IND vs ENG | Duckett-Livingstone fireworks in face of Varun fifer keeps series alive in Rajkot

Ask‌ed to bat first, England lost an early wicket for the third T20I in a row as Hardik Pandya got the better of Phil Salt with an innocous half-volley in the second over. Nevertheless, Ben Duckett and Jos Buttler staged a remarkable recovery as the former found his mojo with three boundaries off Hardik in the fourth over and added 14 more against Washington Sundar in the penultimate over of the powerplay. Under pressure, Suryakumar Yadav used six different bowlers in as many overs to try and stem the run flow but Duckett marauded along to a 26-ball half-century and the partnership soon read a commanding 76 off just 45 deliveries. It took the introduction of Varun Chakravarthy in the ninth over to trigger a finally collapse as he dispatched Buttler in his first over itself before Axar Patel had Duckett hole out six deliveries later. By the time Varun was done with his spell of 5/24, Jamie Smith and Jofra Archer had been castled while Harry Brook and Brydon Carse found fielders in the deep to leave England reeling at 127/8 with the death overs to come. However, Liam Livingstone took responsibility of shepherding the tail and muscled Ravi Bishnoi for three maximums in the 17th over in a breezy 24-ball knock of 43 before Mark Wood and Jofra Archer knocked the ball around to set India a competitive target of 172.

In response, Sanju Samson succumbed to Archer’s pace while his opening partner Abhishek Sharma struck five handsome boundaries in his 24-run cameo until a brilliant running catch from Archer cut his innings short. Suryakumar Yadav became the third victim in the powerplay, albeit not before a stunning display of his trademark supla, and India found themselves down and out at 51/3 after six overs. As the ball got old, it began to grip whic allowed Adil Rashid to extract prodigous turn, a weapon he used to brilliant effect to sound Tilak Varma the death rattle and cage Washington Sundar who eventually gave in to the pressure against Carse after a 15-ball struggle for six runs. With Hardik and Axar now at the crease, India needed a daunting 87 in the final eight overs but barely managed to go over run-a-ball despite the occasional boundary as the required run rate climbed to 18 by the time 17 overs were done. An attempt to break the shackles only saw Axar end up second best to Archer and Pandya holing out in the penultimate over off Overton practically sealed the result as the visitors cruised to a 26-run triumph thereafter.