Sport Writer Oscar Frost reports on the deciding T20 between India and England, as the hosts secured a series victory in Ahmedabad
India’s victory in the fourth T20 in Ahmedabad set up a thrilling final match that would decide the series. England were unchanged, while India brought in Thangarasu Natarajan for KL Rahul. Eoin Morgan managed to win the toss for the third game in a row and, despite losing the previous game after electing to bowl, once again put India in to bat.
India captain Virat Kohli moved up the batting order to open alongside Rohit Sharma. This partnership ended up proving very fruitful, as Rohit was bowled by Ben Stokes only after the pair had racked up 94 runs in nine overs. Kohli was happy letting his partners tee off, with Rohit hitting 64 runs in that first partnership, before Suryakumar Yadav followed suit with some huge sixes on his second and third balls at the crease. Yadav was eventually caught for 32 runs, officially by Jason Roy, but the athleticism and skill of Chris Jordan in tipping the ball back to Roy makes it an early contender for catch of the year. It was a superb piece of fielding that could have swung the momentum in favour of the tourists.
Kohli was happy letting his partners tee off
However, the Indian batting performance was absolutely sublime, with Hardik Pandya hitting 39 runs off just 17 balls to round off a total of 224 the hosts – the largest in the series by far. Kohli anchored the innings superbly, batting the whole 20 overs to score an unbeaten 80 off 52. It was a fantastic innings from the captain, who clearly wanted to lead from the front in such a crucial game.
If England could manage to chase down this total, it would be their second-highest successful T20 chase in their history, but it did not get off to a great start as Roy was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a two-ball duck. Dawid Malan then helped steady the ship as he proved why he is the number one T20 batsman in the world rankings, with him and Jos Buttler building a huge partnership. Malan also passed 1,000 T20 international runs in just his 24th match.
This partnership grew to 130 before Buttler was caught by Pandya shortly after getting to his half-century. Jonny Bairstow (7) and Eoin Morgan (1) failed to add much to the England total and when Shardul Thakur bowled Malan for 68 off 46, the match was India’s to lose.
Kumar’s bowling figures of 2-15 from four overs left England with little hope
From there, it was a story of an English collapse, with no middle or lower-order batsman passing 15. Sam Curran managed to muscle his way to 14* off just three balls at the end of the innings, but England fell well short, losing by 36 runs as India secured the series victory. The field placement was absolutely fantastic from the home side, and Kumar’s bowling figures of 2-15 from four overs left England with little hope of chasing such a huge target.
The series has been an important learning curve for both sides, and the momentum of winning the decider could give India valuable momentum going into the ODI series. For the English, they will look to take the positives ahead of returning to India for the T20 World Cup this autumn, as they have proved that Kohli’s men can be beaten on their home turf. Overall, the two sides are evenly matched in the T20 format, and it will be very interesting to see how the rivalry progresses into the one-day matches.
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