Amid all the change, all the vacancies and all the uncertainty in English cricket, Joe Root remains its true guiding light. Additionally, on Thursday at Sophia Gardens, his 99 not out single-handedly guided England to victory in the second One-Day International, evening the series at one after a successful chase of 234 runs. Root did not seem bothered by missing out on a 21st century in the format, bounding down the track with enthusiasm as Gus Atkinson - 23 not out - pulled behind square with three to get, confirming a four wicket win with 35 balls to spare. Root's fifth consecutive fifty-plus score was his 67th. Digging the team out of a hole after arriving with a ball in the chase, enduring storms that swept others up, and leaving England 53 for 3 was typical. India, having looked light after Virat Kohli's 65 and Shreyas Iyer's 66 were the only scores of note as they were bundled for 233 in 44 overs, were in control for most of the opening exchanges of the second half. However, the final One-Day International at Lord's on Sunday will be a winner-take-all contest thanks to Root's composure and occasional assistance from Sam Curran (26), Will Jacks (30), and Atkinson at the end. As far as bad starts to batting innings go, England's was up there. Ben Duckett nicked the first delivery, from Jasprit Bumrah, through to deputy wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, taking the gloves with KL Rahul out with illness. When Jacob Bethell started as the 50-over opener, he failed for the second time in as many attempts, this time for four. As the left-hander attempted to leave, Prasidh Krishna came around the wicket and found additional bounce to take the bat's face. It was Harry Brook's innings, however, that left the biggest stink. The limited-overs captain seemed determined to score another innings that would go down in history for the second time in a month. In fact, his run-a-ball score of 16 might have been worse than his 9-ball score of 21 in the Trent Bridge Test chase. He attempted to launch the ball into orbit above cow corner by throwing his bat behind him. wore two in the abdomen while attempting to pull short deliveries. Finally, Gurnoor Brar's follow-up shot to a 91 mph riser clipped the inside half of the bat through to the keeper after being clocked on the helmet by Prasidh while attempting a fall-away ramp. It was wild and not really the kind England needed from their captain. Not for the first time this summer, Root was able to cover for Brook's deficiencies as a leader. Root brought order to the situation, and England was helped by India's low score, which meant that England only needed to go at 4.6 runs per over to get the remaining 181 runs after Brook was out. Root scored fifty from 76 attempts at one point, 5 off 20. Even though Curran was caught behind off Shivam Dube with Kishan up to the stumps, a stand of 41 runs with Curran calmed the nerves. And more so when Jos Buttler was inexplicably bowled for 17 trying to smash Axar Patel out of the ground. Root again, though, was the salve to those anxieties, using Gurnoor's pace to slash over to the third boundary, then swivel with a pull shot through fine leg. While Jacks got in, those two boundaries helped England stay ahead of the rate. It was only off his 37th ball that he found a boundary, but it was worth the wait, on-driving Prasidh to move to 25. But after almost finding square leg with a heave against Gurnoor in the next over, he backed away and clothed one to Rohit at extra cover. Root spit feathers as he removed his helmet, ruddy-cheeked from the hours he had spent on this chase, and he was clearly enraged at the dismissal's manner. With only 37 needed from the final 60, he knuckled down, first to see out Bumrah's final two overs with Atkinson, before the latter stole the show. It was a show that, for the early parts of the afternoon, looked like belonging to Kohli. His 78th half-century, likely his last on English (and Welsh) soil, was full of memorable runs. The only downside was that, aside from a grittier knock of 66 from Iyer, no other batter made a contribution of note as India scraped to a below-par score. Captain Shubman Gill was the only batter to get off to a flyer, but his form from an unbeaten 80 in the first ODI brought just 31 here before he found extra cover off Atkinson, one of two changes with Saqib Mahmood, as Josh Tongue and Liam Dawson were omitted from England's XI. Brook's decision to win the toss and bowl in this day-nighter was rooted in recent history with the last three Cardiff ODIs falling to the chaser. After a fantastic Powerplay set that went wicketless for just 24 runs, Jofra Archer was the key English fast bowler, taking 3 for 47. All of his wickets came in his final five overs. Archer removed Kohli with a delivery that nipped away and took a leading edge all the way down to Adil Rashid at deep third, bowling his final five through the final ten overs. The ball before, Archer had found the other edge off an attempted pull, only for the ball to bounce just shy of Jos Buttler's gloves. That ended the biggest stand of the innings - 67 for the fourth wicket - between Kohli and Iyer. As he left the field at 44 for 1, the former gave off an imperious air and channeled a rousing ovation, conveying a sense of inevitability with a boundary that he drove straight at Archer. India reached a respectable 61 for 1 after the Powerplay with a pair of fours in the 10th over, stepping down to launch Atkinson over mid-on and punching along the ground through extra cover. Another textbook straight drive, this time off Curran, brought his seventh boundary and took him to 53 off 50. It was his seventh fifty-plus score in his last nine innings. It probably should have been turned into a 55th ODI century. After Archer bowled Kohli out, Dube drove back to the bowler for a smart caught-and-bowled after Axar failed to ramp a bouncer past Buttler. Gurnoor wore the hat-trick delivery - and another later on as Archer targeted the left-hander's body - before eventually falling to Mahmood. After Washington Sundar flinched at a short ball, Mahmood added him to his account. However, Bumrah's late flurry cost him the game. In addition to Iyer, who was run out for 25 by Duckett at deep square leg, Bumrah attempted to capitalize on India's last 10 overs, scoring 18 from Mahmood's ninth over. There were four boundaries, three to the leg side, with one of them lifted over deep fine for six. But the veteran quick finished unbeaten on 20 when Iyer's tame poke to Buttler and Prasidh getting his stumps rattled gave Atkinson figures of 3 for 50, with six overs still to bat. If England had taken their chances, including against Rohit Sharma for 5, they would have been chasing less. Atkinson spilled him at deep fine leg, failed to correctly track the ball, and got into an awkward position before fluffing the catch onto the boundary sponge after being squeezed for space by a length delivery from Archer. Having said that, the 39-year-old struggled with his timing all the way through to his top-edged sweep, which resulted in his defeat on 26 off 47 and looped to Buttler. Soon after, unconfirmed reports surfaced claiming that Rohit will likely retire after the third one-day international at Lord's on Sunday.