India has managed to register a series leveling win over England in the fourth T20I of the five-match series by runs on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The series is now leveled at 2-2 with a game to go. For India, Shardul Thakur and Suryakumar Yadav played a crucial role in their respective fields for the team as the latter played a brilliant knock of 31-ball 57 while Thakur bowled a brilliant spell of 3/42.
Earlier in the game, England again won the toss and as expected asked the hosts to bat first. Team India had a decent start to their innings, as they scored 10 runs in the first over, but Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Jofra Archer in the second over and Suryakumar Yadav started his innings with a six over the fine-leg. At the end of the powerplay, India was standing at 45/1 with KL Rahul And Surya in the middle.
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Soon after that, England struck twice in quick succession and removed Rahul and Virat Kohli to reduce India to 70 for 3. However, Suryakumar reached as he kept on playing his shots and scored his fifty off just 28 balls. He could add only seven more runs after that before a controversial catch from Dawid Malan ended his knock. Suryakumar scored 57 off 31 balls with the help of 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Rishabh Pant contributed well with his 30 but not in his usual aggressive manner as he took 23 balls for the same. The Men in Blue managed to surpass the 180-run mark thanks to Shreyas Iyer’s fine cameo of 37 that came off just 18 deliveries. Iyer smashed five fours and a six during his knock. For England, Jofra Archer was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 33 off his four overs.
England’s chase got off to a poor start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent back in-form Jos Buttler for just 9 after bowling a maiden over. The hosts failed to take another wicket in the powerplay as Jason Roy and Dawid Malan steadied the ship although the duo added 45 runs off 30 balls for the second wicket before Rahul Chahar castled Malan for 14.
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But just when it looked like India are well on top in the game, Ben Stokes (46) and Jonny Bairstow (25) turned the game upside down with a quickfire stand of 65 runs off just 36 balls. However, Chahar ended the stand in the 15th over, and an over later, Shardul Thakur sent back Stokes and Eoin Morgan on consecutive deliveries to reduce England to 140 for 6 and put India firmly on top. Eventually, India won the game by 8 runs despite England needing 23 runs in the last over as Jofra Archer smashed a four and a six.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match
What a start in international cricket @surya_14kumar 👌🏻👌🏻 top knock bud, and a big congrats to the team to pull out a brilliant effort on the field tonight in difficult conditions to make it 2-2 . Well done 👏🏻👏🏻#TeamIndia @BCCI
— rishi dhawan (@rishid100) March 18, 2021
Jofra Archer’s brilliant cameo goes in vain as India defeat England by 8 runs in the fourth T20I 👏
The series is now tied at 2-2.#INDvENG ➡️ https://t.co/rqFjwUKgNG pic.twitter.com/ZbcsFVGZcj
— ICC (@ICC) March 18, 2021
Win the toss ≠win the match
Defying odds have become India's habit!
Well played boys…series final will be exciting#INDvENG— DK (@DineshKarthik) March 18, 2021
Love watching you bowl brother! You’ve worked so hard on your bowling. Under pressure and in difficult conditions, you’ve shown your quality yet again 💥 @hardikpandya7 pic.twitter.com/hbqKeY0jLu
— Krunal Pandya (@krunalpandya24) March 18, 2021
Super comeback by different heroes at critical stages of #INDvsENG game by Indian players. #INDvENGt20
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) March 18, 2021
OMG .. What a game #INDvENGt20 I enjoyed that. It was tense . 2 all now.Nice one guys
— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) March 18, 2021
2/16 in 4 overs. That's some spell in a 180 run chase. @hardikpandya7 getting back to bowling form is great to see. Such a vital player for India #INDvsENG
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) March 18, 2021
This is absolutely brilliant from India!
Lost the toss, so against heavy odds (read dew) they have won this. Bowlers deserve even more praise than some of the fantastic batting performances that came earlier. 👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏#INDvsENG_2021— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) March 18, 2021
Great game. Congratulations, India.
All set up for a MASSIVE decider!#INDvENG— Ian Bell MBE (@Ian_Bell) March 18, 2021
Shardul Thakur turning things around for India in one over,two in two and that too of Stokes and Morgan #INDvENG
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) March 18, 2021
Great captaincy from Virat … !! Allowing @ImRo45 to get involved & clearly his tactics work … #INDvENG
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 18, 2021
DHO-OL in DHO balls! #INDvsENG #WhistlePodu #Yellove 💛🦁
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 18, 2021
More than 300 runs were scored in the match and Hardik Pandya's figures are 4-0-16-2. Gold.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 18, 2021