Nottingham: Suryakumar Yadav’s (117, 55b, 14×4, 6×6) brilliant maiden T20I century failed to lift the Men in Blue as the visitors went down by 17 runs in the third and final game of the series here Sunday. Chasing a victory target of 216, India finished on 198 for the loss of nine wickets to lose the game. Earlier England riding on a fine knock from Dawid Malan (77, 39b, 5×4, 5×6) had posted 215 for the loss of seven wickets.
The way Suryakumar batted, it seemed he alone would take the game away from the hosts. Despite coming into bat with the score on 13 for two, Suryakumar batted with gay abandon. He put on a partnership of 119 runs with Shreyas Iyer (28, 23b, 2×6) to bring India on the brink of victory, but in the end, there was no one else to support him. Had even one of the lower-orders contributed a bit a more Suryakumar could have easily taken India over the line.
Except Suryakumar, none of the other recognised batters could contribute much and fell cheaply. Among them were Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (both 11), Rishabh Pant (1), Dinesh Karthik (6) and Ravindra Jadeja (7).
For England Reece Topley (3/22) was the pick of the bowlers and was well-supported by Chris Jordan (2/37).
Opting to bat, skipper Jos Buttler (18, 9b) and Jason Roy (27, 26b, 1×4, 2×5) helped England reach 52 for one in their powerplay of six overs. Then Malan and Liam Livingstone (42 n o, 29b, 4×6) shared an entertaining 84-run partnership to set the platform for a massive total.
Having already sealed the series, India rested their frontline bowlers in Jasprit Bumrah, the in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal, besides star all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
The Indian next generation were taken to the cleaners by a power-packed England batting lineup which had disappointed in the first two games. Ravi Bishnoi’s (2/30) was the only silver lining in an otherwise ordinary bowling performance.
Left-handed Malan, once the No.1 batsman in T20 cricket changed gears after the dismissal of Jason Roy (27) and played proper cricketing shots that he is known for. He comfortably swept the spinners for maximums and was quick on the pull and cut against the pacers.
Out of the five sixes, Malan’s slog sweep off Ravindra Jadeja over square-leg and pick up shot over cow corner off a low full toss from Avesh stood out.
As he often does, Livingstone dealt in sixes as he hit four of them and alongside Harry Brook (19) and Chris Jordan (11) fired England past 200. However, Livingstone got a life when he was dropped by Virat Kohli in the deep.
Brief scores: England 215 for 7 (Dawid Malan 77, Liam Livingstone 42 n o, Ravi Bishnoi 2/30, Harshal Patel 2/35) beat India 198 for 9 (Suryakumar Yadav 117, Reece Topley 3/22, Chris Jordan 2/37) by 17 runs.
