A superb unbeaten century from Rohit Sharma guided India to a seven-wicket win over England in the third T20I at Bristol, sealing a 2-1 series victory for his side.
Sharma’s classy innings of 100* from 56 balls – his third hundred in the format – allowed the visitors to chase down a testing target of 199 with relative ease, with Hardik Pandya (33* off 14) hitting a straight six to confirm the win with eight deliveries to spare.
India had inserted England after winning the toss and Virat Kohli may have been questioning the wisdom of his decision, and the surprising call to drop the wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, as the hosts came out all guns blazing.
Jason Roy (67 from 31) and Jos Buttler (34 from 21) put on an opening stand of 94 in 7.5 overs to put England on course for a score well in excess of 200 before India fought back strongly.
Buttler was clean bowled by Siddarth Kaul and Roy fell two overs later, edging behind off Deepak Chahar to give MS Dhoni the first of five catches behind the stumps – a new record in T20Is.
A breezy knock of 30 from 24 balls by Alex Hales kept England moving but wickets fell at regular intervals and curbed their momentum. Pandya (4/38) ripped the guts out of England’s middle order, dismissing Hales, Eoin Morgan (6), Ben Stokes (14) and Jonny Bairstow (25), and India would have been happy to restrict England to 198/9 given their rapid start.
Sharma immediately looked in the groove despite losing his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan for 5 to a superb catch by Jake Ball at short fine-leg off the bowling of David Willey. An even better piece of fielding provided the second wicket, Chris Jordan taking a screamer in the deep off Ball to dismiss KL Rahul (19) and receive a deserved standing ovation from the Bristol crowd who couldn’t quite believe what they’d seen. Judging by Rahul’s expression as he trudged off, neither could he.
England looked well in the game at that stage but a third-wicket partnership of 89 between Sharma and Kohli (43 off 29) swung the contest in India’s favour.
Sharma hit five sixes and 11 fours in his knock, showing why he is regarded as one of the most dangerous ball-strikers in world cricket. He received composed support from Kohli before the Indian captain hit a drive firmly back at Jordan, who took a sharp caught-and-bowled chance.
Rather than sending out Suresh Raina or MS Dhoni, India decided to promote Pandya up the order and it proved to be an inspired move, the box-office all-rounder hitting four fours and two sixes to ensure a 2-1 series victory.
