Can England avoid a 0-3 drubbing?
After Rohit Sharma smashed his way back into some form and helped India seal the ODI series, hosts India will now be looking for a clean sweep as they prepare for the third and final ODI against England. It will also be both teams’ final ODI game before the Champions Trophy and will be the last chance for the teams to finalise their setups.
Ahead of the third ODI between India and England, here’s our match preview and predictions.
India vs England 3rd ODI | England tour of India 2025 | 13:30 IST, February 12
The English batters, all of the top six, were amongst the runs in Cuttack with Ben Duckett and Phil Salt giving the hosts a flyer once again. Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jos Buttler all got runs in the middle order, building on the platform set by the openers but they know that in Asian conditions, one of them would need to bat through to have the team bat around himself which the middle order failed to do. Liam Livingstone’s lower order fireworks saw England cross 300 which would be a positive sign for Buttler and co. but Buttler will be expecting more responsibility from his set batters.
There was not much for the English bowlers as Rohit Sharma launched into them early on with Shubman Gill which took the game away from the visitors. Liam Livingstone though was more than handy for his captain as was Jamie Overton, towards the end of the innings, although the game was all but done by then.
The hosts meanwhile, saw captain Rohit Sharma finally find some form as the veteran batter smashed his way in quintessential style to notch up his 32nd ODI century. Not only will Sharma’s form be crucial ahead of the Champions Trophy, his opening partner Shubman Gill played a fine fiddle to Sharma’s fireworks. Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel continued to be a solid glue in the middle order but Virat Kohli’s poor run would be something that the team management will be looking at.
With the ball, the Indian spinners continued to trouble the English batters with Varun Chakravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel not giving anything away. While the Indian seamers have been a touch expensive, young Harshit Rana has been a good find for the team.
The final ODI will be at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which should bring about a lot of runs once again and given the current form, it will be hosts India starting as favourites once again.
Fantasy XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Joe Root, Harry Brook, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid
Venue: Ahmedabad
Winners Prediction: India
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