‘Can’t take 25 balls to get set': Hardik Pandya called out for middle overs choke, Gambhir blamed for wasting Jurel

India's batters were choked by Adil Rashid (1/15), Jamie Overton (3/24) and Brydon Carse (2/28) in the middle overs as England came roaring back to stay alive in the five-match T20I series by beating India by 26 runs in the third T20I at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. Chasing 172 to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series, India's batters faltered and there was no Tilak Varma to bail them out of trouble this time around.

The left-hander was dismissed for the first time in five T20Is after being deceived by an absolute beauty from Rashid. After Tilak's dismissal, the Indian innings came to a standstill as Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel failed to rotate the strike, let alone find the boundaries.

Between the 9th and the 16th over, India scored only 40 runs in seven overs at the loss of a wicket. That is where Hardik and Sundar really found it hard to get going before Overton ended the left-hander's (15 off 6) agonising stay in the middle.

Axar Patel, who came in to bat at No.7 could not break shackles as India's required rate kept rising.

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel was critical of Hardik Pandya's knock. The experienced all-rounder ended up with 40 off 35 balls, but at one point, he was 21 off 24 balls. Parthiv said, "One cannot take 20-25 balls to get set in a T20I."

"Can't take 20-25 balls to get set. I understand taking your time but you have to keep rotating the strike. Hardik may have ended up with 40 off 35, but there were a lot of dot balls at the start of his innings," he said in the post-match show on Star Sports.

'India didn't get the batting order right'

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen was not happy with India's batting order, which was decided by the team management headed by coach Gautam Gambhir. Pietersen said India should have sent Jurel up the order instead of sending him at No/8.

"India didn't get the batting order right. Dhruv Jurel is an accomplished batter. Having him lower down the order for the left and right combination was not right. I'm a firm believer in your best batters batting up front," he said.

Parthiv said India overdid the left and right combination. "Left and right combination is alright till No.4 but after that you should send your best batters. Jurel is a proper batsman. He could have constructed a big innings," he added.

Earlier, Varun Chakaravarthy produced yet another stellar show with the ball, picking up his second five-wicket haul (5/24) to restrict England to 171/9. Ben Duckett was England's highest scorer with 51 off 28 balls.