Ahmedabad: India survived last night’s nervy overs after Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant maiden 50 to sign an eight-run victory over England in the fourth T20 International on Thursday. Asked for a bat, India sent 185 in 8, the most total number in the series, most notably 31-ball 57 from Suryakumar and limited England to 177 in 8 to win the match and equalize in the series of five games 2-2. The visiting team hunted until Ben Stokes (46 off 23 balls) and Jonny Bairstow (25 off 19) were top notch Indian bowlers rewarding runs in the middle overs.
Dew also created problems for the bowlers. But the home side recovered well with Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar lead the way.
England needed 23 in the last over and Jofra Archer hit four and six but could not get the required runs in the final.
From 132 to 4 at the end of the 15th over, England could add 45 runs in the last five overs.
India was led by Rohit Sharma in these turbulent times as Virat Kohli left the field.
Shardul Thakur finished with 3 out of 42 points and Pandya with 2 out of 16. Rahul Chahar also won two and Bhuvneshwar Kumar one wicket.
Earlier, India kept England right by giving only two runs in the first two overs and eliminating dangerous Jos Buttler (9) in the third over.
But Jason Roy (40) and Dawin Malan (14) started picking up the pieces, England reached 48 in 1 after the playplay.
Malan was left out by Shardul Thakur at 3 pm but did not score as many runs as he came out on 14th in the eighth over and Rahul Chahar cleared him.
With the request level close to 10, England were required to play a shot but Roy failed to fully control his outpouring of Pandya in the ninth over for Suryakumar to complete a light touch near the border.
With 71 out of 3 midfielders and an average asking for more than 11 runs per hour, England had to take risks and Ben Stokes did just that with six senior players, one in Washington Sundar and the other in Chahar.
As the dew puts a strain on the spinners, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow have found the necessary limits to keep the asking rate close to 10 more.
Stokes was in a terrible situation especially as he easily removed the boundaries. But Bairstow’s dismissal in the 15th over and Stokes’ two overs later turned the game around in India.
The two shared 65 runs for the fourth wicket. After sending Stokes back, Shardul Thakur took two in pairs. Earlier, Suryakumar hit his maiden 50 and gave India 185 for 8.
Suryakumar, who replaced the injured Ishan Kishan, hit four four-pointers and three six-pointers on his 31st 57 goals and scored the highest points for India.
He first appeared in the second T20I but did not hit that game. India did not have a great relationship but a quick knock from Shreyas Iyer (37 off 18 balls) and Rishabh Pant (30 off 23) took the strangers and picked them at the top of the series.
England also opened the scoring with leg spinner Adil Rashid but Rohit Sharma (12) netted six goals in the first leg of the game. But Rohit’s promising innings were cut short in the fourth over as he was caught off guard by Jofra Archer, who took the leading career figures in 4/33.
Suryakumar beat Archer by six balls in the first round of international cricket, collected gaps and found the limits to keep the scoreboard moving, even though England’s bowlers were not rebellious at all.
