England take honours in final T20I despite Suryakumar Yadav century

India suffered their first defeat in 20 matches under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma across all formats as England registered a consolation win in the third and final T20I at Trent Bridge on Sunday. Suryakumar Yadav starred for the visitors with a jaw-dropping 117 off 55 deliveries, but the number four received little help from his teammates as the Men in Blue fell short in their chase of 215, losing by 17 runs.

With no day’s rest between the final two T20Is, India fielded a completely new-look bowling attack for the Trent Bridge encounter with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Hardik Pandya replaced by Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Ravi Bishnoi, and Shreyas Iyer. Avesh Khan began positively with the new ball, conceding just six runs in his first two overs and picking up the big wicket of Jos Buttler, but England finished the powerplay on 52 for one as Umran Malik and Ravindra Jadeja erred with their accuracy.

Harshal Patel produced a masterful slower delivery to remove Phil Salt in the 10th over at 84 for 3, but India had no answers to the assault from Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone in the back half of the innings. The left-hander took on the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja, smashing the all-rounder for three sixes in his innings to score his 12th T20I half-century and finishing with an incredible hand of 77 from 39 before top-edging Ravi Bishnoi to Rishabh Pant. Bishnoi also snagged Moeen Ali for a golden duck to peg England back further but powered by Liam Livingstone’s pyrotechnics and some lower-order runs from Harry Brook and Chris Jordan, the hosts added 46 runs in the final three overs to finish with 215.

In reply, India’s massive run chase began on the worst possible note as Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma departed within the first five overs. Reece Topley dismissed both openers in an excellent new-ball spell, while Virat Kohli found the man at cover after smashing two back-to-back boundaries. However, after losing their top three cheaply, India produced a monumental fightback led by Suryakumar Yadav. The right-hander bided his time initially, scoring just eight runs off his first 12 deliveries before exploding into action and making full use of the small Trent Bridge boundaries.

Yadav displayed tremendous wristwork and timing as he deposited the ball to every corner of the ground, racing to a 32-ball fifty and adding 119 runs alongside Shreyas Iyer for the fourth wicket. Yadav brought up his 48-ball ton with a deft boundary behind point, and the centurion single-handedly kept India in the contest, mowing Moeen Ali for two boundaries in the penultimate over. However, with very little support from the others, Yadav’s efforts eventually proved to be in vain as he holed out to long-on for 117 against Ali before Chris Jordan bowled a three-run final over to give the hosts a narrow 17-run victory in Nottingham.