Ben Stokes enjoyed a moment of redemption at Eden Gardens as England claimed a last-ball victory over India, their first success in a long and trying winter tour.
Stokes was the fall guy as England lost the World Twenty20 final in Kolkata last April, shipping four consecutive sixes in the last over of the tournament as Carlos Brathwaite snatched glory for the West Indies.
It is the kind of moment that could easily take more than nine months to recover from but England's bullish all-rounder thrust himself into centre stage on his return in the third one-day international, scoring a powerful 57 not out and taking three for 63 in a tense five-run win.
He was spared last over on this occasion, Chris Woakes gallantly defending 16 after seeing his first two balls disappear for six and four, but Stokes did more than anyone to avert a 3-0 whitewash following the 4-0 Test defeat.
"There was a bit of banter flying round with the lads in the warm-up days leading up to this so it was nice to come back here and get rid of any bad memories from that final," said Stokes, whose last two overs claimed two wickets and conceded just eight runs.
"It was a difficult time last time we came here, put it down to good captaincy from (Eoin) Morgan getting my overs out of the way before the end.
"It was nine months ago so memories of that have gone now."
Stokes claimed the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli before the late hitting of Kedar Jadhav (90) and Hardik Pandya (56) took things to the wire and the India captain was full of praise for his opponent.
Kohli was a keen observer of Stokes' suffering at Brathwaite's hand and recognises a fighter when he sees one.
"I really felt bad for him in that final. We all saw it," said Kohli.
"I feel he's someone who takes a lot of pride in his cricket, and I saw the disappointment and sadness on his face. But he's a guy with great character, always fighting to win games for England. I'm sure it feels nice to him to have reversed the tables as far as this ground is concerned."
Amid Stokes' tale of redemption it is important not to overlook Woakes, who girded himself manfully after shipping 10 from the first two deliveries of the 50th over.
Woakes offered a typically low-key assessment of his own contribution, adding: "It's not ideal going for six and four in the first two deliveries.
"It was nice to close it out after the lads bowled really good overs before I came on, so credit to them really. It's tough conditions, and to get through and get the win in those conditions in front of this crowd, against a very good Indian team is good for us."
Source: PA
