Rohit Sharma’s brilliant unbeaten century knock and Hardik Pandya’s impressive all-round performances helped the Indian team to comfortably win the third and final T20I by 7 wickets (with 8 balls remaining) at County Ground (Bristol) on Sunday. With this victory, India won the three-match T20I series against the hosts England by the 1-2 margins.
Indian captain Virat Kohli decided to field first after winning the toss. England had a very good opening start as their opening batsmen Jason Roy and Jos Buttler put a fast 94-run partnership. In the powerplay, England openers managed to put 73 runs on the board without losing their wickets.
After in-form Buttler was dismissed on 34 runs, another opener Roy also departed soon after playing a blistering knock of 67 off 31 balls (4 fours and 7 sixes).
Then Hardik Pandya showed his wicket-taking skills that restricted the England team to under the 200-run mark. Pandya, who conceded 22 runs in his first over, ended with the figure of 4-0-38-4.
Only Alex Hales (30) and Jonny Bairstow (25) are the other batsmen to reach the 20-run mark as England was restricted to 198/9 at the end of 20 overs.
Apart from Pandya, Siddarth Kaul (2/35) took two wickets while another pacer Umesh Yadav (1/48) and the debutant Deepak Chahar (1/43) got one wicket each. However, at the one stage, England was a favourite to score 210-220 or more runs.
Chasing down the target, India started attacking fashion but lost the opener Shikhar Dhawan (5) and the no.3 batsman KL Rahul (19) for cheaply. Then another opener Rohit Sharma and the skipper Virat Kohli put an important 89-run partnership for the third wicket that set the game for the visitors.
While Sharma completed his half-century in 28 balls and was stretching his innings for the long mark, Kohli was caught & bowled by Chris Jordan after scoring 43 off 29 balls (2 fours and 2 sixes).
Rohit Sharma continued his innings and scored a brilliant century in 56 balls as he was not out on 100 off 56 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes. Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya played a smashing knock of unbeaten 33 off 14 balls (4 fours and 2 sixes) that helped the team to win the match comfortably as they reached the target in 18.4 overs after losing three wickets.
Among the English bowlers, David Willey (1/37), Jake Ball (1/39) and Chris Jordan (1/40) picked up one wicket each.
Here are some Twitter reactions:
Perfect weather.. perfect conditions and a perfect result for #TeamIndia. Congratulations on the series win and all the best for the upcoming ODI matches. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/hHUEfbSoLd
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 8, 2018
England ham sharminda hain,
Talent abhi Zinda hai.@ImRo45 , what elegance and clean hitting. 3rd T20I 100, many more to come. Great effort from Kungfu Pandya with both bat and ball. Well deserved series win.
#IndvsEng pic.twitter.com/Mut6O2dLX7— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) July 8, 2018
India win a hugely entertaining game by seven wickets to take the Vitality IT20 series 2-1.
Massive disappointment for the boys but we will be back more determined than ever in the ODIs!
Scorecard/videos: https://t.co/qDb4ic4VQi#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/2oTtnM8qPB
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 8, 2018
💯👏👏
HITMANNNNN!
A fine century for @ImRo45 as he now becomes the second player to score 3 T20I tons.#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/AdPLQfWMn7
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 8, 2018
What a great display of team effort by everyone @BCCI !!Congrats on the win!👌👌👌 #ENGvIND
— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) July 8, 2018
Rohit Sharma is first batsman in history to score 3 centuries in each format of international cricket – 3 in Tests, 17 in ODIs, 3 in T20Is. #EngvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) July 8, 2018
India in three-match T20I series:
WON 3-0 v Aus, 2016
WON 2-1 v SL, 2016
WON 2-1 v Zim, 2016
WON 2-1 v Eng, 2017
WON 2-1 v NZ, 2017
WON 3-0 v SL, 2017
WON 2-1 v SA, 2018
WON 2-1 v Eng, 2018Played 8, Won all 8. #EngvInd
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) July 8, 2018
Great team effort by India to win the series.After the limited over series win in SA,another very impressive performance. The bowlers did a great job to pull things back & @ImRo45 , @imVkohli , @hardikpandya7 made the chase look easy. May we continue with the momentum #IndvsEng
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) July 8, 2018
Unbelievable Batting display …this next few weeks of cricket between these 2 teams is going to be a must watch … #ENGvIND
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 8, 2018
Roooooooohiiiitttttttt shaaarrrrmaaaaaaaa u beauty @ImRo45 top 💯 brother.. great stuff with the bowl and bat @hardikpandya7 #ENGvsIND congratulations team india 🇮🇳 @BCCI Indian summer in England 💪🏏
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) July 8, 2018
Smashing win. This is a tour de force performance by India. @ImRo45 & @hardikpandya7 the stars. I'll leave it to you to choose MoM
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) July 8, 2018
And how clean does Hardik Pandya hit the ball……
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 8, 2018
Most satisfying return to form! @IamRo45 is probably the most imperious batsman when on song
— HarshManRai (@harshmanrai) July 8, 2018
Fantastic win from India. The bowlers were outstanding to restrict England below 200 on that surface and @ImRo45 makes it look so easy. 3rd T20I 💯 and as effortless as ever. 6th successive T20 series win from this special side #IndvsEng
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) July 8, 2018
England were 20 short and the bowling in the second half from India was excellent.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/SirJadejaaaa/status/1015996906994987009
https://twitter.com/ROHITism_/status/1016000119139790848
Hardik Pandya:
Bat – 33* (14)
Ball – 4 for 38First Indian to score 30+ and take 4+ wickets in a T20I. #EngvInd
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) July 8, 2018
Good bowling by our very own Ninja and KungFuPandya to get us back into the game. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/jWhbCJsDNS
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/Mr_Lolwwa/status/1015996723687092224
Happy Birthday Dada!
#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/AJjNTFdV45— bhaavna arora (@BhaavnaArora) July 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/Sassy_Soul_/status/1015999055023886336
https://twitter.com/vishav_d/status/1015998081710546945
Rohit Sharma's reaction on Jason Roy's innings😂#INDvsENG #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/B0l1hiNJdm
— urstrulyKajal🇮🇳 (@BanarasiBasanti) July 8, 2018
Rohitians looking for @coolfunnytshirt#ENGvsIND #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/7hy2Exlr21
— 𝕏pertOpinion (@Slog_Sweep_) July 8, 2018
