A much better pitch for the bowlers, with enough movement, a bit of grass and plenty of pace and bounce made this a keener contest between bat and ball, but the run-scoring glut just would not stop, neither would the proverbial high-scoring thriller.
India vs England 2nd ODI highlights
England batted quite brilliantly in the first innings, weathering an early storm from the India fast bowlers to put on 321 in their 50 overs.
Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow struck nice half-centuries, before Ben Stokes, with a little help from Chris Woakes, did what he does best in the final part of the innings to take England well over the 300-mark.
India fashion a reply without their superstars
In reply, India did not get the normal ridiculous, brilliance from Virat Kohli (55, 63b, 8x4) and Yuvraj Singh (45, 57b, 5x4, 1x6) and MS Dhoni (25, 36b, 1x4, 1x6) did not contribute too heavily either, yet, Kedar Jadhav (90, 75b, 12x4, 1x6) and Hardik Pandya (56, 43b, 4x4, 2x6), learning from their former skipper, took the game deep and just when a win looked likely, the nerves came to the fore.
Pandya lost his wicket at a crucial time and then Ravindra Jadeja (10, 6b, 2x4) and R Ashwin (1, 3b) holed out, leaving Jadhav to do too much on his own.
Jadhav and Pandya came together in the 32nd over, when MS Dhoni fell, and they put on 104 runs to take the equation to a makeable 45 from 33 balls. It was not the purest of partnerships, definitely not like the Kohli-Jadhav or Dhoni-Yuvraj ones; there were plenty of edgy shots and enough luck in there, but the key was that neither panicked, when they could easily have.
When Pandya was clean bowled by Ben Stokes in over number 46, the game could have gone either way, even if India were the favourites, considering 9-10 runs an over in the final five is nothing these days.
However, Jadeja, after hitting consecutive fours, pulled a shot straight down the throat of deep midwicket, before R Ashwin went for a big shot he never should have been going for, to leave India eight down and needing 25 from 13.
If Jadhav kept enough strike the equation was still makeable. He did, but for the first two balls of the penultimate over, bowled by Jake Ball, he could not find a single run and then an inside-edge gave him the boundary he was looking for. Ball, though, held his nerve quite well, leaving India needing 16 from the final over.
That last over
Jadhav started off the final over in the best manner possible – by striking a fantastic six over extra cover. Another boundary, this time a four, followed, to the same area, leaving India needing six from the last four Chris Woakes balls.
The drama wasn't done, as two dot balls followed, before the pressure told on Jadhav, who holed out to Sam Billings at deep point, leaving Bhuvneshwar Kumar to hit a six off the last ball for victory.
That was never going to happen was it, as England finally picked up a win in this series.
Ball moving around
Put into bat by Virat Kohli at the Eden Gardens, the England openers – Roy and Sam Billings – struggled a bit initially, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya beating the bat of the two right-handers at will.
Try as the bowlers might, though, the wicket would not come and Roy started to take control. The ball was moving around every time it was pitched on off or outside, so Roy decided to move and try and hit the ball to the vacant areas on the legside and that helped in knocking the Indian bowlers out of their stride.
While Billings continued to struggle at the other end, the fact that Roy kept finding boundaries and runs at will meant the run rate stayed quite high.
Jadeja gets Roy again
The wickets, inevitably, came when the spinners came on, with Ravindra Jadeja picking up Billings (35, 58b, 5x5), who handed a catch to Jasprit Bumrah at short third while going for a reverse-sweep.
Roy (65, 56b, 10x4, 1x6) needed to stay and score a big hundred for England to really go above par in this innings, but the opener, again, failed to make use of his strong start, with Jadeja castling the batsman – the third time he has picked Roy's wicket in this three-match series.
Bairstow and Eoin Morgan tried to maintain the pace of the innings and they did that pretty well by putting on an 84-run run-a-ball partnership.
Stokes and Woakes show
When Morgan (43, 44b, 2x4, 3x6), Jos Buttler (11, 15b, 1x4), Bairstow (56, 64b, 5x4, 1x6), who was given a life on 28 when he was caught at third man off a no-ball from Bumrah, and Moeen Ali (2, 5b) fell –Hardik Pandya helping himself to a few wickets – it was down to Stokes (57 n.o., 39b, 4x4, 2x6) to find top gear, and the left-hander did that in some style, with Woakes (34, 19b, 4x4, 1x6) chipping in with a valuable knock as well.
Scores:
England: 321/8 in 50 overs.
India: 316/9 in 50 overs.
Result: England won by five runs.
Series result: India won the three-match series 2-1.
Bowling: India: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 8-0-56-0; Hardik Pandya 10-1-49-3; Jasprit Bumrah 10-1-68-1; Yuvraj Singh 3-0-17-0; Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-62-2; R Ashwin 9-0-60-0.
England: Chris Woakes 10-0-75-2; David Willey 2-0-8-1; Jake Ball 10-0-56-2; Liam Plunkett 10-0-65-1; Ben Stokes 10-0-63-3; Moeen Ali 8-0-41-0.
Fall of wickets: England: 98/1, Sam Billings (17. 2 overs); 110/2, Jason Roy (19.4 overs); 194/3, Eoin Morgan (33.4 overs); 212/4, Jos Buttler (38 overs); 237/5, Jonny Bairstow (41.3 overs); 246/6, Moeen Ali (43 overs); 319/7, Chris Woakes (49.4 overs); 321/8, Liam Plunkett (50 overs).
India: 13/1, Ajinkya Rahane (1.4 overs); 37/2, KL Rahul (6 overs); 102/3, Virat Kohli (19.4 overs); 133/4, Yuvraj Singh (25.3 overs); 173/5, MS Dhoni (31.4 overs); 277/6, Hardik Pandya (45.3 overs); 291/7, Ravindra Jadeja (46.5 overs); 297/8, R Ashwin (47.5 overs); 316/9, Kedar Jadhav (49.5 overs).
Watch the highlights of the brilliant match HERE
