‘Gave away a lot of runs in the last three overs’: Gill as India suffers ODI series loss to England

LONDON: India skipper Shubman Gill rued his side’s expensive finish with the ball, saying the final three overs, in which England scored 62 runs, proved to be the decisive phase in India’s 27-run defeat in the third and final ODI at Lord’s on Sunday.

England’s late onslaught by Jos Buttler (41 runs off 13 balls) and Joe Root (74 runs off 48 balls) propelled them to a record-breaking 387/3, the highest ODI total at Lord’s, before the Three Lions restricted India to 360/7 to clinch the three-match series 2-1.

India conceded a massive 126 runs in overs 41-50 with Gurnoor Brar and Prasidh Krishna conceding 23 runs each in the 48th and 49th overs, while Prince Yadav gave away 16 in the last over.

Reflecting on the defeat after the match, Gill admitted India were in the contest until the closing stages of England’s innings but felt the late surge took the game away from the visitors. “We were right in the game until the 45th over. Gave away a lot of runs in the last three overs. That’s where the game went away from us,” Gill said during the post-match presentations.

SHUBMAN GILL’S HONEST ASSESSMENT OF INDIA’S ODI SERIES

Shubman Gill reflected on India’s performance and highlighted the areas where the team fell short:

– Our bowling attack is still relatively inexperienced, and we struggled to handle pressure during crucial phases of…

— Manoj Tiwari (@ManojTiwariIND) July 20, 2026

Coming to India’s chase, Rohit led India’s chase with a scintillating 138 off 110 balls, his 34th ODI century and the highest individual ODI score by an Indian against England in England, eclipsing his own unbeaten 137 at Trent Bridge in 2018.

Shubman Gill made 77, while Virat Kohli contributed 74 and shared a 113-run second-wicket stand with Rohit, their 21st century partnership in ODIs. At 304/2, India looked on course for a record chase before suffering a collapse, losing three wickets for 12 runs. Sam Curran’s four-wicket haul and Jofra Archer’s timely strike helped England restrict India to 360/7, sealing a 27-run victory.

The Indian skipper revealed that the team’s plan during the chase was to preserve wickets while keeping the required rate under control before launching an assault in the final 10 overs. “We thought if we had wickets in hand after 40 overs, we would be in the game. At the same time, we didn’t want to be too far behind. After the powerplay, we tried to play at 6-6.5 runs per over and chase at 10 in the last ten,” he said.

He also praised Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, saying they have consistently performed around the world, while describing Rohit’s century on a slowing pitch as a treat to watch.

“Almost everyone got runs. In this match particularly, we didn’t bowl well in the first powerplay. The way they capitalised never gave us chance to come back. At the death they got too far away from us. [Rohit and Kohli] They have done well over the years in different parts of the world. Pleased with how Rohit batted today. The wicket got slow in the end, wasn’t easy to bat, but treat to watch,” Gill said.

In the first innings, Duckett put on a magnificent partnership of 192 runs with Jacob Bethell (91 in 93 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes). Duckett carried on the pillage with another century stand with Root (74* in 48 balls, with nine fours), with the latter having made 496 runs in six ODIs this year at an average of 248.00, ending unbeaten four times with a century and five fifties to his name.

Root has managed fifties in all matches of the series and has gone 249 runs in this series without getting out (the most by a batter in an ODI series), scoring an unbeaten 76* to steer his side through a collapse in the 1st ODI and following it with a 99* in the 2nd ODI.

A quick cameo from Jos Buttler (41* in 13 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) took England to 387/3, the highest-ever score at Lord’s, outdoing their own 334/4 against the same opposition in the 1975 World Cup edition.

In their quickfire 63-run stand in just 19 balls, Root and Buttler plundered runs at a run-rate of 19.89 – the highest ever for a 50+ partnership against India in ODIs. Previous highest: 15.85 (74 off 28 balls) between Ross Taylor & Corey Anderson in Hamilton in 2014.

This is also the fourth-highest ODI score against India, with 438/4 by South Africa in 2015 in Mumbai still standing as the highest score, followed by 411/8 by Sri Lanka at Rajkot in 2009.

India conceded a massive 126 runs in overs 41-50, their third-worst showing in this phase of an innings, as they clearly missed an injured Jasprit Bumrah. 144 runs conceded against SA in 2015 in Mumbai is their worst death phase showing.

Pacer Gurnoor Brar, who had been impressive so far since his debut in the Afghanistan series, went wicketless in his 10-over 97-run spell, the third worst by an Indian bowler, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 1/106 against SA in 2015 at Mumbai being the worst ODI bowling figures by an Indian.

Prasidh Krishna (2/69), however, was a positive, as he completed 50 ODI scalps, tying with Bumrah as the third-fastest Indian to 50 wickets milestone. (ANI)