Buttler, Wood help England take a 2-1 series lead

For the third game running, the toss continued to be a crucial factor as the team that chose to bowl first ended up winning the game with ease. England were too good on the night as they chased down India’s target of 156 nonchalantly in front of 130,000 empty seats in Ahmedabad. The difference for England with the ball was the return of Mark Wood. The pacer replaced Tom Curran in the side and continued to send down thunderbolts to the Indian batsman and picked up three crucial wickets which gave England the early impetus. India was only able to reach a total of 156 thanks to another sublime inning from their captain. Kohli was a class apart as he took his time at the start and then accelerated towards the end to score 77 runs from 46 balls.

Jos Buttler and England made light work of the total though as they chased it down within 19 overs to win by 8 wickets.

Most of the damage for England was done in the bowling powerplay itself where India lost three wickets. KL Rahul was the first to go as his lean patch continued after he was carved open by a Mark Wood delivery that swung in and crashed into his middle stump. Rohit Sharma too was undone by the extra pace of Wood on his return to the side and Ishan Kishan couldn’t replicate the heroics of the previous game as he top-edged a catch to the keeper.

India only managed a score of 24/3 in the Powerplay and struggled to get back in the game from that point onwards. Kohli and Pant did stabilise the ship but an unfortunate run-out sent Pant home. Kohli though went into a different zone in the last 5 overs as he scored 49 runs off the last 17 balls he faced. His heroics helped India put on a respectable total of 156.

Unfortunately for the hosts, England and Jos Buttler made light work of that total. Buttler took the attack to the bowlers and scored 43 runs from his first 17 balls as England blazed away to a total of 57 in their powerplay. That start was enough to take the game away from India as Buttler and Bairstow completed the rest of the chase in cruise control to hand England the victory. Buttler was named as the man of the match for his 83* which was his highest score in T20I cricket.

With this dominant victory, England takes a 2-1 lead in the series with India needing to win the next game to keep the series alive.