Nottingham, July 7: Phil Salt overcame initial jitters to smash his way to a 44-ball-70 as England posted a competitive 201 for 7 against India in the third T20 International here on Tuesday.
The Indian pace unit put up an impressive show with Delhi duo of Harshit Rana (2/40 in 4 overs) and Prince Yadav (2/30 in 4 overs) picking up wickets at crucial junctures but same can’t be said about veteran spinners Axar Patel (1/49 in 4 overs) and Varun Chakravarthy (0/35 in 3 overs).
All-rounder Sam Curran (41 no off 24 balls) used the long handle to good effect to take England past the 200-run mark. England would be happy with the total considering they were 111 for 4 after 12 overs. The last 8 overs yielded 89 runs.
Arshdeep Singh bowled an impressive maiden over to Salt first up but India also lost a DRS review. While Salt looked scratchy, Jos Buttler (36 off 21 balls) was quick to get off the blocks as he got a flurry of boundaries and sixes off Rana and Axar before Prince bowled a perfect yorker first up to castle the veteran.
Harry Brook (16) hit a lofted punch over covers off Prince but the bowler had the last laugh when he mistimed a pull-shot and Abhishek Sharma took a well judged catch at deep mid-wicket boundary.
Once Brook was out, Salt finally picked up the momentum, getting a six off Chakravarthy.
Salt also took Axar to the cleaners as the stand with Jacob Bethell (13) got them 40 runs in just 3.3 overs before Harshit removed the latter and Tom Banton off successive balls.
Having struggled in the Powerplay, Salt started getting his share of boundaries as he reached 50 off 36 balls — certainly slow by his high standards. (PTI)
