By Shrey Siddharth
The do-or-die contest was all set as India took on England in the fourth T20 game in Motera. England won the toss and chose to bowl considering the batting track and the dew factor. Their playing 11 was unchanged. India brought in Suryakumar Yadav and Rahul Chahar in place of Ishan Kishan and Chahal. Rohit Sharma showed his intent straight away after clearing the fence for six off the first ball. Here are some of the highlights from the game:-
Surya’s Sky-high debut:-
Suryakumar Yadav’s much-awaited debut inning turned out to be the best he’d had so far. He occupied the crease when the top order was back in the pavilion. He got off the mark with a lofted flick for six of his very first ball against Archer and scored three more boundaries in the powerplay. He played his elegant sweep shot and used the crease to counter Rashid. He raced his way to his maiden fifty and ended up with 56 off 31 before he was dismissed by Curran.
Archer’s fiery spell:-
Archer got the big wicket of Rohit for 12 in his first spell. It was in his second spell in the death overs where he bowled tremendously to dismiss set batsmen Iyer and Pant, and Sundar in the last over to stop the flow of runs as he finished with 4-33 in 4 overs.
Iyer and Pant on fire:-
After Surya got out, Iyer walked in and continued the momentum. He played a splendid inning of 37 off 18 as he timed every boundary perfectly. Pant played a handy inning of 30. Some fireworks down the order took India to a winning total of 186-8 in 20 overs.
Stokes smokes the Indian bowling:-
Roy gave England a good start until he got out for 40 off Pandya’s bowling. When it seemed as if Indian bowlers were going to topple the English batting, in came Ben Stokes who had different plans. He struck his form at the right time as he started smashing the Indian spinners and slowly took the game away from India’s grip. He got out for 46 to Thakur.
Chahar dismissed Bairstow for 25 to turn the tides. Thakur took Stokes and Morgan in 2 consecutive deliveries and Pandya got Curran in the death overs. Thakur held his nerves in the last over and took India to victory by 8 runs. Suryakumar Yadav became the man of the match for his splendid 57. Despite tough bowling conditions and bowling against the in-form English batting, India claimed a clinical victory and level the series 2-2. The stage is all set for the mighty decider game. Can India knock the final blow and clinch the series in the last game?
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