IND vs ENG: Series Revived By ENG In 3rd T20 Victory

IND vs ENG: In the third T20I played in Rajkot, the England team defeated India by 26 runs and kept themselves in the series. Chasing the target of 172, the team stopped at 146 runs and mystery spinner Varun Chakraborty’s claw also went in vain.

For the third consecutive time in this series, Sanju Samson did not have a good start and once again he became the victim of Jofra Archer on a short pitch ball.

Abhishek Sharma was looking in rhythm but he could not time the ball of Brydon Carse correctly, due to which he had to take the path of the pavilion. Out-of-form captain Suryakumar Yadav showed signs of returning to form by hitting a six and a four, but India got the third blow in the form him in the powerplay itself on the ball of Mark Wood.

IND vs ENG, India’s batting collapse

After Suryakumar’s dismissal, Hardik Pandya and Tilak Verma had the responsibility of handling the innings but Tilak, who was in form, fell prey to Adil Rashid’s spin. However, after this Hardik and Washington Sundar tried to handle the innings but England’s bowlers kept a check on India’s runs. When Suryakumar Yadav was out on the first ball of the sixth over, India had added 48 runs on the scoreboard but by the time Washington was out on the first ball of the 13th over, India had added only 83 runs in total.

Axar Patel and Hardik together tried to keep India’s hopes alive but the target seemed far away. When Axar fell prey to Archer, India still needed 49 runs from 16 balls. Hardik also raised India’s hopes against Archer on the fourth ball of the same over but this hope proved to be short-lived and Hardik fell prey to Jamie Overton on the first ball of the 19th over. In the end, India remained 27 runs short of the target.

Earlier, India won the toss and decided to bowl. Mohammed Shami was included in the playing XI in place of Arshdeep Singh, but he could not make a single breakthrough. However, Hardik did not let Arshdeep’s absence be felt, and he took the wicket of Phil Salt in his very first over.

Jos Buttler’s crucial partnership

However, after this, Jos Buttler and Ben Duckett’s partnership flourished, and both took England’s score beyond 80. Varun Chakraborty, who gave India a breakthrough every time it needed it in this series, showed his spin magic this time, too. By trapping Butler in his net, he laid the foundation of his second claw in T20I.

Butler was declared not out by the umpire but Samson was confident and Butler’s wicket also proved to be India’s first successful review while bowling in this series. After this, England’s wickets started falling and Duckett also became the victim of Akshar on the last ball of the next over.

However, the real storm came in the 14th over when Varun sent Jamie Overton and Jamie Smith to the pavilion on two consecutive balls. Smith was also in the role of wicketkeeper today in place of Salt. England had lost six wickets at a score of 115 and it seemed that the England team would not be able to play the full 20 overs, but Liam Livingstone stood firm and kept attacking amidst the continuous setbacks.

Livingstone also tried to counter-spin today. Although England’s batsmen were proving unsuccessful in reading the Indian spinners, Livingstone continued to attack while walking. By hitting three sixes against Bishnoi in the 17th over, Livingstone laid the foundation for England to reach a fighting score and took England’s score close to 150.

Although he was dismissed for the ninth wicket in the second ball of the 18th over while trying to go for a big hit against Hardik, Rashid, and Wood together kept England’s innings going till the end and set India a target of 172 runs.

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