India vs England 3rd T20I Highlights: ENG beat IND by 26 runs

India vs England 3rd T20I Highlights: England opened their account on this tour with a 26-run win against India in the third T20I in Rajkot. England were buoyed by a late charge from Liam Livingstone and their tail-enders followed by a clinical bowling performance led by spinner Adil Rashid. While Jamie Overton took three wickets and was England's highest wicket-taker, Adil Rashid spell of 1/15 is what knocked the wind out of India's sails....Read More

The hosts were under the pump, tottering at 78/4 in 10 overs while chasing a target of 172. They never really managed to break out of jail despite Hardik Pandya's best efforts and even went nearly eight overs without a boundary between the seventh and 15th overs.

Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse and Adil Rashid all picked a wicket each in the first 10 overs. England got to a score of 171/9 in 20 overs which, while looking below par considering the conditions, is far more than what seemed possible for England at the end of the 16th over. England had crumbled from 87/2 in the 10th over to 127/8 in the 16th over. Jos Buttler and Ben Duckett gave England a good start but that was torn to pieces. Chakravarthy ended his spell with sensational figures of 5/24. Livingstone then smashed Ravi Bishnoi all around the park and got to a score of 43 off 24 balls before falling to Hardik Pandya.

Buttler and Duckett had earlier put up a partnership of 76 runs off just 45 balls for the second wicket before the former fell to Chakravarthy thanks to a sensational catch by Sanju Samson. Duckett got to his half-century in 26 balls but soon fell to Axar Patel on 51 off 28 balls.

England switched gears to put pressure on India after Hardik Pandya dismissed Phil Salt in the second over of the third T20I in Rajkot. Mohammed Shami is back in international cricket for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final with India captain Suryakumar Yadav saying that his replacing Arshdeep Singh, who has been rested for the third T20I against England in Rajkot. India have won the toss and are bowling first.

India have experienced two very different kinds of victories in their T20I series against England thus far and one more win today would confirm yet another series win at home for them. It was almost a walk in the park for them at the Eden Gardens where they won the first T20I by seven wickets with a whopping 43 balls to spare. In the second, though, it took a virtuoso knock from Tilak Varma to take them over the line with two wickets and four balls to spare.

England's ploy of throwing the kitchen sink at the Indian bowlers, particularly the spinners, almost worked at the Chepauk in the second T20I. The fact remains that they would have probably stuck to that tactic today even if it hadn't worked at all in Chennai. Such is the Bazball way. They have their task cut out for them, though - in India they are facing a side who have won 15 of the 17 T20Is they have played since they won the 2024 T20 World Cup. India are also unbeaten in their last 17 T20I series at home, with their last defeat being a 2-0 loss to Australia in February 2019.

Moreover, India seemed to have changed their approach to T20 cricket during this period. Gone are the days of top order anchors and middle-order sloggers, they all slog now. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have not have too many big opening partnerships but that is largely because they have tried to heave the bowlers out of the ground as often as possible in the powerplay. Tilak has been a revelation at No.3.

Strangely enough, the one player on whom some doubt seems to have crept up since the T20 World Cup is captain Suryakumar Yadav, although the alarm bells are not even visible in the horizon. Suryakumar has scored 12 runs at a strike rate of 120 in this series thus far. Since the T20 World Cup, he has managed only two fifties and scored 242 runs at an average of 23.

In the bowling lineup, it seems pretty certain that Mohammed Shami won't be playing this time around either. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said that the fitness didn't play a role in the decision to keep out Shami, who has been on the sidelines since the final of the 2023 World Cup. With Arshdeep Singh's short-pitched deliveries proving to be too much for Phil Salt to handle, it wouldn't really make sense to drop him halfway through the series. Moreover, Arshdeep has proven himself to be undroppable regardless of the situation as he sits within touching distance of becoming the first Indian to take 100 wickets in T20Is.

Here are some pointers to India vs England 3rd T20I:

- England beat India by 26 runs

- India could not hit a single boundary between the seventh over and the 15th

- India were tottering at 78/4 at the end of the first 10 overs

- England 171/9 in 20 overs

- Varun Chakravarthy completed his five-wicket haul and finished with figures of 5/24

- Varun Chakravarthy got two wickets on the trot in the 14th over

- Hardik Pandya got the early breakthrough by dismissing Phil Salt in the second over

- Shami bowled the opening over and conceded six runs

- Mohammed Shami is back for his first international match since November 2023

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