England crashed to a fourth successive ODI series loss after Rohit Sharma’s terrific 119 off 90 balls lifted India to a four-wicket win in Cuttack.

Rohit shrugged off a poor run of form that had seen him average 10.37 in his last 16 innings across formats to belt 12 fours and seven sixes as India overhauled a target of 305 with 33 balls to spare.

The India captain cashing in once he got in was a lesson to England, whose top six made scores between 26 and 69 but struggled against spin, with Ravindra Jadeja outstanding again in recording 10-1-35-3.

This was an improved batting display from Thursday’s defeat in Nagpur, with Ben Duckett getting England off to a flyer, bludgeoning 10 fours in his 65, and Joe Root making a typically busy 69, before the tourists collapsed from 248 for four in the 43rd over to 304 all out with one ball unused.

India’s spinners took a combined four for 121 in 26 overs, compared with three for 181 from 24 off the pacers, before Rohit and Shubman Gill (60) put on 136 in 16.4 overs.

Even a delay of around 40 minutes due to a malfunction in one of the eight floodlights in the Barabati Stadium could not halt Rohit as India moved into an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Rohit feasted on a four-pronged pace attack who offered minimal variation in lengths or pace, with England resting Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse, while Jacob Bethell was injured, as they slipped to a 15th defeat in their last 22 ODIs despite winning the toss and making another bright start.

Duckett was initially streaky with fours off both edges but found rhythm with his usual cuts and pulls to dominate an 81-run stand with Phil Salt, who contributed 26 then skied ODI debutant Varun Chakravarthy to Jadeja.

Duckett then undid his good work when he picked out long-on as Jadeja struck in his opening over.

India burned both their reviews on Root, in between which they did not query an lbw decision when the Yorkshireman missed a sweep off Axar Patel on 16. Had they done so, Root would have been on his way.

The former Test skipper shared stands of 66 with Harry Brook and 51 alongside Jos Buttler, finding the rope just six times but anchoring the middle overs as he did so well between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.

Brook struggled to rotate the strike against India’s spinners and Jadeja especially, eventually perishing for 31 following a brilliant running over-the-shoulder catch from Shubman Gill, who held on to a low chance when Buttler failed to get the elevation off Hardik Pandya to depart for 34.

England’s innings unravelled after Root’s flighted cover drive ballooned gently to Virat Kohli off Jadeja, who finished by snaring Jamie Overton as Gill took a towering catch.

Liam Livingstone made sure the wheels did not come off, muscling Harshit Rana for a couple of sixes in his 32-ball 41 before being run out as England lost their last six wickets for 56 runs.

India, though, flew out of the gates and Rohit took centre stage, with Saqib Mahmood, twice, and Gus Atkinson, once, taken the distance before a floodlight failure led to the players briefly going off.

The delay might have disrupted Rohit, who bludgeoned Mark Wood high over long-on for six having survived an lbw review the ball before, with the not-out decision upheld despite the delivery clipping the stumps.

Even Adil Rashid’s introduction in the powerplay failed to stem the boundaries, swept and cut for fours as Rohit reached a 30-ball fifty, and the leg-spinner was slog-swept for six by Gill in his next over.

Gill had been in the shadow of Rohit but brought up a 45-ball fifty shortly after two lofted cover drives for four off Rashid before his off-stump was uprooted on 60 by Overton’s superb yorker.

Kohli lasted eight deliveries before nibbling at Rashid, the not-out decision overturned on review to pin-drop silence.

The crowd were celebrating again when Rohit danced down to Rashid and planted him over long-off for his seventh six and a 76-ball hundred, although the opener was dismissed with 85 needed when he toe-ended a Livingstone full toss to midwicket.

As in Nagpur, India stumbled rather than steamed to victory, Shreyas Iyer chipping in with 44 and Axar surviving a run-out chance on six when Salt failed to gather cleanly to make 41 not out.

But a dramatic finale never seemed to be in the offing and England now head to Ahmedabad for their final outing before the Champions Trophy in Pakistan this month.