Ind vs Eng: Kohli's knock goes in vain as England wins by 8 wickets

Ahmedabad, Mar 17: Despite Indian skipper Virat Kohli's heroics, England defeated India by 8 wickets with the help of Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow unbeaten knocks in the third T20I here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday evening. With this win, England has now gained a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Both teams will now meet in the fourth T20I on Thursday which will be played at the same venue.

 

 

Chasing the target of 157, England openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler put on 23 runs for the first wicket, but the introduction of Yuzvendra Chahal paid off straight away when he dismissed Roy (9). However, it did not created much impact as Buttler went on to score unbeaten knock (83*).

 

 

Though Dawid Malan and Buttler stitched together a stand of 58 runs for the second wicket, Malan's (18) vigil at the crease was finally cut short by Washington Sundar. Following this dismissal, England were determined to finish the game as Bairstow came out to bat at number four and he along with set Buttler ensured that England did not suffer from more hiccups and in the end.

 

 

Asked to bat first, the top order failed to have stable innings as Rahul once again was dismissed for duck. Sharma, who is pplaying his first innings in this series, could not create momentum. Ishan Kishan, who had a dream debut on Sunday, fell for just four runs. Kohli and Rishabh Pant tried to rebuild the innings and stitched a 40-run stand. Just when things started to look good for the hosts, Pant got run-out trying to steal a third run. With India struggling at 86/4 in the 14th over, Wood was brought into the attack, and he removed Shreyas Iyer as the hosts lost half the side.

 

 

However, Kohli's unbeaten knock of 77 runs off just 46 balls helped India post 156/6 in the allotted 20 overs. Down and out going into the last five overs of the innings, Kohli led from the front in all-rounder Hardik Pandya's company as the duo added 69 runs from 30 balls to take the hosts' total past the 150-run mark.