India registered a thrilling 7-run win in the third and final ODI against England at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Sunday to clinch the series 2-1 and complete a clean sweep of series wins over the visitors.

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Chasing a 330-run target, England seemed dead and buried as Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed Moeen Ali with the score at 200 for the loss of seven. Kumar and Shardul Thakur shared seven wickets between them.  

However, English all-rounder Sam Curran resurrected the visitor’s chase with the highest-ever score for a number eight batsman, smashing an unbeaten 95 off 83 deliveries to nearly snatch an impossible win for England. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar had the last laugh against opener Jason Roy (14), who smashed him for three boundaries in the first over of the chase, clipping the top of off stump with a jaffer of a final delivery.

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Kumar also removed Jonny Bairstow (1) to give India and ideal start to the defence. Ben Stokes (35) was unable to make Hardik Pandya pay for dropping him earlier, eventually being caught by Shikhar Dhawan off T Natarajan. 

Liam Livingstone (35) and Dawid Malan (50) – who struck his maiden ODI fifty – stitched a handy partnership after skipper Jos Buttler (15) was dismissed cheaply, but soon fell prey to Thakur.  

Adil Rashid was the eighth batsman to depart with the score at 257 before Curran single-handedly kept England alive and took the contest to the death. India could have snuffed the fightback in the penultimate over, but consecutive dropped catches extended both Curran and Mark Wood’s stay in the middle. 

T Natarajan kept his nerve in the final over, conceding just six runs to seal the win. 

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Earlier, England’s spin attack wreaked havoc on the Indian top-order, claiming the top four batsmen, as India were bundled out for 329 runs. 

Having lost the toss and put into bat, openers Rohit Sharma (37) and Shikhar Dhawan (67) gave the hosts the perfect start with their 17th 100-run opening stand in ODIs before both fell prey to Adil Rashid’s googlies. 

Skipper Virat Kohli (7) was then bowled over by Moeen Ali before all-rounder Liam Livingstone dismissed KL Rahul (7) to rattle the Indian innings. 

Rishabh Pant (78) and Hardik Pandya (64) then led a counter-attack, adding 99 runs for the fifth wicket in quick time, to stabilise the innings before falling to Sam Curran and Ben Stokes respectively. 

Krunal Pandya (25) and Shardul Thakur (31) pitched in with impressive cameos, but India lost their last four batters for just eight runs.