The clash of the T20I titans lived up to expectations. For 12 overs during England’s chase, Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler threatened to trump a Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli jugalbandi but Bhuvneshwar Kumar came back for his second spell and dismissed Buttler. Words were exchanged between Buttler and Kohli but India had an opening and they barged through to win the final T20I by 36 runs to take the series 3-2.
Chasing 225 to win, England were well placed at end of 11 overs on 120 for 1. In the next five overs, England lost 4 wickets for just 22 runs as the game dramatically changed. The legspinner Rahul Chahar gave just 7 runs in the 12th before Kumar gave just 3 and snuffled out Buttler in the next to seize the moment. The seamers bowled a slew of slower cutters to suck out the fight from England who finished at 188/8. Two slower balls from Shardul Thakur accounted for Jonny Bairstow and Malan in the 15th over and Hardik Pandya cramped Eoin Morgan for room with a short of a length delivery in the next over. Once again, India prevailed in a high-pressure game.
