Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone star with the bat as England dig deep to seal 26-run win against India to halve the deficit to 2-1 in T20I series
England dug deep to fight their way back into the Twenty20 series against India, sealing a 26-run victory that halved the deficit to 2-1.
They completed it against the head, after losing the toss once again, and having to contend with the evening dew at its heaviest when defending.
And after recovering from a huge batting collapse inspired by leg-spinning nemesis Varun Chakravarthy’s five for 24.
That they made their biggest score of the series so far came down to a couple of boundary flurries from Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone.
First, Duckett hit or cleared the rope six times in seven deliveries during a 26-ball half century that injected some impetus into the innings after his opening partner Phil Salt failed to take advantage of negotiating the first over for the first time in the series.
Then, Liam Livingstone reacted to being left with the tail by crunching Ravi Bishnoi for three sixes in four balls on his way to 43 from 24 deliveries.
Jamie Overton took three wickets as the tourists successfully defended their score of 171
Liam Livingstone smashed 43 off 24 including five sixes to rescue England’s first innings
England were made to contend with the leg-spin of Varun Chakravarthy once more, who took five for 24
With 171 for nine on the board, England still required early wickets and backed up by excellent catching their pace bowlers took three in the power play – Archer’s over-shoulder grab to dismiss Abhishek Sharma the pick.
Those early strikes allowed the excellent Adil Rashid to apply the mid-innings clamp so efficiently that India’s batters did not hit a boundary between the seventh and 15th overs.
By the time they broke that sequence, the world champions needed more than 12 an over and were destined for just a fifth defeat in 40 T20 matches.
England’s victory might have come at a cost, however. Jamie Smith was named as wicketkeeper as he was carrying what was deemed to be a small calf strain.
But he walked off the field four overs into India’s chase, to be replaced behind the stumps by Phil Salt, after appearing to have worsened the issue.
A horrific collapse of seven for 44 during the latest spin-only diet fed to them by their hosts – this time a bank of 13 straight overs – hamstrung England’s bid to keep the series alive.
Although they benefitted from the absence of new-ball master Arshdeep Singh – the most prolific India bowler in Twenty20 international history rested to allow a first cap for injury-plagued veteran Mohammad Shami since 2023’s one-day World Cup here – it was soon to be a familiar story.
Since returning from three years in the international wilderness last October, Chakravarthy has proved the proverbial comeback king.
Ben Duckett had earlier top-scored with 51 from 28 deliveries with seven fours and two sixes
Captain Jos Buttler could contribute only 24 from 22 before becoming Chakravarthy’s first victim
Mohammad Shami won his first cap since the 2023 One-Day World Cup after injury issues
The scourge of England in this series took his overall tally to 27 wickets in 10 appearances with his latest escapades, duping opponents with the slightest deviations rather than huge turners in claiming his second-best figures in an Indian shirt.
It was a moment of good fortune that began the demise as England captain Jos Buttler, less fluent than in his first two visits to the crease on this tour, was shown to have got a feather edge on a reverse sweep on review.
And when Duckett holed out to slow left-armer Axar Patel in the next over, the floodgates opened.
To the extent that a spell of four for five in 10 balls by the leg-spinner threatened to dismiss England well ahead of schedule.
However, from 127 for eight, Livingstone countered to spectacular effect, taking 19 from the 17th over, and even though he fell to Hardik Pandya soon afterwards the momentum was built upon sensibly during a crucial unbeaten 24 for the last wicket between Rashid and Mark Wood.
