India vs England, third T20: Score and latest updates from Rajkot
India vs England, third T20: Score and latest updates from Rajkot
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At 127 for eight, England were floundering in familiar fashion against spin, with this game and series slipping beyond them – and then Adil Rashid got involved. Rashid’s interventions with bat then ball inspired a 26-run victory that was so comfortable the result seemed certain by the end of his spell, in the 14th over of India’s chase. The tourists have a foothold in this series and plenty to take from their best performance yet.
Rashid is 37 next month, but according to England’s captain Jos Buttler he is still their most important player. On this evidence it is impossible to disagree. While India’s spinners are led by the magnificent Varun Chakravarthy, who took five for 23 here, they hunt as a pack – five of them shared 13 overs. Rashid is England’s lone wolf; he was supported by a single over from Liam Livingstone, with the other 15 bowled – very well, it should be said, by quicks. England may struggle to play spin, but they do have one man who is very special when bowling it. They are priming Rehan Ahmed as a successor, but Rashid is their one irreplaceable player.
Defending 171, every member of England’s attack was superb, and they were backed up by some brilliant catching (notably from Jofra Archer, taking a swirling effort off Abhishek Sharma, who was so brilliant in Kolkata) and ground-fielding that turned India’s twos into ones and ones into dots. Although others took more wickets, Rashid was the standout. He followed one for 14 in Chennai with one for 15 here, seeming to bowl slower with each passing delivery. He strangled India, and bowled the hero of Chennai, Tilak Varma, with a bona fide beauty, the big-turning leggie. He could have had more.
