India's T20 specialists came a cropper as England beat them by three runs in the one-off T20I at Edgbaston on Sunday. The tourists, chasing 181 to win, needed 17 runs in the last over butMS Dhoni, despite hitting Chris Woakes for a six and a four, failed to take the team over the line. With the defeat India finished their England tour that saw them lose the Test series and win the ODI rubber.
However, Virat Kohli brought an end to his poor form on this tour with a brilliant 66 off 41 balls. Kohli also overtook Yuvraj Singh (968 in 40 matches) as leading India run-scorer in T20Is. India's start to the chase wasn't great, as the in-form Ajinkya Rahane was bowled round his legs by Moeen Ali in the second over for 7. Kohli joined Shikhar Dhawan at the crease and looked in great control from the word go. He and Dhawan added 79 for the second wicket before the latter in an attempt to hit Woakes out of the park lost his stumps for 33 off 28 balls. However, it was Kohli's 41-run stand with Suresh Raina that put India in the ascendency.
Kohli departed against the run of the play off the bowling of Steven Finn with the team still needing 50 off 34 balls to win and that broke the team's momentum. Raina and Dhoni failed to score quick runs and when Harry Gurney cleaned up Raina (25) with a brilliant yorker India still needed 36 off 19 balls. Ravindra Jadeja's run-out for 7 made the situation worse. With Ambati Rayudu failing to connect the ball properly, Dhoni (27 *off 18 balls) took it upon himself to get the required runs in the final over. Alas, he failed, a rare occasion in T20s.
Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad leg-spinning allrounder Karn Sharma had a good international debut as England posted a solid 180 for 7, thanks to skipper Eoin Morgan's heroic 71 off 31 balls. Sharma, who caught the eye during the 2014 Indian Premier League, returned figures of 1 for 28, while Mohammed Shami, with 3 for 38, came in as the best Indian bowler. The Indian bowlers conceded 81 runs in the last five overs.
Rahane had a great time in the field, playing a big role in England's first three dismissals. Surrey's big-hitting batsman Jason Roy, who also made his international debut, fell in the third over bowled by Shami, giving a simple catch to Rahane at covers after he and his fellow opener Alex Hales took 17 runs off the first over bowled by R Ashwin. Next batsman Ali also found Rahane at covers two balls later, Mohit Sharma being the bowler this time.
Despite quick blows, Hales continued playing big shots and along with Joe Root added 48 runs for the third wicket to stabilise the English innings. However, both batsmen departed in quick succession. Rahane ran in from long-on to take a stunner to remove Hales off Jadeja for 40, while Root's miscued slog sweep found Rayudu, who ran in from deep midwicket to take a good catch off the bowling of Karn.
Wicketkeeper batsman Jos Buttler kept Morgan company for a while before giving a catch to Rayudu for 10 off Shami. Unperturbed by the situation, Morgan kept playing his natural game and punished the Indian bowlers, especially towards the end. The 19th over, bowled by Mohit, yielded 21 runs with Morgan hitting two sixes and one four. Morgan's innings came to an end in the last over as he hit Shami into the hands of Rahane on the long-on boundary. It was Rahane's fourth catch.
Ravi Bopara smashed two fours and a six off the remaining balls of the Shami over to take England to a big total. Off the last ball of the innings, Woakes was run out for a duck. Bopara remained unbeaten on 21 off nine balls.
Brief scores: England 180 for 7 in 20 overs (Morgan 71; Shami 3/38) beat India 177 for 5 (Kohli 66; Gurney 1/29) by three runs
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