England claimed a 26-run victory over India in the third T20I on Tuesday, January 28 at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot in a must-win scenario to keep the five-match series alive. (Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
Asked to set the target first, England posted an achievable total of 171/9 in 20 overs. Th🃏e innings was anchored by Ben Duckett, whose 51 runs off 28 balls remained the highest score by a batter in the game.
Liam Livingstone also played a brisk knock (43 off 24) to support the effort. However, India’s crafty spinner Varun Chakravarthy emerged as the standout performꦯer with the ball. His magical spell of 5/24 dismantled England's lower order, leaving the batters ♏struggling and halting their momentum at crucial stages.
India should have chased down th💮e target but the batters could only manage 145/9 in 20 overs.
The chase never gaine🥃d any real mo🤡mentum, as England's disciplined bowling kept the hosts on the backfoot.
Early wickets were the key for the visitors, with Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, and Tilak Varma all dismissed in the powerplay.
While express pace combine of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood did the job in the powerplay, Adil Rashid applܫied the choke🔯 in the middle overs with a skillful display of leg-spin.
Unsettled by the extra p🌳ace of Archer in the first two games, Samson (3 off 6) fell to the England pacer once ꦦagain while trying to hit a short of length ball out of the park.
H𝔉is opening partner Abhishek Sharma (24 off 14) played some crisp shots beforꦉe falling to Brydon Carse.
Suryakumar Yadav (14 off 7) started wi🗹th a trademark pick up shot off Archer that went all the way but a similar shot attempted off Wood brough🌠t about his downfall, extending his lean run.
The turning point of India's in💫nings was the dismissal of Tilak Varma (18 off 14) who had returned not out in his last four outin🐽gs including two hundreds and a half-century.
It took a special ball from Rashid to send back Varma as the leg-spinner got one to turn sharply from outside the off-stump and crash into🍸 the middle stum🏅p.
Hardik Pandya (40 off 3🍨5) took the game deep but was not able to take his team over the line.
Earlier, England lost their way after a whirlwind fifty ꦓfrom Ben Duckett (51 off 28) as the in-🍨form Chakravarthy ran through the opposition batting on a flat track.
From 83 for one, Engla𒁃nd slipped to 127 for eight before Liam Livingstone (43 off 24) went on a six-hitting spree to end the innings on a high.
Chakravarthy completed his secon༺d five-wicket haul in T20s when he bowled Jofra Archer with a googly.
While Ravi Bishnoi (4/46 in 4 overs) and Washington Sundar (0/15 in 1) proved expensive, Chakravarthy (5/24 in four), Hardik (33/2 in 4) and 🦄Axar Patel (1/19 in 3) kept things tight from their end.
Shami (0/25 in 3) did not set⛦ the stage on first but it was important t🦂hat he had an incident free outing
After🌠 being 🥃put in to bat, England made a promising start by coasting to 52/1.
England have struggled against the Indian spinners in the series but Duckett overcame that challenge with some audacious strokeplay on way to his second T20 fifty. Hꦰe danced down the track, employed the scoop and reverse hits to unsettle the opposition attack.
🏅He was the aggressor in his 76-run stand with skipper Jos Buttler (24 off 22) but the duo fell in quick succession to lose the momentum in the middle overs. Among the shots Duckett pulled off included a scoop over the keeper's head off Shami's second over.
When Shami marked his run up before toss, it was confirmed that he would be playing his first international since th🃏e ODI World Cup final in November 2023.
On a flat track, 𓄧Shami, who replaced Arshdeep Singh as the sole specialist pacer in the playing eleven, was tasked with bowling the opening over of the match.
He induced a couple of play and misses in his opening spell that read 0/15 in two overs. Shami returned to b🍬owl the 19th over which went for 11 runs, capping off an incident free outing.
He bowled balls close to 140kmph and got the ball to shape 🌊away, allaying concer🐷ns over his fitness.
At 83 for one, England were on course for 200 ඣwith Duckett going all guns blazin💜g and deep batting line-up to follow.
However, the momentum shifted India's way when Chakravarthy had Buttler caught behind with the latter getting a fainꦓt tickle attempting a reverse sweep.
Duck was holed ༒out at deep mid-wicket in the following over from Axar, leaving England at 87 for three at the halfway🅰 mark.
Chakravarthy removed Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton off successive balls in t🐽he 14th over to make matters worse for England.
India still lead the s𒈔eries൩ 2-1 with the fourth game scheduled in Pune on January 31.
(With PTI inputs)
