India have sealed the T20I series victory with a 36-run win over England in the fifth and final match at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. The final series scoreline read 3-2 to the hosts.
After being put into bat first, India posted a mammoth 224/2 in their 20 overs and England managed just 188/8 in their chase, conceding the series to Virat Kohli’s team.
The first of the English wickets fell in the second ball of the English chase with Jason Roy being castled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar on a duck.
Dawid Malan then joined Jos Buttler out in the middle and the two have built a solid partnership, taking the team to 104/1 in 10 overs.
Malan was the first to get to his half-century- his first landmark innings of the series. The number three bat scored his fifty off just 33 deliveries, and it came off a boundary. In fact he went to hit that 11th over by T Natarajan for 16 runs.
The very next over Jos Buttler too completed his half century, off 30 deliveries as England made 127/1 in 12 overs.
The 13th over though saw India put a spanner in the works with Bhuvneshwar Kumar once again getting the big breakthrough. Buttler out on 52 and England 130/2 at the end of 13 overs.
The 15th over bowled by Shardul Thakur all but sealed India’s victory with both Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan being sent back to the dressing room.
Bairstow out on a 7-ball 7 and Malan on 68 off 46 balls.
The 16th over saw Pandya too add a wicket to his name sending by English skipper Eoin Morgan on 1.
Earlier, England captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl first in the series-decider. The visitors elected to play an unchanged XI while India dropped KL Rahul and brought in an extra bowler in T Natarajan.
The decision also meant Rohit Sharma got a new opening partner in Virat Kohli and the two collaborated for a blistering 56-ball 94 run opening partnership.
Kohli remained unbeaten on 80 off 52 balls (7x4s, 2x6s) and Rohit smashed 64 off 34 balls (4x4s, 5x6s) to help India to 224/2 – their highest T20I score against England.
Hardik Pandya also remained unbeaten on 39 off 17 balls (4x4s, 2x6s) while Suryakumar Yadav made 32 off 17 balls (3x4s, 2x6s) towards the close to propel the home team to the huge total.
Rohit Sharma and Virat opened together for the first time in T20I cricket it was fireworks from the start as they hit the English bowlers around the park to take the team to 81/0 in 8 overs.
Rohit in fact completed his half century off 30 deliveries. In the very next over, he took on Stokes, hitting him for a six and a four before being castled by the English all-rounder on 64.
Suryakumar Yadav then joined Virat Kohli out in the middle with the team’s score at 94/1 in 9 overs and smashed Adil Rashid for 16 runs in the very first over.
The 12th over saw Virat also switch gears and hit Chris Jordan for four boundaries as India’s run rate increased further and the score read 133/1 after 12 overs.
Suryakumar’s blistering innings was ended by a stunning catch by Chris Jordan near the boundary line. Jordan caught the ball with just his left hand and then right before he crossed over the boundary line, he threw the ball to Jason Roy.
‘Sky’ out on 32 off 17 balls.
Pandya then joined Virat out in the middle and the Indian skipper completed his half century in 16th over. The pair added 81 runs off 40 balls as India posted a mammoth total of 224/2.
Teams
India XI: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar, T Natarajan.
England XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wwicketkeeper), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
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