The final game of the T20I Series between India and England saw India win the series 3-2 as they defeated England by 36 runs. This was the last game to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Next up will be a 3 match ODI series which will be played in Pune, Maharashtra.
England won the toss and elected to bowl. India made one change as KL Rahul was replaced by T Natarajan as India added another bowler. While England were unchanged.
India had a change up in the opening partnership as Rohit Sharma was joined by Virat Kohli(with Rahul out of the team). India got off to a fantastic start and never looked back.
Rohit Sharma started to exploded from one end as Virat Kohli kept on playing the supporting role. The run rate never fell down below 10 as boundaries kept on coming from every angle.
Rohit completed another fifty. Within 8 overs, India had scored 81 runs without losing any wicket. Rohit would have scored a hundred if only he didn't got chopped off at the end of the 9th over. He tried to lob the ball off but the ball went on the inside edge and hitted the stumps, ending his brilliant innings. He scored 64 runs of 34 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes.
It looked like,Sharma's departure would slow things down for India. But the exact opposite happened. Last match's hero SuryaKumar Yadav left where he left off and didn't allow the good start to fizzile out.
He adapted the role of Rohit Sharma whereas Kohli kept on supporting. SKY was looking good and the way he was playing, England needed something special to stop him.
In the second ball of the 14th over, he tried to slog it off. A stunning effort from Chris Jordan saw him running to the boundary and taking the catch with one hand. However he knew his momentum would take him over the rope, so he threw the ball back to Jason Roy who took the catch and pulled off a stunning team move. SuryaKumar's cameo of 32 runs of 17 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes added a nice viewing for the fans.
Hardik Pandya was promoted up front. The reason for the move was clear as India wanted to keep the free flowing system going. By that time, even Virat Kohli kept on started to fire as he completed his fifty.
Kohli and Pandya's explosive innings continued as India finished with a mammoth score of 224/2 in 20 overs. Pandya finished with 39 runs of 17 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes while Virat Kohli played the entire 20 overs as he remained unbeaten at 80 runs of 52 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes.
In England's response they needed a similar start to have a chance of achieving the target. Jason Roy was dismissed for a duck at the second ball of the first over as he was bowled out by Bhuvenshwar Kumar. Despite that early setback, England didn't let that hold themselves back as they too started out firing.
Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler decided to play fire with fire as the duo both completed thier fifties and kept England in the game. The duo added 62 runs in the powerplay and within 10 overs, England were at 101/1.
With England now in Cruise control of the game,Virat Kohli turned back to Bhuvenshwar Kumar to give India the much needed breakthrough. At the last ball of the 13th over, he got the massive wicket of Jos Buttler. The Englishman tried to slash it hard but was unable to get the elevation and was caught out by Pandya at deep covers, as the 130 run stand between Buttler and Malan was breaken.
Johnny Bairstow then joined Dawid Malan as England kept their runchase on. The reintroduction of Bhuvenshwar Kumar proved to be very decisive as England suddenly collapsed.
Shardul Thakur strucked twice as he got the better of Bairstow and then bowled out Dawid Malan as England. Then Hardik Pandya quickly removed Eoin Morgan as England went from 130/1 to 142/5.
England's last hope was Ben Stokes. They needed 69 runs from 18 balls. To achieve that they needed something special. Bhuvenshwar Kumar was called to bowl the 18th over. He gave only 7 runs in that over and finished with brillant figures of 2-16 in 4 overs as all hope for a miracle was lost.
In the end England finished at 188/8 with 20 runs coming in the final over. They would be a little disappointed as at the end of the 11th over they were at 120/1. They only managed to add 68 runs in the last 9 overs and lost 7 wickets in the process.
India will head into the ODI Series with victories in both T20I And Test Series.
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