England, on Tuesday, registered another easy win over India by eight wickets in the third T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Chasing a modest total of 157, the visiting team got over the line in the 19th over. Opening batsman Jos Buttler scored a flamboyant half-century, scoring an unbeaten 83 to lead the charge during the chase. India got the early breakthrough with the ball when Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed in-form Jason Roy for 9 in the fourth over.
However, Team India failed to capitalize on the early success as Buttler and Dawid Malan put England in the driver’s seat with a 58-run partnership. Buttler was the aggressor during the stand, as he reached his fifty off just 26 balls in the ninth over. In the very next over, Washington Sundar stumped Malan to give India the much-needed breakthrough. But England easily managed to recover after a fall of wicket once again with Buttler and Jonny Bairstow (40*) sharing an unbeaten 77-run stand to take their team home with ease.
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Earlier in the game, the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli played a classical knock in the first innings. However, the hosts witnessed another poor start as they failed to produce results after England threatened to blow them away with pace upfront. However, the Men in Blue managed to put a decent total, in the end, owing to some brilliant batting display by the skipper. Going into the game, Eoin Morgan won the toss and invited Virat Kohli & his men to bat first.
India didn’t get off to a good start as the new opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul flattened on the pitch and both lost their wickets to right-arm quick Mark Wood. While Rahul was dismissed for another duck, Rohit also had to go back to the pavilion after adding 15 runs to the scoreboard.
Even, Ishan Kishan only managed to score just 4 runs after facing 9 deliveries. Virat Kohli, who walked out to bat at number 4, had a slow start to his innings as he was looking to carry forward to the form he got back in the second T20. Virat along with Rishabh Pant stitched a crucial 40-run partnership with the latter adding 25 runs but a misjudgment by Kohli resulted in Pant’s dismal run-out.
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This was followed by India losing Shreyas Iyer as well in 1the 15th over. However, from the 16th over, Kohli decided to go berserk over the England bowlers. The batting maestro single-handedly helped India to reach a total of 156 as in the next 21 balls he scored a whopping 53 runs. He played some of the mind-boggling shots which confirmed that he was back at his best. In the end, it was his knock that helped India to post a competitive total with Virat Kohli scoring 77* off 46 deliveries at a stunning strike-rate of 167.39.
Here is how netizens reacted to England’s win:
Just to be clear… current* 👆 includes Australia & England T20I series. Horrendous showing in the field (understatement).
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) March 16, 2021
Am I getting old or is the slow over rate becoming very annoying in T20 cricket !!! #INDvENG
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 16, 2021
Poor start, poor fielding, toss, ordinary bowling on a wicket that was helping spin. Except the Virat masterclass nothing really worked for India against a superb England T20 unit. To game 4. Again I would say india will make a comeback and level it 2-2.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) March 16, 2021
Well played England. Let’s make a come back India… #INDvsENG
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) March 16, 2021
Clinical finish by @englandcricket ! @josbuttler made the Indian bowling look like a club side, wonderful shots all across the ground! Looks like #TeamIndia needs a few changes in the bowling department! #EngVsInd #INDvENG
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) March 16, 2021
Should have imposed night curfew after the first innings and stopped the match. At least we would have slept happily. #INDvENG
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) March 16, 2021
Mark Wood or Jos Buttler? Man of the match for #INDvsENG match? Tough to choose one?
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) March 16, 2021
Win the Toss & win the game? Or are the Toss winners just consistently playing better? #ENGvIND
Match 1 England toss win ✅
Match 2 India toss win ✅
Match 3 England toss win ✅— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) March 16, 2021
Starts like a corolla , finishes like a FERRARI #KingKohli
— DK (@DineshKarthik) March 16, 2021
