England 235 for 6 (Root 99*, Gurnoor 2-67) beat India 233 (Iyer 66, Kohli 65, Archer 3-47) by four wickets
Amid all the change, all the vacancies and all the uncertainty in English cricket, Joe Root remains its true guiding light. And on Thursday at Sophia Gardens, his 99 not out single-handedly guided England to victory in the second ODI, squaring the series 1-1 after a successful chase of 234.
Root did not seem bothered by missing out on a 21st century in the format, bounding down the track with enthusiasm as Gus Atkinson - 23 not out - pulled behind square with three to get, confirming a four wicket win with 35 balls to spare. This was Root's 67th fifty-plus score, and fifth in succession.
It was as typical as they come Digging the team out of a hole after arriving a ball into the chase, weathering storms that swept others up to leave England 53 for 3. India, having looked light after Virat Kohli's 65 and Shreyas Iyer's 66 were the only scores of note as they were bundled for 233 in 44 overs, were in control for most of the opening exchanges of the second half.
But Root's composure, and occasional help from Sam Curran (26), Will Jacks (30) and Atkinson at the death, ensured the final ODI at Lord's on Sunday will be a winner-takes-all affair.
As far as bad starts to batting innings go, England's was up there. Ben Duckett nicked the first delivery, from Jasprit Bumrah, through to deputy wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, taking the gloves with KL Rahul out with illness. Jacob Bethell's start as a 50-over opener banked a second failure in as many attempts undone for 4 this time. Prasidh Krishna came around the wicket and found some extra bounce to take the face of the bat as the left-hander tried to leave.
It was Harry Brook's innings, however, that left the biggest stink. The limited-overs captain seemed hellbent on a second hall of shame innings in the space of a month. Indeed, this run-a-ball 16 may have been worse than his 21 off 9 in the Test chase at Trent Bridge.
He threw his bat behind him attempting to send the ball into orbit over cow corner. Wore two in the abdomen trying to pull deliveries that weren't short enough. And finally, having already been clocked on the helmet by Prasidh when attempting a fall-away ramp, a repeat of the shot to a 91mph riser from Gurnoor Brar clipped the inside half of the bat through to the keeper. It was wild and not really the kind England needed from their captain. Not for the first time this summer, Root was able to cover for Brook's deficiencies as a leader.
Root brought sense to proceedings, and it helped that India's low score meant England only needed to go at a rate of 4.6 an over to clear the remaining 181 once Brook was out. At one point 5 off 20, Root reached his fifty from 76 deliveries
A stand of 41 run with Curran settled nerves, even if they frayed a little once more when Curran was caught behind off Shivam Dube with Kishan up to the stumps. And more so when Jos Buttler was inexplicably bowled for 17 trying to smash Axar Patel out of the ground.
Root again, though, was the salve to those anxieties, using Gurnoor's pace to slash over to the third boundary, then swivel with a pull shot through fine leg. Those two boundaries helped keep England ahead of the rate while Jacks got himself in. It was only off his 37th ball that he found a boundary, but it was worth the wait, on-driving Prasidh to move to 25. But after almost finding square leg with a heave against Gurnoor in the next over, he backed away and clothed one to Rohit at extra cover.
Root was visibly angry with the manner of the dismissal, spitting feathers as he removed his helmet, ruddy-cheeked from the hours he had put into this chase. With only 37 needed from the final 60, he knuckled down, first to see out Bumrah's final two overs with Atkinson, before the latter stole the show.
It was a show that, for the early parts of the afternoon, looked like belonging to Kohli. In what is likely his penultimate innings on English (and Welsh) soil, his 78th half-century had plenty to savour. The only downside was that, aside from a grittier knock of 66 from Iyer, no other batter made a contribution of note as India scraped to a below-par score. Captain Shubman Gill was the only batter to get off to a flyer, but his form from an unbeaten 80 in the first ODI brought just 31 here before he found extra cover off Atkinson, one of two changes with Saqib Mahmood, as Josh Tongue and Liam Dawson were omitted from England's XI.
Brook's decision to win the toss and bowl in this day-nighter was rooted in recent history with the last three Cardiff ODIs falling to the chaser. Jofra Archer was the key English quick, taking 3 for 47, all the wickets coming in his final five overs, after an exceptional first set in the Powerplay that went wicketless for just 24.
Bowling his final five through to the last 10 overs, Archer removed Kohli with a delivery that nipped away and took a leading edge all the way down to Adil Rashid at deep third. The ball before, Archer had found the other edge off an attempted pull, only for the ball to bounce just shy of Jos Buttler's gloves.
That ended the biggest stand of the innings - 67 for the fourth wicket - between Kohli and Iyer. The former looked in imperious touch, channeling a rousing ovation as he walked out at 44 for 1, off the mark with a boundary driven straight off Archer that spoke to a sense of inevitability.
A brace of fours in the 10th over - stepping down to launch Atkinson over mid-on before punching along the ground through extra cover - took India to a decent 61 for 1 after the Powerplay. Another textbook straight drive, this time off Curran, brought his seventh boundary and took him to 53 off 50. It was his seventh fifty-plus score in his last nine innings. It probably should have been turned into a 55th ODI century.
Archer's removal of Kohli was followed by two-in-two when Axar failed to ramp a bouncer beyond Buttler, then Dube drove back to the bowler for a smart caught-and bowled. Gurnoor wore the hat-trick delivery - and another later on as Archer targeted the left-hander's body - before eventually falling to Mahmood.
Mahmood added Washington Sundar to his account after the batter flailed at a short ball, but found himself on the wrong end of a late flurry from Bumrah.
Alongside Iyer, who was put down on 25 by Duckett at deep square leg, Bumrah looked to make hay in what India could see out in the final 10 overs, finding 18 from Mahmood's ninth. There were four boundaries, three to the leg side, with one of them lifted over deep fine for six. But the veteran quick finished unbeaten on 20 when Iyer's tame poke to Buttler and Prasidh getting his stumps rattled gave Atkinson figures of 3 for 50, with six overs still to bat.
England would have been chasing less had they taken their chances, including off Rohit Sharma for 5. Cramped for room by a length delivery from Archer, he was spilled at deep fine leg by Atkinson, failing to track the ball correctly, and getting into an awkward position before fluffing the catch onto the boundary sponge.
That being said, there was not much to rue as the 39-year old struggled for his timing right through to his top-edged sweep that brought about his end on 26 off 47, looping to Buttler.
Not long after, unconfirmed reports emerged that the third ODI of the series at Lord's on Sunday is likely to be Rohit's last.
