India vs England 2021, 3rd T20I: Jos Buttler And Jonny Bairstow Set Up Another Series-Leading Victory After Mark Wood's Brilliant Bowling

The visitors England have taken the 2-1 lead in the five-match T20I series against the hosts India after winning the third game of this series by 8 wickets.

After England sent the hosts to bat first, India scored 156/6 (20 overs). In reply, the visitors chased down the target in 18.2 overs after losing two wickets.

India vs England 2021, 3rd T20I

2nd innings (England): Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow made the chase very comfortable

England opener Jos Buttler started the chasing in a firing way while Yuzvendra Chahal took the wicket of in-form opener Jason Roy in the early situation, who managed to score only 9 runs off 13 balls (2 fours) before Rohit Sharma took a good catch off his reverse-sweep at the point. However, England still scored 57/1 at the end of 6 overs, majorly thanks to Buttler.

Buttler and Dawid Malan put the 58 runs partnership for the second wicket where Buttler completed his fifty in 26 balls. In the 10th over, Washington Sundar stumped out Malan for 18 runs. However, Buttler and Jonny Bairstow made the chase easier while India’s some sloppy fielding also worked for the visitors.

Buttler and Bairstow set up the 77 runs partnership for the unbroken third wicket as England chased down the target with 10 balls still left. At the end of the game, English opener Buttler scored 83 not out off 52 balls (5 fours and 4 sixes) while Bairstow scored 40 not out off 28 balls (5 fours).

1st innings (India): Virat Kohli scored his 27th T20I fifty

The hosts India once again got a horrific start in the first innings of this T20I match as they lost the first three batsmen inside the powerplay as India scored 24/3 in the powerplay. After dismissing KL Rahul for a duck (0) in the third over, Mark Wood took the wicket of another opener Rohit Sharma (15). Meanwhile, Chris Jordan was the other wicket-taker in the powerplay as he dismissed the last game’s Player of the Match award winner Ishan Kishan who scored just 4 runs.

But then skipper Virat Kohli and wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant put the 40 runs partnership for the fourth wicket to handle the pressure situation. However, their trying for the third run during the 12th over costed that set partnership as Pant was run-out after scoring 25 runs off 20 balls.

Shreyas Iyer scored 9 runs before Wood sent his back to the dressing room. At that time, India were struggling on 86/5 in 14.3 overs. Then Kohli and Hardik Pandya controlled the innings with the crucial sixth-wicket partnership where the skipper played the major role. While they added 69 runs in the last five overs, they had the 70 runs partnership before Pandya (17 off 15 balls; 2 sixes) lost his wicket in the last ball of that innings as Jofra Archer took an excellent catch while Jordan got that wicket.

Kohli completed his fifty in 37 balls. The Indian skipper remained not out on 77 off 46 balls with the help of 8 fours and 4 sixes.

Among the England bowlers, Mark Wood (3/31) got three wickets on his return while Chris Jordan (2/35) picked up two wickets.

Brief Scores: India – 156/6 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 77*, Rishabh Pant 25; Mark Wood 3/31)

England – 158/2 in 18.2 overs (Jos Buttler 83*, Jonny Bairstow 40; Washington Sundar 1/26)

Result – England won by 8 wickets