Rohit Sharma’s historic speech falls short as India lose ODI series at Lord’s Cricket News

With his last stand and his brilliant career in jeopardy, Rohit Sharma He silenced his critics the only way he could, smashing one of his most famous centuries in recent memory, although it was not enough to halt a 27-run defeat in the third ODI against England, with India losing the series 1-2 at Lord’s on Sunday. Despite Rohit’s brilliant 138, Shubman Gill’s 77 and Virat Kohli’s 74, India managed only a mammoth target of 388 for 7, off the back of Ben Duckett’s career-best 142 and Jacob Bethell’s 91. Jos Buttler’s 13-ball 41 proved to be the decisive factor as England scored 82 runs in the last five games. The 39-year-old former skipper is under immense pressure heading into the third and final game amid speculation that selectors and head coaches are ready to replace Rohit. Rohit stepped onto Lord’s hallowed turf with a twin goal in mind: to win the series for India and salvage his legacy, which is being tarnished by constant speculation from a section of the media. He did not lift the bat after completing his 34th ODI hundred – the first century by an Indian batsman at Lord’s. Nor did he acknowledge that after the 110-goal game, the suits in the members’ gallery stood and applauded, his heart, pain and sweat all stitched together. It was his last ODI in England and people will long talk about how the aging star showed determination when the powers that be made him feel unwelcome. Skipper Gill stood at 147 and his old friend Kohli stood at 113 to put forward the vision of a seemingly impossible victory. For Rohit, there were 17 boundaries and 5 sixes – 3 of which came from Josh Tongue – 1 pull, 1 ground and 1 long-on. Sam Curran proved to be England’s bowling hero with a six (4/75 in 10 overs). The pace at which Curran delivered at the time of death allowed Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Kohli to deliver within a gap of seven deliveries, ending any hope India had had. Curran was well supported by left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell (1/49 in 7 overs), a luxury that India never had with Axar Patel playing the lone spinner. Although India lost the series, one thing is for sure: neither Rohit nor Kohli are going anywhere before the 2027 World Cup in South Africa. That day, Gambhir and Gill’s plan was thrown into disarray, playing against four pacers with 51 games of experience, and it backfired badly. The absence of Jasprit Bumrah with a knock injury to his left knee is a blow for India. The four-pronged pace attack, consisting of Prasidh Krishna (2/69 in 10 overs), Arshdeep Singh (0/72 in 10 overs), Prince Yadav (1/79 in 10 overs) and Gurnoor Brar (0/97 in 10 overs), lacked skill and experience against an in-form batting line-up. Duckett and Bethel excelled in both planning and execution. The batting force scored 58 runs in the first 10 overs, but between the 11th and 30th overs, when they really wore down the bowlers, the wheels came off. Since taking charge in 2024, head coach Gambhir has used Kuldeep Yadav in just 38 matches out of a total of 103 matches (three formats) and the lack of second spinner to save Axar Patel (0/61 in 10 overs) has really hurt India. Duckett hit a total of 18 boundaries apart from sixes, while Bethell looked relatively smoother at first, hitting 11 fours and a six before being hit deep off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna. Joe Root (74 off 48 balls) continued his golden streak with another half-century to take his total past the 350-run mark for the third time in three games. Joined by Jos Buttler (41 off 13 balls), Brar got a tough lesson in international cricket and scored nearly 100 runs. It didn’t help matters that rookie Prince struggled with his length when bowled on the famous Lord’s slopes and Besser pulled him to deep mid-wicket for six and then slapped him in the gap between deep mid-wicket and mid-wicket for a boundary. A rusty Arshdeep Singh failed to hold the line and Prasidh Krishna bowled the odd loose delivery despite beating Besser’s bat on several occasions.However, Besser brilliantly completed his half-century with 51 goals, taking England’s total to 100 in the 16th round. By then, the Indian bowlers had conceded 15 boundaries and the lines were badly wrong, leaving the opening pair well into the rhythm. In total, they conceded 42 boundaries and 6 sixes.It also confirms the fact that when the talented Bumrah is working at one end, all other Indian pacers look good and once he is absent, the efficiency disappears. People saw this in the T20Is and now in the ODIs as well.