Pant's classic blows England away.
Chasing 259 on a track that had nothing but bounce for the bowlers, India found themselves in all sorts of trouble as they were reeling at 3 for 38 with India's top 3 back in the pavilion courtesy the left arm bowling of the duo Reece Topley and David Willey who scalped 2 and 1 wickets respectively.
It reminded of the same old misery that India have had over the years. The duo of Rishabh Pant and Surya Kumar Yadav who walked in 4 and 5 respectively tried to steady the nerves but with Surya's dismissal, the match tilted entirely towards England.
Hardik Pandya walked in at 6 and the duo of Pant and Pandya had an uphill task in hand. Not only they had to match caution with aggression and take India home but also they had to remember that it was probably the last batting partnership with no buffer of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The duo played a smart brand of cricket. Hardik took his chances with calculative approach while Pant looked to attack the loose balls and keep running in singles and couples. Finally after years of struggle India had finally restored the middle order owes as the duo reached their half-centuries in succesive overs.
It was then that the duo started hitting their shots, Hardik however perished after a brilliant 71 off 55 balls while Rishabh Pant upped his ante and brought up his maiden ODI Hundred in the process. It was a match winning one and probably his career defining one too.
Pant hit 5 consecutive fours after reaching his century to David Willey and finished off the game by hitting a signature reverse sweep to Joe Root. Pant stayed unbeaten at 125 with 16 fours and 2 sixes as India sealed the match as well as the series with a 5 wicket win.
Earlier India had won the toss and elected to bowl on a bouncy track. Mohammad Siraj who walked in as a replacement to Jasprit Bumrah scalped the wickets of Bairstow and Root for ducks in his first over.
Jason Roy and Ben Stokes steadied the ship but were both undone with Hardik Pandya's short ball ploy.
Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali stitched a valuable 75 runs partnership. Moeen Ali fell in an unfortunate way to Jadeja being caught at leg side.
Jos Buttler who brought up his maiden half-century after being nominated as England's captain looked to play aggressively but got caught in the deep to Jadeja as Hardik pitched one short. The mode of dismissal got repeated once again as Livingstone too fell next.
The tail was later swept off by Yuzvendra Chahal as England was all out for 259 in 46 overs.
Hardik returned with his best ODI match figures of 4 for 24 while Chahal scalped 3 wickets along with Siraj who had 2 wickets.
Brief Scores:
England: 259/10 (45.5 overs).
Buttler: 60.
Roy: 41.
Hardik: 4w.
Chahal: 3w.
India: 261/5 (42.1 overs).
Pant: 125*.
Hardik: 71.
Topley: 3w.
India won the match by 5 wickets.