India 318 for 5 (Harmanpreet 102, Rodrigues 50) beat England 305 (Sciver-Brunt 98, Lamb 68, Goud 6-52) by 13 runs
Harmanpreet Kaur's century and Kranti Goud's six-wicket haul handed India a 13-run victory over England and a 2-1 ODI series win in a high-scoring tour finale.
Harmanpreet's 84-ball 102 asked England to post what would have been a world record run-chase of 319 in their last competitive match before the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Despite a fighting 162-run stand between third-wicket pair Nat Sciver-Brunt and Emma Lamb, which rescued England from 8 for 2 after Goud had struck twice inside the first three overs of their pursuit, England were found wanting once both those batters were gone.
Goud finished with 6 for 52 to be the pick of India's bowlers, who met with some resistance at Chester-le-Street which made for a margin of defeat that flattered the hosts.
It wasn't until the 31st over that India struck again, via Shree Charani's removal of Lamb for 68 and, once Deepti Sharma had Sciver-Brunt caught behind two runs shy of a century, India seized back control.
Unlike England, India will have three more ODIs before their home tournament when they host reigning champions Australia between September 14-20 with the World Cup starting 10 days after that series concludes.
Although it was a closer-run game than initially promised, India looked a class above England through their batting innings.
Harmanpreet, who became the third Indian player to pass 4000 runs in women's ODIs, arrested a lean run of form by passing fifty for the first time in 13 innings in the format. Since scoring 54 in the 50-over warm-up match against an ECB Development XI at the start of the tour, her best score in either of the white-ball series against England had been 26 in the fourth T20I.
She was well supported by fifty from Jemimah Rodrigues, with whom she shared a 110-run stand for the fourth wicket, while Smriti Mandhana and Harleen Deol added 45 runs apiece and Richa Ghosh contributed an excellent 18-ball cameo to go unbeaten on 38.
Rodrigues took a liking to offspinner Charlie Dean, helping herself to three fours twice from consecutive overs accessing all areas of the ground.
Harmanpreet was also dealing largely in boundaries, clipping Linsey Smith over mid-off and sweeping over square leg.
Another four over square leg took her past 90 and, after Rodrigues gloved an attempted pull off Lauren Filer to Amy Jones behind the stumps moments after brining up her fifty, Harmanpreet raised her seventh ODI century with a push through mid-off.
England missed the chance to remove Hamanpreet on 22 with the score 132 for 2 when Filer struck the pad but the home side failed to review with replays suggesting she would have been out. She eventually fell chipping a drive to Sciver-Brunt, who took a sharp diving catch at cover.
After revealing in a pre-match interview that she considered quitting cricket in the aftermath of the off-field drama surrounding England's T20 World Cup and Ashes failures, Sophie Ecclestone was by far England's most economical bowler with 1 for 28 from 10 overs. But her counterparts all paid heavily for a solitary wicket each as India's batters dominated, with 120 runs coming off the last 10 overs.
England's openers both fell cheaply to Goud the 21-year-old right-arm seamer playing her fifth match for her country. She bowled Tammy Beaumont with a beauty of an in-ducker that slid between bat and pad and had Deepti to thank for removing Jones with a spectacular one-handed catch leaping to her right at short third.
England were 22 for 2 at the end of the powerplay but thereafter Sciver-Brunt and Lamb set about rebuilding the innings with more gusto.
Lamb survived a caught-and-bowled chance to Charani on 58 but Charani made amends a short time later, bowling Lamb on the sweep to put England back under pressure.
No sooner had Sciver-Brunt beaten Sneh Rana's dive at fine leg for her 11th four of the innings, than Deepti struck to remove the biggest danger.
Sciver-Brunt knew she was gone, as did Deepti, who vigorously called for the DRS without consulting her captain when umpire Jacqueline Williams remained unmoved by her appeal for caught behind. Harmanpreet too signalled for a review as Sciver-Brunt began making her way back to the changeroom, UltraEdge confirming the ball had come off her glove as Ghosh dived, juggled and gathered down the leg side.
Sophia Dunkley was run out in a mix-up with Alice Davidson-Richards, who turned her back as her partner chanced Goud's arm at point only to see Ghosh break the stumps with Dunkley a long way from home.
Rodrigues took two excellent catches in the deep to remove Dean and Ecclestone before Goud dismissed Davidson-Richards and Filer with consecutive balls to seal her five-for then claimed a bonus sixth when she had Lauren Bell caught by Harmanpreet as England were bowled out with one ball remaining.
