Courtesy: BCCI
On Friday, January 31, India defeated England by 15 runs in the fourth T20I at the MCA Stadium in Pune, to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. The star performers with the bat for India were Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube, scoring valuable fifties in troublesome times before the young bowlers Ravi Bishnoi and debutant Harshit Rana stepped up, taking three wickets each during England’s pursuit of a 182-run target.
For the unversed, after winning the toss for the first-time in the series, England captain Jos Buttler decided to field first, and his decision paid instant dividends as Saqib Mahmood bowled a triple-wicket maiden on his return to the T20I side. He got the better of Sanju Samson for one before sending Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav back into the pavilion without troubling the scorers.
Abhishek Sharma (29 off 19) and returning Rinku Singh (30 off 26) played quick-fire innings, to bring India out of early trouble, but they were dismissed within a short space of time, handing control of the match to England again. But then, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube stitched together a vital stand of 87 runs for the sixth wicket, to ensure that India got a competitive score of 181/9 on the board after 20 overs.
Both Hardik and Dube finished up on identical scores of 53 runs for India, striking it in excess of 150, while for England, Saqib Mahmood picked up three wickets and Jamie Overton got two. In the run chase, England got off to a fantastic start with their openers Phil Salt (23 off 21) and Ben Duckett (39 off 19) stichting together a partnership of 62 runs at the conclusion of the power play stage.
Ravi Bishnoi got into the act for India with big wickets of Ben Duckett and captain Jos Buttler in two overs, while Axar Patel got rid of Phil Salt, to reduce England to 67/3. From that point onwards, Harry Brook, struggling for form in the first three matches of the series, was the only one providing some resistance on behalf of England, bringing up a fifty at better than a run-a-ball.
Harshit Rana, who replaced Shivam Dube as concussion sub after the latter was struck on the head during his batting innings, took his debut T20I wicket of Liam Livingstone before sending Jacob Bethell back into the pavilion. Jamie Overton and Adil Rashid did strike a few lusty blows at the death for England, but it was far from enough as India bundled them out for 166 runs in 19.4 overs, winning the match and the series.
