England visited India for 4 Tests, 3 ODIs, 5 T20s series in the month of February 2021. The Indian team had already defeated England in the Test and T20I series and prepared to fight in the 3 ODI matches India vs England 2021 series. England had played 9 ODI series in India and lost 8 out of 9 already. Team England did not have a good record of the ODI series in India as they won a single ODI series in 1984-85 and lost all after that.
England missed Joe Root & Jofra Archer and India was missing Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami & Ravindra Jadeja for the series. The first match of the series was played at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on 23 March 2021. India started the series with some new faces i.e, Krunal Pandya and Prasidh Krishna made their ODI debut for India.
England decided to have the ball in hand first after winning the toss. The Indian team had a favorable start but they lost Rohit Sharma at 64 and then Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan played well and built up a partnership of 105 runs for the 2nd wicket. After the dismissal of Virat, KL Rahul in the middle fired up the inning towards a big total with his partner Krunal Pandya. Krunal Pandya made fifty in his debut match and KL Rahul’s unbeaten 62 helped the team India to reach a total of 317 runs. England got the target of 318 runs to win the first ODI of Ind vs Eng series 2021. England started the chase very well and had added 135 runs for the 1st wicket. But after the dismissal of Jason Roy for 46 runs, the wickets started falling at regular intervals and the entire squad bowled out at 251 runs in 42.1 overs. Debutant Prasidh Krishna took 4 wickets. India won the match by 66 runs and Shikhar Dhawan was named Man of the Match for his 98 runs inning. India led the series by 1-0.
The second ODI was played at the same venue and again England decided to field first after winning the toss. After getting a bad start, Indian captain Virat Kohli and KL Rahul did well and struck 121 runs of partnership for the 3rd wicket. KL Rahul’s added a century and Rishabh Pant speedy 70 runs off 40 balls elevated the total to 336 runs. England started chasing and did again well and added 110 runs for the 1st wicket. After the dismissal of Jason Roy, there was a partnership of 175 runs between Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, Johnny struck a century and Ben Stokes’s 99 helped the target very easy for them. England incredibly achieved the target of 337 runs in 43.3 overs only. That was a massive comeback by the English batsmen. England won the match by 6 wickets and Jonny Bairstow was named Man of the Match. The series was level by 1-1.
In the 3rd ODI, England again won the toss and went for bowling first. Indian openers Rohit and Dhawan started well and added 103 runs for the first wicket partnership. After the dismissal of Rohit Sharma in 14.1 overs, India also lost Virat Kohli very soon. Rishabh Pant at the number 4 position handled the situation but on the other hand, wickets were falling at regular intervals. Hardik Pandya and Pant decided to take charge and they made a crucial partnership of 99 runs that helped India to reach 329 total in 48.2 overs. Adil Rashid was impressive in the 3rd ODI and took 4 wickets. The England team did not give the same start as they had given in the last 2 matches. Wickets were falling at the regular intervals, on the other hand, Sam Curran made an excellent effort and struck unbeaten 95 runs but that was not enough. India won the 3rd match by 7 runs and won the series. Sam Curran was named Man of the Match for his excellent effort.
India won the 3 ODI matches Ind vs Eng series 2021 by 2-1 and Jonny Bairstow was named Man of the Series.
Jonny Bairstow was the top scorer with 219 runs and Shardul Thakur was the highest wicket-taker with 7 wickets in the series.