India handed England a consolation victory in the third T20I as the Men in Blue went down to a 17-run victory on Sunday (July 10). Despite Suryakumar Yadav's stunning century (117) India's innings were restricted to 198/9 while chasing England's humungous target of 215.
The right-handed batter hit a blistering 117 off just 55 balls, including 14 fours and six sixes – a testimony to his batting prowess in the shortest format.
India sealed the three-match series 2-1, having won in Southampton and Birmingham. India were on the backfoot at the start of the run chase, struggling to 31 for three in five overs.
Suryakumar brought India back into the game with a 119-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (28 off 23) who was a spectator to his partner's brilliance for the major part of the partnership.
As he often does, Suryakumar toyed with the opposition bowlers and picked his shots all around the ground.
The highlights of his glorious innings was the two lofted square drives off pacers Richard Gleeson and Chrish Jordan that went all the way for six.
He became the fifth Indian to score a hundred in T20 Internationals by opening the face of the bat and guiding a low full toss off Willey between backward point and short third man.
Meanwhile, at the post-match presentation, England skipper Jos Buttler was asked about the chat he had with the team after they got 215 runs on the board and if pace off the ball was working. Buttler said, "I thought the wicket didn't have some of the pace it sometimes has here but that was an incredible knock from Suryakumar Yadav, it's one of the best hundreds I've seen. He put us under a lot of pressure."
Reece Topley, the player of the match for his figures of 3/22 in a game where 400-plus runs were being scored, talked about the chat with Buttler at the start of the innings and said that even though Surya played a fine knock, they knew they were just one wicket away from a win.
"If we take some early wickets, we aren't too far away from stemming the flow of runs. I think we are just never that far away, that was an unbelievable knock on their side but always we are just one wicket away, which we had the belief and eventually it came.
"I was speechless by some of the shots, they were unbelievable. Looks a hell of a player, I haven't come across him too much. I was just in awe most of the time," Topley added.
Earlier, skipper Jos Buttler (18 off 9 balls) and Jason Roy (27 off 26) helped England reach 52/1 in six overs. Malan and Liam Livingstone (42 not out off 29) then shared an entertaining 84-run partnership to set the platform for a massive total.
