With his back to the wall and an illustrious career online, Rohit Sharma silenced his critics the only way he can, smashing one of his most celebrated centuries in recent memory, although it was not enough to prevent a 27-run defeat in the third ODI against England, as India surrendered the series 1-2 at Lord’s on Sunday. Despite Rohit’s magnificent 138, Shubman Gill’s 77 and Virat Kohli’s 74, India only managed 360 for 7 in pursuit of a mammoth target of 388 built on the back of a career-high 142 from Ben Duckett and 91 from Jacob Bethell. The 13-ball 41 from Jos Buttler proved to be the deciding factor as England scored 82 in their last five overs. With speculation about the selectors and head coach ready to move on from Rohit, the 39-year-old former captain faced enormous pressure going into the third and final game. Rohit walked onto the hallowed grounds of Lord’s with a double aim: to win a series for India and save his legacy, which was marred by constant speculation from a section of the media. He did not lift his bat after completing his 34th ODI hundred – the first by an Indian batsman at Lord’s. Nor did he recognize the standing ovation from the clothes at the Members’ Balcony after a blow of 110 balls sewn with the heart, hurt and sweat. It was the last time he played an ODI in England, and people were talking for the longest time about how an aging star proved resolute when the powers that be made him feel unwanted. A stand of 147 with skipper Gill and 113 with his old friend Kohli raised visions of an unlikely victory. For Rohit, there were 17 boundaries and five sixes – three off Josh Tongue – a pull, one down the ground, and a long on. There was a six from Sam Curran (4/75 in 10 overs), who proved to be the bowling hero for England. Curran’s pace off the deliveries at the death accounted for Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Kohli in the space of seven deliveries to end any hope India had nurtured. Curran got support from left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell (1/49 in 7 overs), a luxury India never had to play a lone spinner in Axar Patel. While India lost the series, one thing is certain: neither Rohit nor Kohli will be going anywhere until the 2027 World Cup in South Africa. On the day, Gambhir and Gill’s planning went wrong and four pacers with a combined experience of 51 matches went wrong. Jasprit Bumrah’s absence due to an impact injury to his left knee was a blow for India. The four-pronged pace attack comprising 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 Bethell were fantastic in terms of planning and execution. The batting power of the first 10 overs yielded 58 runs, but the wheels came off between overs 11 to 30 when they literally ran the bowlers ragged. With coach Gambhir using Kuldeep Yadav in just 38 matches out of a total of 103 matches (across three formats) since his appointment in 2024, the lack of a second spinner save Axar Patel (0/61 in 10 overs) has hurt India. While Duckett hit 18 boundaries in all apart from a six, Bethell, who looked comparatively more fluent at the start, hit 11 fours and a six, before being caught in the deep off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna. Joe Root (74 not out off 48 balls) continued his golden form with another half-century – his third in three matches – to take the total to the 350-run mark. Jos Buttler (41 not out off 13 balls) also joined in the fun as Brar took a tough lesson in international cricket, going for almost 100 runs. Early on, it didn’t help that the rookie prince, bowling up the famous Lord’s slope, struggled with his length as Bethell pulled it for a six over deep mid-wicket and then slapped it into the gap between deep mid-wicket and mid-on for a boundary. The rusty Arshdeep Singh did not hold his line while Prasidh Krishna, despite beating the Bethell batsman on several occasions, also bowled the odd free delivery.However, Bethell did well to complete his half-century off 51 balls as England reached the team’s total of 100 from the 16th over. At that time, the Indian bowlers had already conceded 15 boundaries and the lines were terribly wrong, allowing the opening pair to settle well into a rhythm. In all, they conceded 42 boundaries and six sixes.It also established the fact that all other Indian pacers look good when the brilliant Bumrah is at work at one end and that effectiveness fades away once he is absent. One has seen that in the T20Is and now in ODIs as well.