AHMEDABAD, March 20: Dishing out a dominating all-round show, India toppled England in the high-scoring fifth Twenty20 to not only claim the series 3-2 but also prove that their preparations for the T20 World Cup are moving in the right direction.
Rohit Sharma’s sensational 64 off 34 balls and skipper Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 80 off 52 balls powered India to a massive 224 for two, their best ever total against England, after the visitors won the toss for the fourth time in the series and opted to field on Saturday.
In the run chase, Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan kept India on the edge with a threatening 130-run stand but England’s challenged fizzled with the fall of the wicketkeeper-batsman in the 13th over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
England’s innings eventually ended at 188 for eight as they lost match by 36 runs.
The dew was a factor in the second innings but the Indian bowlers overcame that to defend the target on a batting beauty.
Bhuvneshwar was impressive in his comeback series and saved his best for the decider to end with two wickets for 15 runs in four overs.
Apart from Bhuvneshwar’s successful return from injury, the big plus for India was the emergence of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan.
Hardik Pandya was back to bowling regularly, marking another positive for Kohli’s team which proved in the series that it can win while chasing as well as batting first.
England were dealt a big blow at the start of the daunting chase when Bhuvneshwar castled Jason Roy.
However, Malan and Buttler kept England in the hunt.
The momentum shifted decisively in India’s favour when Buttler holed out at long off with Bhuvneshwar conceding only three runs in that over.
Buttler’s dismissal also fired up Kohli, who was involved in an exchange with the opposition players, something that needed umpire’s intervention.
Earlier, preparing themselves for success in all conditions ahead of the World Cup, India thrived under the pressure of a series-decider to produce their batting performance of the series.
India decided to drop opener K L Rahul to accommodate an extra bowling option in left-arm pacer T Natarajan for the all important game.
With no Rahul at the top, Virat Kohli moved himself up the order to open with Rohit, a move that worked wonders. (PTI)
