Advertisement

The Indian cricket team’s emphatic eight-run victory over England in the fourth T20I on Thursday saw the hosts set up a mouth-watering finale for the five-match series at the Motera Stadium on Saturday.

Riding on Suryakumar Yadav’s gritty knock of 57 off 31 balls, which ended due to a soft-signal dismissal, and Shreyas Iyer’s quickfire 37 off 18 balls, India posted a competitive score of 185. In reply, England lost wickets at regular intervals as Shardul Thakur’s 3/42 and support from Hardik Pandya (2/16), Rahul Chahar (2/35) helped the hosts restrict the Three Lions to 177/8 as the Men in Blue levelled the five-match series 2-2.

India’s total (185/8) in the fourth T20I is now their fourth-highest score against England in T20 internationals.

Highest scores for IND vs ENG
Score Innings Ground Date
218/4 1 Durban 19-Sep-07
202/6 1 Bengaluru 01-Feb-17
201/3 2 Bristol 08-Jul-18
185/8 1 Ahmedabad 18-Mar-21
177/8 1 Mumbai 22-Dec-12 

Suryakumar Yadav, who came into bat at number three ahead of captain Virat Kohli, started his innings with a six and went on to register his maiden international half-century in just his second game. His knock is the fifth-highest score by an Indian number three batsman against England, and he also is the second Indian number three to score a fifty this series, after skipper Virat Kohli.

Highest SR for a #3 batsman vs ENG (50 or more runs)
Player Runs Strike Rate Ground Start Date
AB de Villiers (SA) 69* 246.42 Chattogram 29-Mar-14
BB McCullum (NZ) 74 194.73 Hamilton 12-Feb-13
Mohammad Hafeez (PAK) 69 191.66 Manchester 30-Aug-20
KL Rahul (INDIA) 101* 187.03 Manchester 03-Jul-18
SA Yadav (INDIA) 57 183.87 Ahmedabad 18-Mar-21

Suryakumar was well supported by his Mumbai teammate Shreyas Iyer, who played a swashbuckling knock of 18-ball 37 at an impressive strike rate of 205.55, the second-best strike rate by a number six batsman against England (min. 30 runs).

Highest SR for a #6 batsman vs ENG at home (min 30 runs)
Player Runs Strike Rate Ground Start Date
DJG Sammy (WI) 30* 333.33 Bridgetown 11-Mar-14
SS Iyer (INDIA) 37 205.55 Ahmedabad 18-Mar-21
CD McMillan (NZ) 57 183.87 Durban 18-Sep-07
NLTC Perera (SL) 57 183.87 Colombo (RPS) 27-Oct-18
DJ Mitchell (NZ) 30* 176.47 Christchurch 01-Nov-19

England’s batting may not have been up to the mark, but their bowlers - especially Jofra Archer - put on a decent performance with the ball. Except for Chris Jordan, five English bowlers took at least one wicket in the fourth T20I, which the visitors have managed for the fifth time against India in the shortest format of the game.

Instances with 5 ENG bowlers taking at least 1 wicket vs IND in T20Is
Venue Inns with 1+ wicket Strike Rate Average Economy Start Date
Ahmedabad 5 8 17.37 8.68 18-Mar-21
Ahmedabad 5 7 15.57 6.05 12-Mar-21
Kanpur 5 6 24.00 7.20 26-Jan-17
Mumbai 5 7 24.42 8.55 22-Dec-12
Manchester 5 9 13.77 7.44 31-Aug-11

Archer, who was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets for 33 runs, took three scalps in the death overs and registered the third-best bowling figures by a visiting bowler against India in T20Is.

Best bowling figures by a visiting bowler vs IND
Player Overs Runs Wickets Economy Ground Start Date
MJ Santner (NZ) 4 11 4 2.75 Nagpur 15-Mar-16
JP Behrendorff (AUS) 4 21 4 5.25 Guwahati 10-Oct-17
JC Archer (ENG) 4 33 4 8.25 Ahmedabad 18-Mar-21
TA Boult (NZ) 4 34 4 8.50 Rajkot 04-Nov-17
Umar Gul (PAK) 4 37 4 9.25 Ahmedabad 28-Dec-12

On the flip side, Adil Rashid had a night to forget. The spinner leaked 39 runs, the second-most by an English bowler in the five-match series and the fifth-most by an England spinner away from home. 

Most runs conceded by an ENG spinner away from home in T20Is
Player Overs Runs conceded Economy Opposition Ground Start Date
DR Briggs 4 53 13.25 Australia Hobart 29-Jan-14
MW Parkinson 4 47 11.75 New Zealand Napier 08-Nov-19
AU Rashid 4 42 10.50 South Africa Centurion 16-Feb-20
MS Panesar 4 40 10.00 Australia Sydney 09-Jan-07
GP Swann 4 40 10.00 Australia Adelaide 12-Jan-11
AU Rashid 4 40 10.00 New Zealand Wellington 03-Nov-19
AU Rashid 4 39 9.75 India Ahmedabad 18-Mar-21

Virat Kohli-led India and Eoin Morgan’s England will now fight for bragging rights in the fifth and final T20I on Saturday, March 20.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Jewel Samad

Advertisement