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An appetising decider at the Wankhede on Sunday seemed likely. The hosts were 12 for three, stunned by a triple-wicket maiden by Saqib Mahmood, Jos Buttler finally on the right end of the toss. Three and a bit hours later the series belonged to India, England 3-1 down with one to play, a tinge of substitute controversy in there, too.
The saviours with the bat were Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube, the pair hitting 53 apiece to set an imposing target of 182. Dube was conked on the helmet during his knock, prompting a concussion replacement, with Harshit Rana coming in for his Twenty20 international debut. With Rana a far more significant bowling threat, this was hardly a like-for-like replacement, as the playing conditions demand.
Rana’s role would be impactful, too. While Harry Brook led England’s reply with a 26-ball 51, the hulking quick took three wickets, including that of Jamie Overton in the penultimate over when the match remained up for grabs, 25 required off the final 12 balls. An inside-edge would see the England all-rounder bowled, a 15-run victory secured minutes later.
It had begun so well for England. Replacing the rested Mark Wood, Mahmood’s impact was immediate and remarkable with the second over of the match, his first of the tour. Sanju Samson pulled away Mahmood’s first delivery to deep backward square; Tilak Varma charged the next but ended up getting a thick edge to a leaping Jofra Archer at third. Suryakumar Yadav patted away the next few deliveries, a hat-trick denied, but chipped to short mid-on to close the over.
Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh, however, seemed unbothered by what had come before. Sharma threaded the ball through the covers off Mahmood while Rinku treated the same bowler to a wristy hook for six.
The best men’s T20I bowler in the world, according to the rankings, intervened. Adil Rashid went for flight to tempt Sharma into a slog towards deep midwicket for 29 before Dube was dropped by Jos Buttler, though it was a difficult chance at slip. The tall southpaw, playing his first international since last August, took advantage. He welcomed Rashid’s spin, collecting 25 off 11 deliveries from the leggie on the way to his half-century.
Pandya brought the greatest danger, coming in at 79 for five, dominating his 87-run vibe-changing stand with Dube. The former has obvious power but also the touches of an old-school technician, visible through his drives and a Test hundred on the resume. He took sixes off Mahmood, Archer and Overton, his fifty taking 27 balls, setting India up for the highest first-innings total of the series. It was some recovery.
Phil Salt began the chase with nine runs across the previous three matches, so a couple of straight fours off Arshdeep Singh must have felt soothing. But Ben Duckett was the dominant force in their opening stand, impressing just as he’d done in the previous match. Arshdeep was tucked away for three consecutive on-side boundaries before his various sweeps took care of spin. Yadav was forced to turn to Varun Chakravarthy, his form tweaker, after just three overs but Duckett didn’t mind. Fifty came up inside five overs.
Duckett miscued off Bishnoi for a 19-ball 39 with the final act of the powerplay before Salt was bowled by Axar Patel for 23 five deliveries later, the cut shot going wrong. Buttler’s cut to the hands of short third provided Bishnoi with greater joy, England having lost three wickets for five runs, the onus on an out-of-nick Brook to sort the mess.
There was a new customer to deal with, too. Rana was called upon in the 12th over and had Liam Livingstone guiding to the ball into the keeper’s hands for nine. Brook enjoyed the fast bowler’s presence, however, taking consecutive sixes off the quick including a delicious leg-side flick.
But Brook’s main nemesis in this series, Chakravarthy, forced a failed scoop in the 15th over. From there England tumbled, though Overton and Rashid strung things along with a 17-run stand. Overton turned down singles against Rana, trying to smash away himself. It didn’t work.
