England grabbed a consolation win in the third and last Twenty20 international against India with a 17-run victory at Trent Bridge on Sunday. Jos Buttler celebrated his first win as England’s full-time white-ball captain despite Suryakumar Yadav’s 117 runs from 55 balls with 14 fours and six sixes.
England chose to bat first and scored 215-7, underpinned by Dawid Malan’s 77 off 39 balls, but that was overshadowed as Yadav mixed belligerence with audacity in a stunning innings before holing out in the 19th over.
India needed 21 off the last six balls but Chris Jordan sealed the win for England. Jordan took two wickets in the final three balls as India fell short on 198-9. India won the series 2-1 following three matches in four days.
Buttler had made an inauspicious start since succeeding Eoin Morgan, and England came into this match with question marks over its T20 batting. The consolation victory owed much to pacer Reece Topley’s 3-22 in four overs, while David Willey and Jordan collected two wickets each after England had recorded an imposing total thanks to Malan and Liam Livingstone’s 29-ball 42 not out.
Having won the previous two matches, India thus beat England for the fourth consecutive time in a T20I series. India have, in fact, never lost a series to England in this format. This was India’s 14th T20I win on the trot under Rohit Sharma, and most importantly, his solid performance will help the team gain big confidence ahead of the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia.
