Picture : BCCI / Twitter
Needed to win to stay alive in the series, India held on to their nerves to win thriller the fourth T20 by 8 runs to level the five – match series now 2-2. Both teams now play the decider on saturday.
With teams chasing winning the match so far been the norm. The fourth match though did the reverse. England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and asked India to bat first. Rohit Sharma ( 12), K L Rahul ( 14) , Skipper Virat Kohli fell for ( 1) and India were reeling at 70/3 . But Surya Kumar Yadav who had long waited to play for India grabbed the opportunity with both hands to score a brilliant 31 ball 57 ( 6 fours and 3 sixes), Rishabh Pant (30), Shreyas Iyer ( 37), Hardik Pandaya (11), Shardul Thakur not out 10 chipped in with valuable runs towards the end as India finished at a strong 185/ 8 in their 20 overs .
For England Jofra Archer was once again outstanding with figures of 4/33 ( 4 overs), Adil Rashid 1/39 ( 4 overs), Mark Wood 1/25 ( 4 overs), Chris Jordan was expensive 0/41 ( 4 overs), Ben Stokes 1/26 ( 3 overs), Sam Curran 1/16 ( 1 over)
In reply England began slowly with Jason Roy and Jos Buttler. First two overs yielded only 2 runs. First over was a maiden by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Last match hero Buttler fell early for 9. Roy who began slowly made up soon with 40 off 27 balls. He fell in the forties yet again. Just not carrying on. David Malan struggled for his 14. Chasing 186 , England needed to be quick but that did not happen. Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow gave England some hope with some power hitting and aggressive running between the wickets . Bairstow fell for 25 when he looked dangerous. Stokes on the other hand threatened to take the game away with his power hitting . His 46 came off mere 23 balls.
He fell at the wrong time and he was furious with his shot that saw him get out. Skipper Eoin Morgan found the pressure of the chase and was dismissed for 4. Shardul Thakur got both Stokes and Morgan to put India in command. Chris Jordan ( 12) and Jofra Archer ( 18) hit some lusty blows towards the end to give India some jitters but the total was a tad bit far. England finished at 177/8 in their 20 overs. Losing by 8 runs. The slow start in the beginning and quick dismissals of Buttler, and Stokes and Morgan in one over hurt them badly.
India were relieved though with their effort with the ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/30 ( 4 overs), Hardik Pandya was excellent 2/16 ( 4 overs), Shardul Thakur went for some runs 3/42 ( 4 overs), Washington Sundar was expensive 0/52 ( 4 overs), Rahul Chahar 2/35 ( 4 overs)
