Ahmedabad March 17 : Virat Kohli’s great rescue act went in vain as Jos Buttler-inspired England registered a comfortable victory over Team India on Tuesday. A lot was at stake when Kohli-led Team India locked horns with Eoin Morgan’s England in the 3rd T20I behind closed doors at the famous Narendra Modi Stadium. After resting his deputy for the first two matches of the five-match series, skipper Kohli confirmed the inclusion of Rohit Sharma in the playing XI for the 3rd T20I at Motera.
Winning the toss and opting to bowl first at the turning pitch, England’s potent bowling unit spearheaded by Mark Wood managed to run rings around the formidable batting lineup of the Men In Blue. Becoming a pale shadow of himself in the bilateral series, KL Rahul continued his abysmal run as the World No.2 batsman in the shortest format was cleaned up by Wood for a duck in the 3rd over.
While returning Rohit perished for 15 off 17 balls, youngster Ishan Kishan failed to succeed in the no.3 position. Following Kishan’s dismissal on 4 off 9 balls in the sixth over, Rishabh Pant joined forces with skipper Kohli as the duo went after the England bowlers in the second Powerplay. However, Pant was runout in the 12th over although Kohli remained keen on tormenting the England bowlers.
A rare batting failure from Shreyas Iyer shifted the burden on skipper Kohli to rescue the Indian innings. Handling the pressure of batting first, skipper Kohli played one of the most memorable knocks against the Three Lions as he notched up his second successive half-century. The counterattacking knock of the Indian run-machine helped the hosts in staging an incredible fightback at Motera.
Kohli smashed a quick-fire 77 off just 46 balls while Hardik Pandya’s brief cameo propelled the hosts to a respectable 156-6 in 20 overs. Though a lot was expected from India’s bowling unit, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Co. failed to keep this airtight for the visitors. Leading the attack of the English Lions in the chase, opener Jos Buttler took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners as the Rajasthan Royals (RR) star single-handedly managed to put England in the driving seat.
Buttler demolished the Indian bowling attack with his magnificent 83 as England outclassed India by 7 wickets in the 3rd T20I. With the comfortable win, the visitors have taken a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.