Key events
“If England convince themselves that they lost because of Harshit Rana they’re kidding themselves,” says Felix Wood. “They lost their heads – Buttler was chuntering to the umpires long before Rana even bowled. And contrast Hardik’s calm defending of Rashid’s last two balls to England’s approach to Varun’s last over. All night playing non-funky shots was getting full value, there was no need for those risks. England should only be cross with themselves.”
The point about Hardik defending Rashid’s last two balls is a particularly good one. But I don’t agree that England should only be cross with themselves. Harshit Rana is as much of a like-for-like replacement for Shivam Dube as I am for David Beckham.
Jos Buttler said before the series that he’d been practising his smile in the mirror. He’s having to work exceptionally hard to smile with anything resembling sincerity as he shakes hands with the Indian players. I doubt he’ll say it but it’s clear that England feel hard done by. They have a case, no question, but even with Harshit’s introduction they should have won the game.
India win by 15 runs
WICKET! England 166 all out (Saqib c Axar b Arshdeep 1) Saqib picks out the man at deep midwicket to complete a miserable collapse of 10 for 104. India take an unassailable 3-1 lead with one game to play in Mumbai on Sunday.
There are three ways of looking at the game. That India fought back magnificently not once but twice; that England’s batters blew it with some brainless cricket; and that India won the match because of a substitution that should never have been allowed. I can see all three sides!
19th over: England 163-9 (Rashid 8, Saqib 0) England need 19 from the last over, which isn’t going to happen. The controversial substitution of Harshit Rana for Shivam Dube has probably settled the match and the series.
WICKET! England 163-9 (Overton b Harshit 19)
Jamie Overton’s gamble hasn’t paid off. He drags Harshit’s last ball onto the stumps to end an odd innings of 19 from 15 balls.
18.5 overs: England 163-8 (Overton 19, Rashid 8) An authentic dot ball. Overton smashes back at Rana, who fields superbly in his follow through.
18.4 overs: England 163-8 (Overton 19, Rashid 8) And again he turns a single down. Hmm. “I’m not having this,” says Kevin Pietersen on commentary.
18.3 overs: England 163-8 (Overton 19, Rashid 8) Overton is dropped! He slogged Harshit a million miles in the air and was dropped by Samson, running back towards the boundary. Chakravarthy was also on the scene but Samson took responsibility and almost ran past the ball. England need 19 from 9 balls.
18.2 overs: England 161-8 (Overton 17, Rashid 8) Blimey, Overton has turned down a single to long on. Not sure that’s the right idea with Rashid at the crease.
18.1 overs: England 161-8 (Overton 17, Rashid 8) Harshit Rana, India’s impact concussion substitute, will bowl the penultimate over. Overton smokes his first ball whence it came for four!
18th over: England 157-8 (Overton 13, Rashid 8) Arshdeep, who has two overs remaining, returns with the remit to close out India’s series victory. After five singles in as many balls, Rashid pulls breezily over mid-on for six! That’s a tremendous shot. England need 25 from 12 balls.
17th over: England 146-8 (Overton 10, Rashid 0) And now they need 36 from 18 balls.
WICKET! England 146-8 (Archer b Bishnoi 0)
Overton pumps Bishnoi down the ground for six. He’s England’s last hope of victory, but he’s running out of partners. Archer falls for 0, dragging a googly back onto the stumps. England need 36 from 19 balls.
16th over: England 137-7 (Overton 1, Archer 0) For all the understandable talk about Harshit’s involvement, England have made a Horlicks of a very good position. They were 62 for 0 after 5.5 overs chasing 182. Now they need 45 from 24 balls with only the bowlers left.
WICKET! England 137-7 (Bethell c Suryakumar b Harshit 6)
Harshit Rana, who arguably shouldn’t be allowed to bowl, is winning the game for India. Bethell drives a slower ball high to long on to end another scratchy cameo, 6 from 9 balls in this case. England need snookers.
15th over: England 133-6 (Bethell 3, Overton 0) England kept Chakravarthy wicketless for 20 balls but they couldn’t escape unscathed. He finishes with figures for 4-0-28-2; it’s a reflection of how brilliant he has been that they feel like modest figures. In the context of the game they are anything but.
WICKET! England 133-6 (Carse c Rinku b Chakravarthy 0)
Brydon Carse, promoted up the order to protect Jamie Overton, lasts only two balls. The first went for four leg-byes, the second was slog-swept straight to deep square leg.
WICKET! England 129-5 (Brook c Arshdeep b Chakravarthy 51)
The ball after bringing up a majestic 25-ball fifty, Brook scoops Chakravarthy straight to short fine leg. It’s a tame end to an exhilarating innings. India are hot favourites now.
14th over: England 124-4 (Brook 47, Bethell 2) Brook tries to change the narrative by smacking Harshit for successive sixes over backward square and mid-off. A thrilling cut for four makes it 18 from the over and brings the target down to 58 from 36 balls. It’s going to be what Ashley Giles lovingly describes as an arse-nipper.
13th over: England 106-4 (Brook 29, Bethell 2) Brook has had a poor series but he looks more like himself today. He pings Chakravarthy through midwicket for his third boundary and finishes the over on 29 from 18 balls. England’s hopes of victory rest on his shoulders.
12th over: England 99-4 (Brook 23, Bethell 1) Terrific stuff from Harshit, who concedes only five from his first over to push the asking rate above 10 an over. And Chakravarthy has two overs left.
Whether Harshit Rana is a like-for-like replacement for Shivam Dube is likely to be the subject of much discussion, maybe even a hashtag or two, should India win this game. It sounds like Jos Buttler is already fuming and he has a case. Harshit is a much better bowler than Dube.
WICKET! England 95-4 (Livingstone c Samson b Harshit 9)
Harshit Rana, India’s concussion substitute, comes into the attack. This is his T20 international debut – and he strikes second ball when Livingstone tries to run the ball to third man and gives Sanju Samson a bit of catching practice.
11th over: England 94-3 (Brook 19, Livingstone 9) Brook thumps Axar down the ground, where Tilak improvises superbly to save two runs. Brook backs away to slash the next ball for four, a terrific shot, but there are only eight from the over. It’s getting very tight.
Drinks: England need 96 from 60 balls
10th over: England 86-3 (Brook 12, Livingstone 8) Brook and Livingstone are running well and score off all six deliveries in Bishnoi’s third over: 212111.
9th over: England 78-3 (Brook 8, Livingstone 4) Chakravarthy comes on to Brook, who has been his bunny in this series. Brook sweeps decisively over backward square for four; three twos and a single make it a good over for England. They need 104 from 66 balls.
8th over: England 67-3 (Brook 1, Livingstone 0) The commentators are now saying Harshit Rana has been allowed as a concussion replacement for Dube, who was hit on the helmet from the penultimate ball of the innings. That means he’ll be able to bowl.
WICKET! England 67-3 (Buttler c sub b Bishnoi 2)
England are in trouble now! Buttler has gone, slicing Bishnoi straight to the substitute Harshit Rana at short third man. It was the bounce that did for him. England have lost three wickets for five runs in 10 balls.
7th over: England 65-2 (Buttler 1, Brook 0) A fine over from Axar – three runs, one wicket.
WICKET! England 65-2 (Salt b Axar 23)
India are fighting back. Salt tries to slap Axar inside out through the off side, misses and is cleaned up. The atmosphere has changed in Pune and England have been thrust into another trial by spin.
India are trying to get a concussion sub for Shivam Dube, who is off the field. I’m not sure what happened there but so far the umpires haven’t allowed it.
6th over: England 62-1 (Salt 22, Buttler 0) England need 120 from 84 balls. Should.
WICKET! England 62-1 (Duckett c Suryakumar b Bishnoi 39)
Duckett falls to the last ball of the Powerplay, slicing Bishnoi high to extra cover. He played quite brilliantly to make 39 from only 19 balls, but when you live by the slog…
5th over: England 53-0 (Salt 15, Duckett 37) This is a sweeping masterclass from Ben Duckett. He dumps Axar Patel’s first ball over midwicket for four, then reverse sweeps four and six from successive deliveries. That brings up the fifty partnership in 4.5 overs. Duckett has scored 32 of the last 33 runs off the bat; we probably don’t appreciate just how good he is.
4th over: England 37-0 (Salt 14, Duckett 23) It’s time for the main man, Varun Chakravarthy. After a couple of sighters, Duckett dumps a reverse sweep over point for four. He tries another later in the over but doesn’t connect properly and only gets a single. Even so it’s been another jet-propelled start from Duckett, who has 23 from 12 balls.
3rd over: England 32-0 (Salt 14, Duckett 18) Lovely batting from Duckett, who hits Arshdeep for three successive boundaries on the leg side: square leg, midwicket and backward square. Arshdeep, who was far too good for England in the first two games, has figures of 2-0-22-0.
2nd over: England 19-0 (Salt 14, Duckett 5) England have made a strong start. Duckett edges his first ball wide of short third man for four; Salt clouts his third boundary over wide mid-off and pulls two more through square leg. It looks like the ball is coming on nicely.
1st over: England 8-0 (Salt 8, Duckett 0) A pretty decent start for Salt, who hits successive boundaries through mid-off and then mid-on. England are off and running.
Right, here we go. Arshdeep Singh has been all over Phil Salt so far in this series; their battle will resume at the start of the innings.
England need 182 to win
20th over: India 181-9 (Bishnoi 0) That was a terrific finish from Overton, who conceded only three from the last over. But England took some hammer in the second half of the innings, including 87 runs between overs 12 and 19. This should be a really intriguing runchase.
Oh, and Saqib Mahmood took a triple-bloody-wicket maiden at the start of the innings.
WICKET! India 181-9 (Dube run out 53)
Dube turns down a single, is hit on the helmet and cloths the last ball to long on. He tries to come back for a second and is beaten by a sensational direct hit; I’m not sure who the fielder was.
WICKET! India 180-7 (Arshdeep run out 0)
Arshdeep is run out first ball but he did his job by getting Dube on strike for the last three deliveries.
WICKET! India 180-7 (Axar c Bethell b Overton 5)
Axar, dropped off the previous ball by Livingstone at long off, whirls Overton straight into the safe hands of Bethell at deep midwicket. Four balls to go.
19th over: India 178-6 (Dube 51, Axar 0) Carse’s penultimate delivery is a leg-stump full toss that Dube puts away for four. He lashes the last ball to the fence as well to bring up a punishing fifty from 31 balls. Don’t forget he was dropped first ball by Jos Buttler.
18th over: India 166-6 (Dube 43, Axar 0) Overton’s third over disappeared for 20, but that wicket could be really important. Hardik had smashed 39 off the previous 12 balls.
WICKET! India 166-6 (Hardik c Buttler b Overton 53)
Hardik’s spectacular assault ends when he slices a slower ball high to Buttler in the covers. England desperately needed that.
17.2 overs: India 159-5 (Dube 38, Hardik 51) This is getting really messy for England. A high full toss from Overton is steered brilliantly for four by Hardik. It’s a no-ball, which means a free hit, which means a stunning, almost posey six down the ground. That takes Hardik to a coruscating 27-ball fifty, including 36 off the last 10 deliveries.
There’s a problem with the ball so the players are going to have an impromptu drinks break.
17th over: India 146-5 (Dube 38, Hardik 40) A rampant Hardik wallops 10 from the first balls of Archer’s final over. A moment ago he was 14 not out from 17 balls; now he has 40 from 25.
This is getting messy for England. Dube clumps an attempted yorker over mid-off for four more. Archer finishes with 4-0-36-0; the next five overs have disappeared for 59 runs.
