India Vs England 4th T20 Match Report
In a thrilling fourth T20I cricket match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, India won a nail-biter over England, by fifteen runs, in the backdrop of an inspiring 50 from Harry Brook to no avail.
Batting first under the lights after winning the toss always looked the gamble, as India lost their top order in quick succession. Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, and Suryakumar Yadav fell within two overs and India were already down to 12 for 3. However, the innings propped up by a balanced and attacking partnership of Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube.
The duo added 87 runs for the sixth wicket at a rapid pace, almost bailing India from the precarious position and to a decent score of 181 for 9, Pandya scintillatingly scored 53 from 30 balls with four boundaries and four sixes, while his partner Dube scored 53 from half as many balls, hitting seven fours and two sixes.
The English bowlers, led by Saqib Mahmood, who had taken three early wickets with a disciplined bowling performance from Jamie Overton, put India under pressure. Overton had figures of 2 for 32 and Adil Rashid took one wicket for 35 runs, contributing with a miserly bowling display.
Chasing, the English started briskly with Philip Salt and Ben Duckett adding 62 for the first wicket. Particularly aggressive had been Duckett, scoring 39 off just 19 balls with seven fours. However, bough to an end with a breakthrough by Ravi Bishnoi, with the English innings starting to crumble thereafter. Bishnoi had a fine spell, with figures of 3 for 28.
Harry Brook, in an act of valor, made 51 off 26 balls, blasting 5 fours and clouted 2 sixes, trying to propel England on the run chase. Varun Chakravarthy did the damage when he bowled to Brook finally. He played remarkable cricket, going for 28 off his 4 overs while taking 2 wickets. The fall of crucial wickets, including Josh Buttler and Liam Livingstone, meant that England could never quite catch up to the asking rate.
The England tail did wag slightly, with Jamie Overton managing 19 off 15, but the required acceleration just never came. The pressure of the chase was brilliantly absorbed by the Indian bowlers, particularly in the closing overs, where Arshdeep Singh gave away just 3 runs, claiming the last wicket in his very vital last over.
This match, with its mixed bag of twists, turns, and glorious individual performances mainly by Pandya, Dube, and Brook, illustrated how explosive T20 cricket can be. India’s success was not only a matter of fighting strength but also of applying smart cricketing principles under severe conditions.
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