India vs England 3rd ODI: Virat Kohli lost the toss yet again and was put into bat by Jos Buttler. “I would've bowled first again, but it seems like the toss is completely out of my control,” said Kohli at the toss. Despite losing the toss, the Indian batsmen looked comfortable and took the attack to the England bowlers. But all that went for a toss as India lose Rohit, Dhawan, Virat and KL Rahul early.
India were 103-0 in 14.2 overs, but Rohit Sharma was cleaned up by a googly from Adil Rashid. He went after scoring a run-a-ball 37. Virat Kohli came in with a hope to settle the nerves. Had he scored a hundred in the 3rd ODI against England, he would have equaled Sachin Tendulkar’s record of scoring the most number of centuries on Indian soil in ODIs. But to the disappointment of Indian fans, Kohli got out cheaply after scoring seven runs of 10 balls. Prior to Kohli’s wicket, India lost the other opener Dhawan as well. His was a soft-dismissal as he scooped the ball back to the bowler, Adil Rashid.
KL Rahul also got out to a simple full-toss by the part-time off-spinner Livingstone. He was caught by Moeen Ali at fine leg.
Virat would be disappointed with the flurry of three wickets after getting a good start. Nonetheless, India still has four proper batting options down the order. But India might find themselves to be in a tricky situation if they lost any more wickets in the middle overs. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya were at the crease in the 25th over when India was trying to build a partnership. Still, India are batting at more than six runs per over. So, it will be interesting to see how the Indian batsmen fare in the death overs.