Harshit Rana and Ravi Bishnoi's three-wicket hauls helped India clinch a thrilling 15-run win over England in the fourth T20I match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday, handing the Men in Blue an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
The Indian bowling dominated the second innings with early wickets. The hosts got an advantage after Harshit Rana replaced concussed Shivam Dube in the second inning. Rana's presence in the playing eleven gave a huge boost to the Men in Blue bowling attack as he turned out to be the hero for the team in crunch situation.
Philip Salt (23 runs from 21 balls, 4 fours) and Ben Duckett (39 runs from 19 balls, 7 fours and 1 six) cemented a partnership of 62 runs and gave a fiery start to the Three Lions.
Ravi Bishnoi drew the first blood in the second inning as he removed Duckett in the 6th over. Following the first wicket, India got an upper hand on the visitors and started to remove the top England batters from the crease.
Skipper Jos Buttler (2 runs from 3 balls) failed to shine during the run chase and succumbed in front of Bishnoi in the 8th over. Harry Brook (51 runs from 26 balls, 5 fours and 2 sixes) was the only England player to put up a show in the second inning. His fiery knock gave hope to the visitors to clinch the game. However, the English youngster was removed from the crease in the 15th over by Varun Chakravarthy.
In the latter part of the game, Jamie Overton (19 runs from 15 balls, 1 four and 1 six) and Adil Rashid (10* runs from 6 balls, 1 six) tried to pose a scare by adding some crucial runs on the board but fell short against the Indian bowling attack.
Harshit Rana and Ravi Bishnoi led the Indian bowling attack as they picked up three wickets each in their respective spells. Varun Chakravarthy also bagged two wickets in his four-over spell while giving 28 runs. While Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel took one wicket each in their respective spells. India will take on England in the final match of the series in Mumbai at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on February 02.
Earlier in the first inning, India had a sloppy start, however, it was the efforts of Hardik and Shivam which helped the Men in Blue to set a target of 182 runs for England on Friday.
After winning the toss, Jos Buttler-led England decided to bring Suryakumar Yadav's India to bat first. The Three Lions had a great start to the match with three quick dismissals at the score of 12. However, the Men in Blue turned around the match on a great note and gave a whopping target.
The opening partnership of Sanju Samson (1 run from 3 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (29 runs from 19 balls, 4 fours and 1 six) had a disappointing start to the game as they could only cement a partnership of 12 runs.
England seamer Saqib Mahmood was on fire in the second over as he removed India's top three batters without giving a single run to the opponent. Mahmood removed Samson, Tilak Varma (0 runs from 1 ball) and captain Suryakumar Yadav (0 runs from 4 balls) in the second over. It was also Mahmood's first over of the tour and he started it with a triple-wicket maiden.
It was the first time this had happened in a men's T20 international. Following the early wickets, Abhishek and Rinku Singh (30 runs from 26 balls, 4 fours and 1 six) made a 45-run partnership to give India a kickstart in the match. However, Adil Rashid removed Abhishek in the 8th over.
While Rinku lost his wicket in the 11th over. Hardik Pandya (53 runs from 30 balls, 4 fours and 4 sixes) displayed a stupendous performance and slammed his half-century in the 18th over.
Along with Hardik, Shivam Dube (53 runs from 34 balls, 7 fours and 2 sixes) also put up a show and smashed his fifty in the 19th over. The duo of Hardik and Shivam took India to 181/9 in the first inning. Ravi Bishnoi remained unbeaten on the crease till the end.
India's win was no doubt a thrilling affair, but it also came with some controversy due to Harshit's entry as a concussion substitute (which are supposed to be like-for-like replacements) for Dube after the all-rounder went off the field during innings break after being hit by a delivery from Jamie Overton during the final ball of India's innings.
While Dube is a batting all-rounder who can bowl some useful medium pace, Rana is a genuine pacer who can touch 140 kmph and is a capable lower-order batter. But he is not classified as an all-rounder.
Speaking after the match in the post-match presser, Buttler said, "It is not a like-for-like replacement. We do not agree with that. Either Shivam Dube has put on about 25mph with the ball or Harshit has really improved his batting. It is part of the game and we really should have gone on to win the match, but we disagree with the decision."
Buttler also said that there was no consultation for the decision with England.
Brief Score: India 181/9 (Shivam Dube 53, Shivam Dube 53, Rinku Singh 30; Saqib Mahmood 3/35) beat England 166 (Harry Brook 51, Ben Duckett 39. Philip Salt 23; Ravi Bishnoi 3/28).
