewed high into the hands of Brook at extra cover.
It was the kind of big game temperament that has Curran touted as a potential white-ball captain in the event Brook is entrusted with the Test job. And he will have certainly helped now solely limited overs coach Brendon McCullum, who having been stood down as Test coach last week, has overseen T20I and ODI series wins against the standard-setters of the white ball game.
