England confirmed Jofra Archer will undergo hand surgery while he recovers from an elbow injury, as his team-mates prepared for an ODI decider against India.
Archer was ruled out of the ODI series due to a worsening elbow issue and travelled home to the United Kingdom.
The fast bowler has since had a scan and a consultant review, which has prompted the decision to have a procedure on his right hand, while he has also had a further injection for his right elbow.
"The procedure on Jofra's hand will take place on Monday 29 March so he can recover during the planned break following his elbow injection," a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) read on Saturday.
"Jofra suffered a cut to his hand while cleaning at his home in January shortly before flying to India to prepare for the Test series.
"The injury was managed by the ECB's medical team through the tour and it did not impact on his availability.
"Further investigation and a specialist opinion was sought upon his return to the UK and, in conjunction with the ECB medical panel, it has been decided that surgery is the best option to manage his injury in the longer term."
As well as dealing with Archer's absence, England have been without captain Eoin Morgan since the first ODI after sustaining his own hand injury.
But stand-in skipper Jos Buttler was still waiting on news of the fitness of Sam Billings, who missed the second ODI with a bruised collarbone, and Mark Wood, who was rested.
England lost their four-match Test series against India 3-1 and were then beaten in a Twenty20 International decider to go down 3-2.
Tied at 1-1 ahead of the third and final ODI, Buttler is hoping for better luck as he targets a third successive win as captain for the first time. He has five victories from seven matches so far.
"We want to win all the games we play," he said. "It's great to be in another final, as such. Obviously the T20s went to a decider and this series will do the same.
"They're great games to be involved in, we're all very much looking forward to it. It was an excellent performance [on Friday], so we take lots of confidence into the game on Sunday."
Friday saw England claim a six-wicket win thanks to a superb chase led by Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes.
Bairstow (124), who has now hit an England record 26 sixes against India, had 100-run stands with both fellow opener Jason Roy and Stokes, as the tourists had two century partnerships in the same ODI for the first time since the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Bairstow and Roy reached the hundred mark for the 13th time in ODIs, the most ever recorded by an England duo, while they have the highest average (61.6) of any opening partnership in the history of the format (20-plus innings).
Led by the pair, England have outscored India 148 to 80 in the powerplays in this series.
"They're right up there, aren't they? Everyone will have their opinions on who's the best, but those two have been fantastic," Buttler said.
"The way they play, the pressure their put on an opposition, and the consistency... the way they do that, the fashion they play, it's quite remarkable really.
"They've created some fantastic stands. I don't know the exact numbers, but I know they're pretty impressive. We're all delighted to have them at the top of the order.
"People talk about the numbers a lot of the time, but for us it's more about the fashion we play in, committing to that and the numbers will always look after themselves."
Stokes certainly plays in the same fashion, his rapid innings seeing 50 runs off the first 40 balls and 49 off the next 11.
Asked how the display ranked among the white-ball efforts of an all-rounder who has averaged 56.4 in ODIs since the start of 2017, Buttler had a cheery response.
"It was certainly pretty impressive, wasn't it? He's had a few," the captain said. "His World Cup final one was pretty good. I enjoyed that one."
'The best winger on the planet' – Guardiola lauds defender Gvardiol after Fulham rout
Pep Guardiola joked Manchester City have signed "the best winger on the planet" after defender Josko Gvardiol scored twice in Saturday's 4-0 thrashing of Fulham.
Centre-back Gvardiol once again operated at full-back on the left of City's four-man defence, finding the net in either half at Craven Cottage as Guardiola's side moved back to the Premier League summit.
His first came from a dancing run inside from Kevin De Bruyne's dinked pass before curling a well-taken right-footed finish into the bottom-left corner.
That passage of play may have been expected from City's attacking riches of Phil Foden, Erling Haaland or Bernardo Silva, though Gvardiol is becoming accustomed to starring at the other end of the pitch.
The Croatia international has netted five goals in his last seven games for City after not scoring in his first 32 matches across all competitions – but Guardiola is not surprised.
"The first goal, we signed the best winger on the planet," Guardiola jested with BBC Radio Manchester. "He's an incredible guy, can play in different positions.
"After Wolves I gave [the players] three days off, he was the only one who went to the training centre for his recovery.
"He lives for his profession. We have made an incredible signing for many, many years to come."
Foden also scored his 25th goal of the season for City, becoming just the second English player to score 25+ in a season for the club in the Premier League era (across all competitions), after Raheem Sterling in 2018-19 (25) and 2019-20 (31).
Julian Alvarez then wrapped up proceedings with a last-gasp penalty, taking the spot-kick from Gvardiol, who passed up the chance to score a hat-trick out of respect for his team-mate.
That domination ensured City will end the day in first place for just the eighth time in 2024 – overall, this will be the 72nd day they have ended in top spot this season, behind Liverpool (87) and Arsenal (74).
Guardiola's side are two points clear of Arsenal, who play Manchester United on Sunday, and still have a game in hand to come when visiting Tottenham on Tuesday.
The City manager told his post-match press conference: "Our dream is as we said a few weeks ago when [Arsenal] lost against Aston Villa was to arrive in the last games with it in our hands.
"We wanted to play West Ham at home with the destiny belonging to us."
Destiny remains in City's hands as they search for a sixth Premier League title in the last seven seasons.
Seales takes second five-wicket haul in a row for Sussex; Holder smashes 123* for Worcestershire
Jayden Seales continued his excellent form so far for Sussex CCC in this season’s County Championship Division Two with another five-wicket haul, this time against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
Seales has, so far, taken 5-101 in 23 overs as Glamorgan have advanced to 411-9 off 102 overs, replying to Sussex’s 278 all out off 87.2 overs on day one.
Glamorgan’s batting effort was led by excellent centuries from Colin Ingram and Kiran Carlson.
Ingram led the way with a 248-ball 170 including 23 fours and three sixes while Carlson made 148 off 217 balls and hit 21 fours in the process.
Seales and Sussex will enter day three on Sunday trailing Glamorgan by 133 runs looking to dismiss them as quickly as possible.
Full scores:
Sussex 278 off 87.2 overs (Fynn Hudson-Prentice 48, Cheteshwar Pujara 41, Jack Carson 39, Aristides Karvelas 39, Mir Hamza 4-70, James Harris 4-93)
Glamorgan 411-9 off 102 overs (Colin Ingram 170, Kiran Carlson 148, Jayden Seales 5-101)
Elsewhere, Jason Holder was one of three Worcestershire batsmen to make centuries as they piled up a massive 618-7 declared in their first innings against Kent on day two at the St. Lawrence Ground in Canterbury.
Holder made a brilliant 123* off just 110 balls including seven fours and three sixes while Gareth Roderick and Matthew Waite both also reached three figures with 117 and 100*, respectively.
Adam Hose fell just ten runs short of a century himself.
Joey Evison and Matt Parkinson each ended with three wicket-hauls for Kent.
In reply, Kent reached 111-2 at stumps with Captain Daniel Bell-Drummond (54*0 and Jack Leaning (43*) at the crease.
Joe Leach has taken both wickets to fall so far.
Full scores:
Worcestershire 617-8 dec. off 158.5 overs (Jason Holder 123*, Gareth Roderick 117, Matthew Waite 100*, Adam Hose 90, Joey Evison 3-58, Matt Parkinson 3-201)
Kent 111-2 off 33 overs (Daniel Bell-Drummond 54*, Jack Leaning 43*, Joe Leach 2-12)
Small role for Russell, Narine struggles with bat and ball as leaders KKR seal playoff place with win over Mumbai Indians
Indian Premier League leaders Kolkata Knight Riders extended their winning streak to four matches and sealed their place in the playoffs by defeating Mumbai Indians in a match impacted by rain on Saturday.
A delayed start to the contest meant it was limited to 16 overs per side, and KKR made it to 157-7 with Venkatesh Iyer producing a quick-hitting 42 runs from 21 balls, as Jasprit Bumrah (2-39) and Piyush Chawla (2-28) both made an impact with the ball.
While Sunil Narine went without scoring, Andre Russell contributed a 14-ball 24 toward the backend of the KKR innings, including two fours and two sixes.
The Indians looked likely to chase down their victory target when they reached 65-0 in the early stages, as they looked to improve on a fine 7-3 record at KKR's Eden Gardens.
But the wicket of Ishan Kishan in the seventh over sparked a rapid collapse, with Mumbai – already eliminated from the competition – quickly falling to 92-5 and ultimately losing by 18 runs.
Russell returned to grab 2-34 from three overs, sharing the wickets with Harshit Rana (2-34), Varun Chakaravarthy (2-17) and Narine, who had 1-21 from his three overs.
KKR remain top of the standings. As well as being the first team to seal their progress, they look good to secure a crucial top-two finish which would give them two chances to reach the final. They now have 18 points, two clear of Rajasthan Royals, who play Chennai Super Kings in one of two games due to take place on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Bumrah eyeing Purple Cap
While this was the latest setback in a highly disappointing season for Mumbai, who are second-bottom of the standings, Bumrah has been a prolific threat.
He took another two key wickets in this one, removing KKR dangerman Sunil Narine for a golden duck and halting a charge from Rinku Singh (20 from 12) in the final over.
That took India bowler Bumrah's season tally to 20, putting him level with Punjab Kings' Harshal Patel at the top of the Purple Cap standings.
The final figures could have been even better for Bumrah, who was frustrated to be hit for six by Ramandeep Singh (17 from 8) in the final ball of the KKR innings and earlier had an lbw decision against Nitish Rana (33) overturned on review.
However, a difficult period of form continued for Bumrah's team-mate Rohit Sharma in his team's unsuccessful run chase.
The opener came into the match with scores of 6, 8, 4, 11 and 4 in his last five innings and he was not much better here, struggling to 19 from 24 before falling to the superb Varun Chakaravarthy, who posted economical figures of 2-17 from four overs. That was quite the contrast to partner Kishan, who smashed 40 from 22.
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