India captain Virat Kohli was surprised that Shardul Thakur was not adjudged the man-of-the-match for his performance in the third and final ODI against England in Pune while Bhuvneshwar Kumar not getting man-of-the-series despite some impressive bowling performances in the three-match bilateral tie.
Thakur picked up a four-wicket haul during the third ODI.
“I’m surprised Shardul wasn’t the man of the match, and Bhuvi wasn’t the man of the series. A lot of credit to them for bowling so well in adverse conditions,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
India etched a win in the final ODI by 7 runs after a nail-biting finish to the game. Sam Curran who came out to bat when the visitors were struggling at 168/6 chasing 330 scored 95*. Though, he failed to take England over the line but Curran did give a hard time to the Indian bowlers.
The left-handed batsman was given the man-of-the-match for his performance.
Earlier, India rode on Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant’s individual fifties and some late surge from Shardul Thakur to put 329 on the board before getting bundled out. Mark Wood was the pick of the bowlers for England after he returned with figures of 3/34 in 7 overs.
Later, Bhuvneshwar Kumar did give a perfect start to the Indian team with the ball after scalping some early wickets during the course. England were left tottering at 200/7 when Curran took the onus on himself and first stitched a stand of 57 runs with Adil Rashid for the 8th wicket and then put 60 runs for the ninth wicket with Wood. They were eventually restricted to 329/9 in 50 overs.
India clinched the ODI series 2-1.