Rohit, Virat proved once again that they are strong batsmen: BCCI VP Rajeev Shukla

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice President Rajeev Shukla hailed veteran Indian batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for their performance in the third ODI against England at Lord's despite the Men in Blue's series-deciding 27-run defeat.

The Lord's ODI between India and England turned into a high-scoring affair, with the two teams combining for 747 runs. Rohit Sharma produced one of the finest knocks of his ODI career, scoring a magnificent 138 off 110 balls--his 34th ODI century--to become the first Indian batter to score an ODI hundred at Lord's and register the highest individual ODI score by an Indian against England in England, surpassing his own unbeaten 137 at Trent Bridge in 2018.

He shared a 147-run opening stand with Shubman Gill (77) before adding 113 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli, who struck a fluent 74 off 60 balls. The Rohit-Kohli partnership was their 21st century stand in ODIs, taking them to second on the all-time list behind Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. However, despite all this, India went down to England by 27 runs.

Notably, England's 62-run blitz in the final three overs proved decisive in India's 27-run defeat. Jos Buttler's unbeaten 41 off 13 balls and Joe Root's 74 off 48 powered England to a record 387/3--the highest ODI total at Lord's--before the hosts restricted India to 360/7 to seal the three-match series 2-1.

Speaking to ANI, the BCCI VP Rajeev Shukla said England's late onslaught in the final three overs proved decisive in India's defeat.

"Today's match was certainly a hard-fought one, there's no doubt about that. They ended up scoring too many runs--they made 60 runs in the last three overs--and that was a bit of a shortcoming. Otherwise, our batsmen also put up a fantastic performance, especially our veteran icons, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. They proved once again that they are strong batsmen and still have the power in them. In my opinion, the biggest highlights today were the batting of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, followed by Shubman Gill. So, I feel the team combination is good and everything is fine. However, they just scored more runs, which is why we had to face this struggle," he said.

Asked to bat first, England piled up a record 387/3, the highest ODI total at Lord's, thanks to a dominant batting display. Openers Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell stitched together a 192-run partnership to lay the perfect platform.

Root remained unbeaten on 74 off 48 balls, while Jos Buttler smashed 41* off just 13 deliveries as the pair added 62 runs in the final three overs. India's bowlers struggled throughout, with Prasidh Krishna (2/69) emerging as the only wicket-taker of note.

Facing an uphill task, India responded with Rohit and current skipper Gill adding 147 runs for the opening wicket, with Rohit leading the charge in vintage style.

Rohit silenced his critics with a brilliant 138 off 110 balls, registering his 34th ODI century. His innings featured 17 fours and five sixes, while Gill provided ideal support with a composed 77. Notably, Rohit's 138 is now the highest individual ODI score by an Indian against England in England, surpassing his own unbeaten 137 at Trent Bridge in 2018.

Virat Kohli tried strengthening India's chase with a 74 off 60 deliveries as he and Rohit combined for a 113-run partnership for the second wicket. Notably, with their 113-run partnership, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli registered their 21st century stand in ODIs, moving into second place on the list of most 100-plus partnerships in the format. They now trail only the legendary Indian duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, who hold the record with 26 century partnerships.

At 304/2, India appeared well placed to complete what would have been a record chase at the iconic venue.

However, England turned the game around dramatically in the closing stages. A sudden middle-order collapse saw India lose three wickets for just 12 runs.

Sam Curran spearheaded England's fightback with a four-wicket haul, striking at crucial stages to derail India's chase. Jofra Archer also provided a key breakthrough by dismissing KL Rahul, while England's bowlers held their nerve in the death overs to ensure the visitors were denied a late comeback.

India eventually finished on 360/7 in their 50 overs.

Earlier, 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, Joe 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 the 50-wicket milestone. (ANI)