Team India lost to England by 26 runs in the third T20I of the five-match series at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, on January 28 (Tuesday). England opened their account and cut India's lead to 2-1 in their third effort. After being given the opportunity to bat first, England amassed 171 runs after losing nine wickets, with Ben Duckett leading the way with 51. To win in Gujarat, the visitors restricted India to 145/9 in 20 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav on loss
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav stated that he anticipated more dew as the evening wore on. The return of top pacer Mohammed Shami, who made his first international appearance since the 2023 World Cup final, delighted Suryakumar, who also stated that there is always something to learn from T20 matches.
"I felt there would be little dew later in the day. I feel we had the game in our hands when Hardik and Axar were batting. Credit goes to Adil Rashid, he bowled really well. That's why he is a world-class bowler. He didn't allow us to rotate the strike. That's why we had a lot of spinners on our side as well. We always learn something from a T20 game," stated Surya after the loss in the post-match ceremony.
"We got to learn from the batting point of view. Got to go back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes. I am sure Shami will do better going forward. He (Varun Chakravarthy) has been working really hard during practice sessions. He is disciplined and he's getting those results on the field as a result of that hard work," Surya added.
India's inability to form a partnership and their constant loss of wickets proved to be their downfall. With all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel at the crease and India needing just over 50 runs with four overs remaining, Suryakumar stated that he did have some chance of winning. However, English spinner Adil Rashid slowed the pace of runs and shifted the balance in the visitors' favour.
India lost their first three wickets inside the powerplay itself. Abhishek Sharma (24 off 14 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (14 off 7 balls) did get starts but failed to convert them into big knocks. Samson was once again struggling against pace and got out after scoring just 3 runs off 6 balls.
No batter from the Men in Blue side could take a stand, Hardik Pandya did score 40 runs but it came at a strike rate of 114.29 off 35 balls. He did hold on to one end when wickets were falling but took too much time to change gears and lost his wickets under the pressure of the required run rate. For England, Jamie Overton took the most three wickets. Meanwhile, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse took 2-wickets each. Adil Rashid and Mark Wood settled with one each.
England won the match by 26 runs and have saved the series as well. They will now be eyeing to level the series by winning the next game which will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, on January 31.