An indifferent Indian batting line-up made a meal of England’s 171/9 as the visitor stormed back into the five-match series with a 26-run victory in the third T20I at the Niranjan Shah Stadium here on Tuesday.
The Indian top-order’s no-holds-barred approach right from the go opened the door for England and the tourist grabbed the chance with alacrity.
Each of the three English pacers used in the PowerPlay claimed a wicket as Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav perished after choosing to take the ultra-aggressive route.
Tilak Varma’s circumspect method, though, was not enough to defend his stumps against Adil Rashid (4-0-15-1).
India stood at 68 for four after eight overs and the chase now felt ever so difficult.
After four consecutive overs without a boundary, Washington Sundar felt the pinch and was unsuccessful in his attempt to clear mid-on off Jamie Overton (4-0-24-3).
The asking rate kept on increasing and India did not have the answer to the arduous question.
Once Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya went back to the hut, the England camp would have felt assured of its spirited bowling effort yielding a positive result.
Mohammed Shami — who bowled three overs for 25 on his international comeback — did hit a six in his four-ball stay but the game had become a no-contest by then.
Earlier, England fell flat in front of Varun Chakaravarthy (4-0-24-5) once again after being asked to bat first.
The first wicket to fall was that of Phil Salt who was outfoxed by Hardik. The move to bowl a full-length slower bowl after a well-directed short ball made the England opener hit one straight to Abhishek at cover.
Ben Duckett (51, 28b, 7×4, 2×6), however, ensured England recovered well. His five boundaries in a row — first three off Hardik and the others against Washington — gave an ideal launch pad for the visitor.
Suryakumar’s idea to try out the spin-bowling variety at his disposal one by one proved to be a masterstroke as Varun and Axar struck in their second overs. While Varun had Buttler caught by Samson off a seam-up delivery, the left-arm spinner made Duckett drag an attempted big hit straight to long-on.
Harry Brook’s horrid run continued as he chopped one off Ravi Bishnoi and ignited another collapse. Jamie Smith, too, fell after trying to muscle one out of the ground off Varun. Overton walking back after not troubling the scorers off the next ball put England in dire straits.
Varun was not done for the day yet as he came back to become the third Indian to claim multiple five-fors in T20Is after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav. After getting Carse caught in the deep, Varun brought out the googly and Archer’s defence was no match to the pearler.
Livingstone (43, 24b, 1×4, 5×6) farmed the strike at the fag end of the innings. His three mighty sixes off Bishnoi towards deep-midwicket not only rescued England but also made sure the series stayed alive at 2-1.
